Archive for the 'Scottish Ale' category
Dark Horse “Scotty Karate” Scotch Ale
Hey folks,
I know it’s been a long time since I rapped at ya, but life’s dealt a few busy months for the Ben – too busy even to write about his favorite libations. However, I now find myself spending a few weeks around Michigan and, knowing how many delicious brews this state produces, I could hardly stand to sit idly by and not document a few of ‘em. So, I apologize for my absence… I can’t promise that I’ll be such a frequent visitor as I have been in past years, but I’ll do my best to let you know when I find something I find new and delicious.
Tonight I’m sipping on a tasty Scotch ale with a pretty sweet name – the Scotty Karate. This comes from the folks at Dark Horse. Frankly, I haven’t had a lot of beers from this brewery – in fact, I think the only place I’ve ever enjoyed their beers is at Foran in downtown Detroit (my favorite pub IN THE WORLD).
This one pours a deep brown color with some translucence around the edges of the glass and a fluffy off-white head. The aroma here is full of dark chocolaty malt and displays a bit more molasses than I usually expect from a Scotch ale. In the mouth, this is certainly a larger than usual Scotch, as well. The mouthfeel is instantly thick and viscous on the tongue, and a rich molasses sweetness washes over the tastebuds. As the beer develops through the mouth, this flavor never really dissipates – rather, it is simply joined by a few sweet dark malt flavors and a balancing bitterness that is earthy and redolent of aniseed. Down the throat, the flavor sticks around rich and dessert-like. It’s a very tasty beer for those who appreciate this genre, and it’s size and richness only increase as the beer warms – eventually reaching a critical mass worthy of the 9.5% abv on the label. Another tasty offering from Dark Horse – I hope I’m able to try out a few more of their beers over my coming weeks here in Michigan…
Terrapin “90 Shelling” Scotch Ale
You may or may not know this, but I’ve been looking for a reproduction of Scottish 80-shilling since I lived there back in 2000. It’s odd to me that, in Scotland, you can find 80-shilling on tap at every corner pub, but I can’t find a single bottle in the states! I mean, we have Scotch ales, and they’re great, but I just want 80-shilling, and I want it to be called that. So, I was very happy to see this Terrapin 90-shilling 1-time release. I know it’s a bit more uppity, coming in at 10 more shillings than I prefer, but I’m hoping for something comparable that’ll bring the good memories of Scottish nights flooding back!
The 90-Shelling pours a deep, deep dark color with a thin caramel-colored head. The aroma is nutty with lots of toffee and smells quite delicious. In the mouth, this beer is light and smooth in mouthfeel, but super rich in flavor – even more so than I remember of the local Scottish varieties. Initially, there is a light sweetness on the tip of the tongue, more sugary than malty. That sweetness is gently o’ertaken by richer dark malt flavors as the beer travels down the tongue. The mouthfeel remains fairly fleeting, but the flavor builds in richness, taking on hints of caramel and nuts in the mouth, culminating in a dessert-like flavor at the back of the mouth. This aftertaste sticks around for a bit, though the mouth washes fairly clean. All in all, it’s one of the better summertime dark beers I’ve had. It’s great cold, and holds on to a lot of flavor, and that flavor only increases as the beer warms. However, it never seems too thick or cloying for a hot night. All in all, it’s a great beer. I won’t say it brought back my Scottish days, as this is substantially richer than I remember, but it’s a mighty tasty brew!
Moylan’s “Kilt-Lifter” Scotch Ale
Moylan’s is a brewery that, while not initially blown away by their bottle art or styles, has recently gotten my attention based on outstanding flavor, alone. I recently reviewed their Hopsickle ale, found it fantastic, and have since picked up a bottle of their Double IPA and the Kilt-Lifter. I’m hoping that this beer meets the high bar that has been set!
