TWO bottles of a speciality beer made at Scotland’s oldest working brewery more than 40 years ago have been discovered.

The White Rose Ale was created for the collectors’ market and was believed to have been sold through off-licences and wholesale.

The liquid used for the beer was the still popular Belhaven 80 Shilling, which was rebranded for the special run.

Tony Brookes, a keen collector and a previous customer of Belhaven Brewery, uncovered two bottles of the beer during the summer.

He decided to return one to the brewery to join the collection of historical beers on show at the visitor experience in Dunbar.

He said: “I have a real passion for beer collecting and, when I uncovered two bottles of White Rose Ale, I knew I had to give it a try, even 40 years on.

“I opened one of the bottles, not holding out much hope for a tasty liquid, to discover a lovely drink tasting of port wine.

“I couldn't believe how delicious it was.

“As Belhaven is still a working brewery, I wanted to get in touch to see if they had any use for the bottle and it was great to hear that they wanted to include it in their historical section. 

“We always had a great relationship with Belhaven Brewery and so it was great to give them back a little bit of history to add to their celebration of heritage.”

Tony’s connection with Belhaven Brewery dates back to 1980, when he opened his real ale off-licence in Newcastle.

Called Legendary Yorkshire Heroes, Belhaven Brewery was one of the very first suppliers and Tony remembered having the White Rose Ale as a product they sold.

Legendary Yorkshire Heroes went on to grow into a chain of shops and pubs, along with a large wholesale operation dealing nationwide before Tony sold the business on in 1994.

He then went on to open real ale pubs under The Head of Steam Limited before retiring in 2014.

Due to errors on the labels of two of the White Rose Ale bottles, Tony, as a keen issue bottle collector himself, decided to hold onto the bottles and has kept them safe for more than 44 years.

After uncovering the beers four decades on, Tony reached out to Belhaven Brewery to offer one bottle for the collection that is currently on show there.

Fiona Matheson, senior brand manager for Belhaven Brewery, said: “We were delighted when Tony got in touch with us regarding uncovering a beer that we brewed over 40 years ago.

“We were honoured when he mentioned sending a bottle to us, as we are passionate about celebrating our history as Scotland’s oldest working brewery.

“We thank Tony for his kind contribution to our collection, as it's circumstances such as this that means we can show more pieces of our history.

“The bottle of White Rose Ale is proudly placed next to our other incredible beers that we have brewed over time, and we welcome anyone interested to book themselves on to one of our tours and come and experience the history for themselves.”

Visitors will be able to see the White Rose Ale along with other historically significant beers, such as the Silver Jubilee Regal Ale (1977) and the Belhaven Princess Ale (1981), as part of the Visitor Experience Tour with Belhaven Brewery.

The award-winning experience celebrates more than 300 years of brewing history.