Take a Peek Under a Scottish Brewer's Kilt...
Jan 11 '02
The Bottom Line Fermented and aged cool, Scottish beers have a smoothness about them that makes their malty flavor profiles really shine! Here's the story behind these classic brews...
As if plaid kilts and bagpipes weren't enough to establish Scotland's claim to a distinctive identity of its own, their traditional beer styles are worlds away from the light hoppy ales of neighboring England. Even if you don't taste the distinctive brewing tradition in every glass of Scottish ale, not even the most philistine beer drinker can mistake it in the big bold taste of the Scottish wee heavy style!
History
When I hear people talking about brewing history stretching back 7,000 or 8,000 years, they almost always point to the ancient Sumerians since Michael Jackson wrote so much about the work of Dr. Solomon Katz, an archaelogist at the University of Pennsylvania who interpreted stone tablets dating from 3,400 B.C. -- the tablets turned out to be a recipe for brewing beer.
The history of brewing in Scotland stretches back even further though. Supposedly, the ancient Picts were making ale in Scotland back around 6,500 B.C. and they were using a grist of barley well before the Romans invaded in 43 A.D.
I don't know when the Picts began brewing with heather, but they evidently developed quite a reputation for it. Enough so that an Irish king named Niall tried to force the secret of heather ale from his captives. The stalwart Picts essentially spit in his face, preferring death to the ignominy of being the Pict who revealed anything to an Irish interloper.
The styles we now know as scottish ale were developed around the late 18th or early 19th century -- a time during which the brewing industry was transforming itself from a local affair to an industrial enterprise -- much as it was elsewhere in the world.
You can taste a little bit of this history in a glass of Fraoch Heather Ale, which lucky for American beer drinkers, is imported and widely available in the U.S. Fraoch is the creation of Scottish brewer Bruce Williams who was fascinated by stories of the long-lost heather ale of his ancestors. Williams' rendition of the ancient Pict classic is a light-bodied ale that uses heather to balance the sweetness -- the heather essentially replaces hops in their modern role as "the" balancing agent.
The first time I tasted Fraoch, I was a bit underwhelmed because the beer basically tastes like any of a dozen other light-bodied ales. It's only when it warms up and you savor it a little longer that you start noticing the way the subtle floral aromas and flavors lightly dance across your palate...give it a try!
The Modern Era of Scottish Brewing
In the 20th century, the same merger craze that swept small brewers out of business all over the world took place in Scotland. But still, a few survived. More troubling in my opinion is the abandonment of traditional styles. Over the last few years, Scottish brewers seem to be abandoning their distinctive malty styles and brewing more like English brewers. It's increasingly common to find Scottish ales that actually taste like hops were used in the beer. Today, some scottish ales can not be distinguished from english bitters in a side-by-side comparison. What a shame!
Types of Scottish Beers
There are really four styles of beer that are characteristic of what I'd call "traditional" Scottish brewing. Three of these are commonly referred to by "shilling" designations that are based on the relative densities of the beers. It's a lot like the bitter designations used in English ales, except that for every aspect of hops in the English renditions, you'd substitute malt in Scottish ales.
All three "styles" of scottish ale are simply variations on a theme: they share the same basic color and flavor characteristics, varying only in original density (the amount of malt used to brew). All of these beers emphasize sweet toasty malt flavors as much as possible -- hops are used only to balance, not for flavor or aroma (although today that's changing as some brewers boost their hopping levels, making their formerly distinctive beers indistinguishable from mainstream English bitters).
What Is a 60 Shilling (Light) Ale?
The 60 shilling ale is a very light-bodied beer (around 8 to 9 Plato) that typically has a deep brown color, though some versions are really almost black. These are extremely light bodied beers that you could pound down as easily as water. The flavor is soft and malty sweet with a little bit of a toasty edge from kilned malts.
I usually find these beers uninteresting, preferring the export (80 shilling) at a minimum. But that's just me -- I've always been the kind of guy who prefers big beers. I'm unaware of any real scottish light ales being imported in the U.S., so you'll probably have to go to Scotland to try them. If you do, look for anything labeled "60" -- Caledonian, Belhaven, and Maclay all produce 60/- ales.
While 60 shilling ales are often described as the Scottish counterpart to an English ordinary bitter, I find that in terms of flavor and appearance they're really much closer to some of England's traditional brown ales. Try 'em side-by-side sometime and see if you don't agree with me...
What is a 70 Shilling (Heavy) Ale?
