Peated Scottish Ale

Scotland has a very intense and long tradition of brewing, and as with their accent, it is muddled, convoluted, and might be the most beautiful thing in the world. Evidence of brewing has been found in Scotland as early as the 4th millenium BC, and as new groups moved into, conquered, and established cultures in the British Isles, especially Scotland, brewing practices and ingredients have become more varied and complex. This established cultural styles and brews, including ales using heather, bog myrtle, and other local ingredients particular to Scotland. These ingredients were used before the advent of hops and their utilization in the brewing industry. 

Most of the Scottish ales we think of today are throwbacks to styles that have fallen out of popularity due to the influx of pale lagers, industry conglomeration, and lack of popular demand. Scottish ales are maltier than their English equivalents, and as some have speculated, this is because of the lack of hop growing fields in Scotland proper, due to the cooler weather. Hops had to be imported in Scotland and as the rise of Industrialization and the wars that followed, hops became very expensive to bring over.

There was a trade-off to the cooler, northern climate, as Scottish brewers were able to brew year-round in the days before refrigeration and temperature control. England’s summer would be too warm to ferment properly, so they would import Scottish ales. The individualistic breweries of Scotland became world renowned and were a large inspiration to the individualistic stylings of Belgian breweries we’ve become familiar with today.  With the creation of proper refrigeration, England’s brewing practices could continue year-round, and with their hop fields, they could hop their beer to a cheaper and larger degree thus preserving it longer as it traveled around the world. This was a huge loss to Scotland, whose breweries never seem to recover and have waned down to a handful in the entire nation. 

As of the 20th Century, Scottish Ales have been designated by their cost per barrel which is a general indicator of alcohol content. 60-, 70-, 80-, 90-, and 100-shilling are all popular designations of Scotch and Scottish ales and are indicative of their strength, and sometimes their color, though this fashion seems to have disappeared, or at least ignored in the United States. Within the more recent beer guidelines there is a designation between Scottish and Scotch ales, the former being lighter in alcohol while the latter generally applies to style dubbed as “wee heavy”. Wee Heavy’s are barleywine-esque in style and have recieved the name of “Scotch” to differentiate them from other Scottish ale styles. In general for Scotch ales, the lower the alcohol content, the darker the beer. This most likely came from using larger amounts of caramel or colored malts to give the beer flavor and some sweetness while the sugar-rich base malts were scaled back to control alcohol content.

Breweries could also have used first runnings for base malts (generally pale malts such as Golden Promise, grown in Scotland) for larger alcohol beers, topped off the mash with caramel malts for flavor and used the second-runnings, or sparge, as their lower alcohol content beers. This would create stronger, lighter beers and milder, darker beers.

There is often confusion surrounding the presence of peat, or peat flavor, in Scottish style ales. Peat is a mass of partially decayed vegetation that is used as a fuel source around the world, and in particular Scotland, Ireland, and the Britain. Scotch whiskys, especially Islays, often have a peat presence from peat-kilned malts as Scotland is rich in peat bogs and peat-rich moors. Peat, as a flavor in Scottish ales, is typically restrained and generally not from peated malts themselves, but rather from water sources running from peat-rich areas, from flavors thrown off from the cold-fermenting ale yeast, and from Maillard reactions from longer boils in the kettle which the Scottish. Longer boils can add a richer color to the beer without adding further caramel malts.

That being said, it is very hard for American brewers to have water sources running through peat, and it is often the wandering day dream of Scotland and their wonderful moors and purple-heather hills that has us use peated malt to fulfill our highland fantasies.

 

Style

Malty

IBU

28

ABV

4.6%

Availability

Not Currently Available

Flavor Notes

Soft, toffee-brown in color, this beer is malt forward and features the Scottish grown malt, Golden Promise. Body and Caramel malts help to thicken the draw of this beer and give a rounded caramel and toffee sweetness. There is undertone of peat on both the nose and in the flavor that plays with the East Kent Goldings and Fuggles hop bitterness and earthiness. A cold-fermenting Scottish Ale yeast rounds out this Scottish-inspired brew by emphasizing malt flavors over ale yeast esters, creating a sweetness rather than a pronounced fruitiness that characterizes their English beer counterparts.

Malts

Golden Promise, Crystal, Melanoidan, Aromatic, Peated, Perla Negra, and White Wheat Malts

Hops

East Kent Goldings, Fuggles

Yeast

Scottish Ale Yeast

Food Pairings

Savory Puddings, Shephard's Pies, Earthy and Spicy Thai dishes

Available In Bars & Liquor Stores

Barrel-Aged Russian Imperial Stout Variety Pack

In Bars & Liquor Stores

Barrel-AgedDark & Roasty10.8%Seasonal

Cherries & Berries Sour

In Bars & Liquor Stores

FruitySour5.4%15 IBUAlmost Gone!

Chocolate Milk Stout

In Bars & Liquor Stores

Stout5.5%26 IBUSeasonal

Cream Ale

In Bars & Liquor Stores

Light & Crisp5.2%20 IBUYear Round

DangerLite American Lager

In Bars & Liquor Stores

Lager4.2%15 IBUSeasonal

Dark Fruited Sour

In Bars & Liquor Stores

Dark SourFruityTart6.5%20 IBUSeasonal

Deer Stand Lager

In Bars & Liquor Stores

LagerLight & Crisp4.2%12 IBUAlmost Gone!

From Dawn Till Dusk: Imperial Cream Ale with Coffee & Milksugar

In Bars & Liquor Stores

CoffeeImperial Ale8.0%22 IBUSeasonal

Helles Lager

In Bars & Liquor Stores

Light & Crisp5.0%18 IBUSeasonal

House IPA

In Bars & Liquor Stores

Hoppy7.0%50 IBUYear Round

Imperial Pumpkin Ale

In Bars & Liquor Stores

Imperial AleSpiced8.5%20 IBUAlmost Gone!

Lichtenhainer: Tart Smoked Wheat Ale with Pineapple

In Bars & Liquor Stores

CrispSmokeyTart3.8%9 IBUAlmost Gone!

Mango El Dorado IPA

In Bars & Liquor Stores

Fruited IPA6.5%50 IBUSeasonal

Mexican Corn Lager

In Bars & Liquor Stores

Lager5.3%16 IBUAlmost Gone!

Peanut Butter Porter

In Bars & Liquor Stores

Dark & Roasty6.1%26 IBUYear Round

Pecan Brown

In Bars & Liquor Stores

Brown Ale5.7%20 IBUSeasonal

Rye IPA

In Bars & Liquor Stores

Hoppy6.5%55 IBUSeasonal

THC Tonic Berry Lemon Drop

In Bars & Liquor Stores

THCYear Round

THC Tonic Blueberry Pie

In Bars & Liquor Stores

THCSeasonal

THC Tonic Key Lime Pie

In Bars & Liquor Stores

THCAlmost Gone!

THC Tonic Off Switch

In Bars & Liquor Stores

THCAlmost Gone!

THC Tonic Orange Dreamsicle

In Bars & Liquor Stores

THCAlmost Gone!

THC Tonic Painkiller

In Bars & Liquor Stores

THCYear Round

THC Tonic Strawberry Dragon Fruit

In Bars & Liquor Stores

THCAlmost Gone!

Watermelon Sour

In Bars & Liquor Stores

FruitySour5.0%7 IBUAlmost Gone!