This ale pours a deep brown with hints of ruby and very little sediment. The head here is lightly caramel, but seems thin and light and dissipates rather quickly. In the nose, I’m sensing tons of rich dark malt, leaning towards a sweeter aroma reminiscent of toffee. The flavor of the Kilt-Lifter is super rich and layered with sweetness. Initially, there is a sharp sweetness on the tongue and an essence of decent alcohol content. On through the mouth, rich toffee flavors and light-chocolatey richness becomes evident in the malt component. In addition to the chocolate/toffee tones, I’m catching some nice fruit tones – mostly dark cherry – that float along in the background to keep the richer flavors from becoming too cloying. While this beer is quite decadent in flavor, the mouthfeel is actually quite light. It washes fairly clean from the mouth, leaving a slight reminiscence of dark fruit on the back of the tongue. All things considered, I’d say this is a pretty killer scotch ale. This is a genre that I’m fond of, and there are lots of good options out there in this genre, but this one certainly stands towards the top of the pack. So far, I’m very impressed with Moylan’s – I can’t wait to try the rest of their wares!
Belhaven Scottish Ale
Next up this month from the folks at the Beer of the Month Club is the Belhaven Scottish Ale… I tell you, it’s hard to beat a good Scottish ale when it comes to darker beers, if you ask me. They are generally sweet and bready and full and overall delicious. This one is no exception.
The Belhaven, being a REAL Scottish ale brewed in Scotland, should probably be a good interpretation of the style. The pour is fairly clear and mahogany brown, with a creamy caramel head that creeps down the sides of the glass. The aroma is sweet but spicy, with big rootsy and aniseed aromas that are mellowed by the dark malty sweet aromas. In the mouth, this beer is smooth and big. The first taste is a light sweetness full of dark sweetbreads. This malty flavor grows, coating the tongue and sides of the mouth, leaving a substantial coating over the mouth. Around the middle of the mouth, the spicy notes come full circle, offering an almost ginseng earthiness with light hints of dark cherry. This floats along with the malt, all combining at the back of the mouth for a big sweetness that shoots down the throat and up the nose, leaving us with a full, rich, and just slightly cloying sweet aftertaste. The thing I love about this beer is that, while it’s full of flavor and has a big mouthfeel, it washes surprisingly clean, giving it a crispness absent from most dark ales. Overall, a fabulous interpretation of the style. I could drink this stuff every day, if I were a bigger brown-ale nut.
French Broad Wee-Heavy-est
Despite the fact that we never got around to reviewing it here on SevenPack, I’ve long been a fan of French Broad’s Wee Heavy-er Scotch ale. During our team’s legendary run at Tyler’s pub quiz in Carrboro, the Wee Heavy-er was a common “mind lubricant”, along with the Franziskaner Dunkelweiss, that propelled my team to a number of victories, regardless of my efforts to drag us down. That was a couple of years ago, so I was especially happy to find the new Wee Heavy-est on shelves recently.
This one pours a dark, deep chocolate colored brown with lots of super dense debris and a rather thin caramel colored head. In the nose, this is mostly dark bready malt and some semi-sweet chocolate aroma. The sweetness in the scent isn’t cloyingly sweet at all, rather it comes across deep and a little bit musty. In the mouth, this is, as expected, a big ol’ Scotch ale. The predominant flavors are grain, starting off a bit musty and bready and then progressing in both strength and sweetness through the mouth. The initial simplicity of this beer on the tip of the tongue truly doesn’t belie the strength of flavor that is to come. As this beer travels down the tongue, we get a heavy blast of toffee sweetness, blended with the deep chocolatey malt flavors. In addition, there is also some big dark fruit here, mostly in the realm of blueberry and dark grape. I’m also getting a decent contribution of yeasty flavors and maybe a slight bit of banana. In short, it’s a busy beer – very complex and very tasty… Truly a Scotch ale on steroids. All that being said, I have to heavily recommend this brew. This time of year, a big dark sweet beer is a perfect nectar, and French Broad has done a stellar job with this one. I’m gonna have to go grab a couple more of these, as I’d love to cellar one for a bit and see what happens…
Harpoon 100 Barrel Firth of Forth
Harpoon recently released another 100 Barrel series beer called Firth of Forth, and I was fortunate enough to receive an invite to the public unveiling. For those of you who do not have the best geography skills, the Firth of Forth is actually the name of the estuary (or firth) of Scotland’s River Forth near Edinburgh. The name was not chosen just by happenstance, but by the fact guest brewer, Steve Stewart, hails from Edinburgh.
