Scottish & Newcastle
UK, 4.5% ABV
 
One of Scotland’s finest, this dark, caramelised beer promises ‘quality and strength’ and – like Ronseal – it does exactly what it says on the tin. Before ecstasy and the spliff, the four-pack of McEwan’s was the ticket into any party you weren’t invited to. Throw in a half-bottle of Glenmorangie and you’d be guaranteed first shot at the Twiglets and the choice of bedroom at any party in the land. Export is still sold on draught in many nicotine-stained bars across the country – any pub needing a makeover or with Blanket on the Ground still on the jukebox will probably serve a damn good pint of it. At 4.5% strength, it can hold its head up in most company. It is the beer of choice for many rail-travelling football fans, and is always prominent on a Friday on the East Coast mainline between Aberdeen and King’s Cross – when anywhere up to 48 cans may be found on a table of four returning oil rig workers. Obviously the brew never makes the drinker abusive to ticket collectors, and it does so much to enliven and cheer up the quiet coach on long-haul journeys. Most travelling drinkers bring their Export onto the train in a carrier bag – in the supermarket it is an inexpensive buy, but on the railways it is more expensive to buy than a three bedroom terrace house in Leith. Proudly ‘only ever made in Edinburgh, Scotland’, McEwan’s Export is a national treasure – it cannot be long before there is a GCSE module studying its history. MW

5 July 2010 | Reviews, M