Name: Scotch Ale

Brewer: Smuttynose Brewing Company

Style: Scotch Ale

Vintage: 2007

Cellared On: January 4th, 2008

Original Tasting: January 18th, 2008

After recently reviewing (and enjoying) Middle Age Brewing’s Scotch Ale, I knew it wouldn’t be long before I tried a different one. In fact it was only about a hour later before I popped the cap on my next Scotch Ale, this one from New Hampshire’s Smuttynose Brewing Company. I’ve had a few Smuttynose brews before, and was always impressed on their unique takes on different styles of beer. I was looking forward to see what kind of “twist” Smuttynose had for this Scotch Ale!

Smuttynose’s Scotch Ale poured a beautiful dark amber with a lightly tinted head. Very faint smells of sweet malts floated up from my glass.

After tasting, there’s little doubt to what the “twist” is with this. In addition to the light and sweet (with maybe a little bit of fruit with the sweetness?) malty flavor, a beautiful smokiness filled my mouth. Looking at the label, it looks like they add some peat-smoked malt to this brew, which is not unknown for Scotch Ales. The smoke lends a delicious earthy complement to the beer, and lingers for a long time as the beer finishes. I could also detect a very subtle hop character throughout this medium bodied brew.

Six Month Tasting: August 19th, 2008

Quite a bit of changes have occurred over the last six months.

First off, I noticed a lot more in the smell of this beer, but I suspect that was more of a lacking on my part before rather then any kind of real development on the brew’s part. In any case, sweet and smoky malt smells were very noticeable as I poured.

Taste wise, the malt sweetness has pulled back quite a bit. It makes the smoky peat malt really come to the forefront of the flavor. What used to be a little “burst” of smoke has became the main flavor component of this beer. There’s still a malty kind of caramel sweetness lingering, but it is really overwhelmed now.

It’s a bit unbalanced now, hopefully it can bounce back after resting more.

Cellar Outlook: Smoke makes for a great preservative in beer, and should help this one last. I suspect the smokiness will gradually decline over time, revealing more of this beer’s sweet character as the months go by.

Six Month Cellar Outlook: I suspect this brew will probably still keep heading downwards. I’m betting the smoke component will become even more dominant as the months pass by.

Next Tasting: January 2009

Jason

jason@brewbasement.com

www.brewbasement.com