Steve has had an interesting progression through the brewery business and he told us his story as we sampled his new beer. He started at the ripe old age of 16 home brewing from a plastic home brew kit sold at Boots Pharmacy. Though the beers were horrible, he became hooked with the process of brewing, which he found fun and exciting. A local University actually offered a degree in the science of brewing and distilling, so when he needed to choose where to go for University, his choice was quite easy to make. Once graduated with his degree, he worked for some time at two small businesses (one a vineyard, the other a brewery) before moving onto a job with Bass Brewery. While at Bass, he was offered the opportunity of an “internship” with Harpoon. It was a rather loose definition of an “internship”, since he already had the practical training of a brewer, but he enjoyed his time with Harpoon and a friendship was born. Along with friendship, Harpoon also gave him the bug of starting up his own brewery. A few years past and in 2004 Stewart Brewing Ltd was born in Edinburgh Scotland.
As described by Harpoon, Firth of Forth is an American twist on a Scottish Ale. This “American twist” is probably due to the fact Willamette hops (an American developed hop) was used in the brewing process. A traditional Scottish Ale would have used ginger, pepper, spice or aromatic herbs for its bittering agent since, as Steve stated, “Scotland is not the ideal place to grow hops.”
The beer poured a dark amber with a cream colored head of small, tightly packed bubbles. The aroma of beer was a mixture of spice and toasted malts, with the toasted malts being a bit stronger. In the mouth the beer had a slight carbonation burn at the tip of the tongue but this progressed into a spicy, caramel sweetness. This combination of spice and caramel was rather muddled in the middle of the mouth, but at the back the sweetness won out, with a rather strong sugary sweetness finish.
Being new to the Scottish Ale style, I find this beer a toss up for me. I was a little lost with the middle of the beer, feeling the tastes just did not vibe together and ended up being a bit muddled. On the other hand this did not make the beer taste bad. I know, a bit confusing and then again I was a bit confused while drinking the beer. I also found the beer a bit sweet, but from my reading, this is part of the style. I would not toss this beer out, and I would actually like to see how this tastes next to other beers of the style, but I would not go out of my way to pick it up again.
Cottonwood Scottish Ale
I’m proud to say that Cottonwood Brewery was spawned from very near my neck of the woods in Boone, NC. In fact, I have a friend of mine who haughtily claims to know the original founder personally (I’m not sure I believe him). (Just kidding, Jon). Regardless, these guys make some consistently good brews, and we have reviewed far too few of them, so here’s another.
This beer pours a dark ruby red, and is quite clear. The aroma is sweet but subdued. There are some hints of dark cherry and bit of malt in the scent. There is also a lot of cherry in the flavor – more than I expected. In addition there are a lot of very sweet malty flavors. Honestly, I’m having a hard time making comparisons to this beer with known flavors. What I can say is that it is fairly effervescent and reminds me of some of the sprightlier cherry drinks I drank in my past. However, there is also a solid malt presence that pulls everything back into beer territory. And, by cherry, I’m talking very dark cherry flavors here, so don’t think this is some sort of Bacardi Breezer. It is actually a very good beer, and I think it represents the Scottish ale category well, as it is quite potent in its abv. All in all, I have to recommend this – it is quite delicious and has nothing but redeeming traits. However, it is a fairly different flavor, so be prepared for that – different, but sweet and tasty, and who doesn’t like that?
Harviestoun Bitter & Twisted Ale
This Scottish brew hits the tongue with a viscous and smooth flow all the way down the throat. I taste a hint of caramel in the body – otherwise it is a traditional pale Scottish ale, with a bitter hoppy body and slightly musky aroma
Highland Tasgall Ale
Ahh, March. More importantly I think, Ahh, March Madness. You have to love this time of year when the basketballs are flying and Billy Packer is grousing over someone else. What better to enjoy this time of year than a beer born and brewed in the mountains of North Carolina, the perennial hotbed of collegiate basketball.
With that in mind, I sat down on the Thursday of the Sweet Sixteen to enjoy a nice Highland Tasgall Ale. The Tasgall is nominally a Scottish ale, and has many of those qualities while being a bit more hoppy than a traditional Scottish ale. The Tasgall pours a very heady and dark black – there is just the faintest bit of brown and ivory in the head before it dissipates. The pour is similar to that of a chocolate stout, and in many respects, I think this beer resembles that. There is a great chocoalte-y, coffee flavor that permeates throughout the beer and aftertaste. However, it is never too bitter. The hops are certainly ever present and very lively. They are not overpowering however – instead, they really mellow and mix well with the flavors of chocolate and coffee (and perhaps a little caramel as well).