I can only begin to wonder what world a brewer has to be from to call these beers "heavy" since the reality is that they're typically only about a 10 Plato brew (1040) or less! These are light bodied beers with a soft malty flavor, and with the moderately boosted gravity, the beers sometimes show a little more complexity: maybe a bit of a nutty character or a touch of soft caramel.
Most scottish breweries produce 70/- ales, and there are a few bottled brands that are exported.
What is a 80 Shilling (Export) Ale?
The heaviest standard Scottish ales would be considered on the light side of normal gravity beers were they in any other country. These beers are brewed to about 11 to 12 Plato. Soft and malty with some toasty edges. Some people swear that they can pick up a smokiness in these beers, but I warrant that you won't find it in most examples of the style. Even though the starting gravity is very low on these beers they can be perceived as maltier than similar beers because Scottish ale yeasts tend to be less attenuative than strains used in other nations.
Most scottish breweries produce 80/- ales and there are several bottled brands available in the United States, including Belhaven Scottish Ale and Maclay 80 Shilling Export.
What is a Wee Heavy (Scotch Ale)?
Three words: big, smooth and malty. That's scotch ale (also known as wee heavy) in a nutshell. Malt sweetness is really the key to a good scotch ale -- you shouldn't really pick up any hop aroma or flavor, even though hops are used in the beer, but for balancing only. While scotch ales are decidedly malty, it would be a mistake to think that they are one-dimensional brews: they are actually pretty complex. Yeasts used in Scotland contribute much of this complexity, especially the slightly smoky aroma and flavor of phenols. The yeasts also commonly produce a wide range of esters, creating flavors of raisins or fruits, as well as diacetyl, which brings a bit of a buttery flavor to the beer. Although some craft brewers (notably Samuel Adams) have experimented with using the peat-kilned malts that whisky distillers use, these malts are not commonly used for brewing beer in Scotland -- it's the yeast that produces the slight smoke signature.
As I said, scotch ales are big beers. They're strong, very full bodied beers that pack an alcoholic wallop that sometimes hides behind their silky sweet flavor. It takes a lot of malt to make a beer like this: typical starting gravities are in the 18 to 20 Plato range (or even more), and alcohol levels of 7 to 8 percent are common, even though scotch ales also have fairly high terminal gravities -- lots of residual sugars there to make the beers taste sweet as a christmas cake!
Scotch ales are always a treat on a cool winter evening, when a robust sipping beer is the order of the day. Some of my favorites that you can find pretty widely in the United States are McAndrews Scotch Ale (Caledonian Brewing Co.), Skullsplitter Ale (Orkney Brewery), and McEwans Scotch Ale (Scottish & Newcastle).
Although it's a little on the light side for a scotch ale, I also like Old Jock Strong Ale, from the Broughton Brewery, a very soft and full-bodied dark brew.
Scottish Ales Made by U.S. Craft Brewers
While I can't think of any craft brewers that focus solely on scottish style beers, there are quite a few who have been making solid beers for many years, although it seems almost as common to deviate from the Scottish models as it does to emulate them.
One of the first U.S.-brewed Scottish ales I ever tried was Gran'ts Scottish Ale. Bert Grant's Yakima Brewing and Malting Company was one of the early pioneers in the American craft brewing movement and Grant's interpretation of the Scottish ale style has been around for almost 2 decades. It's ironic that while many beer connoisseurs have scoffed at the hoppiness of Grant's version while over recent years brewers in Scotland are themselves boosting their hopping rates. Who knows -- maybe brewers in Scotland are emulating Bert Grant!!
The beer that's probably easiest for most people to find is Samuel Adams Scotch Ale. This malty robust dark ale sometimes gets criticized for its use of a small amount of peat-smoked malt in the grist. The result is a distinctive phenolic smoky smell in the beer that you either love or hate. Purists sometimes howl at this beer being included in any discussion of genuine scottish ales, but like it or not, enough people seem to be buying it for Sam Adams to keep making it. No, it's not the classic example of the scotch ale style that a beer like McEwans is, but it's still an interesting interpretation and a tasty brew in its own right.
Bottom of the Keg
I've always thought scottish beers were rather special citizens in the world of beer, and I hope I've given you a little insight into what to expect next time you're browsing around the shelves of your local beer retailer and wondering whether or not to snag a six-pack of that Tartan ale. I say "go for it!" Then the only question you'll have to ask yourself is whether the Scotsmen wear anything under those kilts...
Until next time, see you in the bar!
Related Reviews:
About English Beers...
http://www.epinions.com/content_2237571204
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