All in all, this is a terrific beer, and appropriate for March Madness. Raise one to your favorite team and enjoy – so long as that team is North Carolina or whomever might be playing Duke.
Arcadia Brewing Company Scotch Ale
So, I’ve been in NYC for a few days visiting folks. Due to a couple of excellent bar selections, I’ve had the opportunity to drink several great beers that I can’t normally find in NC (for instance, you should definitely try out the Brooklyn Cuvee d’Achouffe and Doedel Belgian ale if you ever have the chance). Tonight, however, I’m just about wasted physically from the long nights resulting from said bars. So, tonight I grabbed a couple of six-packs from the local Korean grocer, and I intend to sit my fine ass on this couch and enjoy a few.
First, we have the Scotch ale from Arcadia. I’ve never had a beer from this brewer, but this is a good first stop. The pour of the beer is very dark with a quickly-dissipating head. The aroma is extremely sweet with dark malt and chocolate hints. In the mouth, this beer also tastes very sweet – almost too sweet. It tastes like they went very heavy with their dark malt, and it manifests itself with a very sweet chocolate bread-y flavor with a slightly tangy aftertaste that sticks around for quite some time. It isn’t a very complex beer – just straightforward and persistent. I would say that this is excellent if you really like the Scotch ale flavor. However, if you prefer something a bit more subtle, then this might be overkill.
Duck Rabbit Wee Heavy Scotch Style Ale
This is, remarkably, the first Duck Rabbit ale reviewed here on Sevenpack. I’m surprised, because these guys have been making great Milk Stouts and Ambers for ages and even have a great Imperial Russian Stout that has been on the market for a while. Furthermore, they’re from just down the road in Farmville, North Carolina. I mean, seriously, what are we thinking?
Anyway, this beer is a good one. I’ve always been a fan of a good Wee Heavy, and this beer tells me that North Carolina has a knack for them (another fabulous Wee Heavy from North Carolina comes from the French Broad Brewery in Asheville). This one pours a translucent mahogany and has a fairly sweet smell to it – sweeter than you might expect. In the mouth, the beer at first seems syrupy sweet with a maple sweetness that is ‘oh so nice’. Fortunately, the syrupy texture doesn’t sit in the mouth, but rinses away quite clean leaving you with a slight sweetness about the middle of the tongue. Overall, very good, and quite high in alcohol, which is also slightly evident in the taste. Highly recommended.
Old Chub Scottish Style Ale
Another CANNED BEER. It’s quite a gimmick these folks at Oskar Blues Brewery have, but it seems to work. After all, you can’t take glass onto a lot of beaches, and there is a certain charm to drinking out of a can when you’re tailgating or BBQ’ing in the backyard. These folks seem to understand that, and they give you a damn fine beer to do it with. The pour of the Old Chub is motor-oil dark with a fairly transient caramel head. The aroma smells strongly of dark chocolate and caramel. In the mouth, this beer is extremely flavorful. The flavor is sweet and malty and seems to be in the vein of the Scottish ‘wee-heavy’ style. There are tons of caramel and dark malts in this beer. Light hints of coffee mingle with sweet dark chocolate that is especially prevalent at the back of the mouth. A great beer, and fairly strong at 8% abv. I can’t say whether this is better or worse than the Dale’s Pale Ale, because they are both so different. But, I can say without reserve that both Dale’s Pale and Old Chub are the best canned beers I’ve ever had the pleasure to enjoy. Too bad that neither of these beers are priced like can beer. At about $8 per 6-pack, they can put a dent in the wallet. But, in my opinion, it’s money well spent.
Isle of Skye “Wee Beast” Ale
This beer chimes in with a medium brown hue, and a striking aroma that is difficult to place – I really can’t place it. It’s similar to some Scottish ales – slightly sweet, maybe even a bit nutty – but very pungent regardless. The flavor is mediocre, in my esteem. It’s a little musty, but lends a sharp flavor with a bit of fruit, and tastes a bit alcohol-y. It’s a flavor that is difficult to describe, but if you’ve drank a few Scottish Ales, you’ll know what I mean. Overall, not my favorite of the genre, and probably not one that I’ll buy again. If you really want to taste something tasty from the folks at Isle Of Skye Brewery, try the “Dark Island” Ale. Mmm
