We've already reviewed 19 single malt scotches with only a handful left before I need to head back to the store. We've been tasting a lot of scotch lately, though the holidays, winter weather, and especially with Burns Night last week. Maybe we should pump the brakes and switch to beer for this round. Besides, some of the stuff we've already talked about may have some relevance to the foamier side of the barley family of beverages.
The early stages of turning barley into whisky and beer are nearly identical. Barley is malted, put through the grist mill, rested in the mash tun, and drained off as wort. The difference boils down (pun intended) to what happens next. When yeast is added to the wort and the resultant wash is distilled, the malt is on its way to becoming our beloved scotch. Alternatively, by boiling the wort with hops, then cooling it back down to an ideal temperature for pitching the yeast, beer is made. While whisky distilleries tend to be located in more remote regions of the country, Scottish breweries tend to be more concentrated in the Lowlands, especially around the major population centers of Glasgow and Edinburgh.
As a confessed scotophile, I have sampled my fair share of Scottish beer and more recently, local craft beers advertising themselves as Scotch Ale (aka, and more fun to say - 'Wee Heavy'). My palate for beer is all over the map, I can't pontificate on its finer points like I am wont to do with whisky. That is not my intention here, nor could I dare to tackle that large a topic in one post. Basically, I found it interesting to do a little digging as to what makes a beer a 'Scottish Ale' versus a 'Scotch Ale', and what connection, if any, there might be to its stiffer, pricier cousin.
SCOTTISH ALE
It may be anti-climatic to know that there is no rigidly defined guideline or tradition to brewing a Scottish ale. No unique yeast or hops, no clever twist on traditional brewing practices. You might assume that Scottish ale is simply from Scotland, although even this is not necessarily true. Pure marketing. American brewers use the term loosely to evoke a pale ale or ESB style beer with strong malt flavor and less hoppiness. Supposedly, Scottish brewers relied more heavily on traditional Celtic bittering herbs rather than hops in the past, as hops are difficult to grow in Scotland (and because Scottish brewers did not want to engage in trade with English hop merchants). We scotch drinkers are all about the malt anyway, hops be damned.
As a general rule though, Scottish ales (meaning the ones from Scotland), such as those from Belhaven, Tennett's, or McEwan's, are lower in ABV and specific gravity than those marketed as Scotch Ale/Wee Heavy. They tend to be maltier and less hoppy than their counterparts to the south, English bitters. There is a whole system of categorizing these ales by 'shillings', based loosely on ABV levels, a holdover from their approximate cost per hogshead (a 54 gallon barrel) in the 19th century:
Light ale 60/- shillings = <3.5% ABV
Heavy ale 70/- shillings = 3.5-4.0% ABV
Export ale 80/- shillings = 4.0-5.5% ABV
Scotch ale/Wee Heavy 90/- up to 160/- shillings = >5.5% ABV
SCOTCH ALE/'WEE HEAVY'
Naturally, this is the style I am drawn to based purely on the name. Other than the recent trend of some craft brewers using peated malt, there is little resemblance in flavor, aroma, or color to actual scotch. The term 'scotch ale' itself appeared in the late 19th century from brewers in Edinburgh, and was originally meant simply to convey higher ABV strength. Once again, there is no hard and fast set of guidelines in determining what constitutes a proper 'scotch ale', certainly nothing like the 2009 SWR act of British Parliament that governs the production of scotch whisky.
The timing of the origin of 'scotch ale' roughly coincides with the period of skyrocketing popularity of scotch whisky, often attributed to a major phylloxera plague decimating European wine grapes in the late nineteenth century. Beer is to scotch essentially what wine is to brandy, and suddenly brandy was nowhere to be found. Scotch whisky was there to fill the void for the thirsty masses. Scottish brewers may have been trying to capitalize on the bonanza. Once again, pure marketing.
The term 'wee heavy' has a similarly underwhelming significance. What started out simply as branding tagline for Fowler's Twelve Guinea Ale, released in six-ounce bottles due to WWII rationing (hence the 'wee'), was adopted particularly by American craft breweries for their own takes on scotch ale. Most often at even higher ABV strengths, essentially the 'imperial' version of an already potent brew, scotch ales often reach 8.0% ABV or higher. The Scottish-brogue sounding term helps for marketing purposes, much like the faux-European sounding name chosen for Haagen Dazs ice cream.
A basic flavor hallmark of these scotch ales and wee heavies, Scottish, American, or otherwise, is their malty sweetness, often like caramel or toffee. Without so much of the bitter influence of hops, the malt shines through as a full-bodied, sweet flavor. This profile is often compared to barleywine style beer, which is similarly high in alcohol content. Color can range from a reddish amber to extremely dark. Certainly those brews made with peated malt will also exhibit a good deal of smokiness and the characteristic swamp funk pungency, the degree of which depends on the malt's ppm phenol levels going in.
SHE'S CRAFTY, AND SHE'S JUST MY TYPE
I've gotta tie Richmond into this whole conversation, that is supposed to be my mission statement after all. I should probably feature a few Virginia craft brewery interpretations of scotch ale/wee heavy beers (or similar styles):
Garden Grove Ron Burgundy (Richmond, VA) - "Strong Scotch Ale"; brewed with Laphroaig-infused duck bacon (wait...what?!), then fermented in wine barrels, this is a collaboration with locally renowned chef Will Longoria of The Rogue Gentleman. DUCK BACON? 7% ABV, 22 IBU's
Garden Grove Buchanan's (RVA) - "Smoked Scottish Ale", a peat smoked malt in a lighter style Scottish ale. Malty, minimal hops, and just the right balance of sweet and bitter. Last seen on GGBC's 'In Purgatory' list of beers on hiatus that may one day return. 4.5% ABV, 24 IBU's
Castleburg Kings, Crime & Punishment (RVA) - "A Strong Scottish Ale with notes of caramel, raisin, black cherries, chocolate and plums" says owner/brewmaster Karl Homburg. 8.5% ABV, 29 IBU's
Legend Strong Arm Ale (RVA) - they stop short of calling it a Scotch Ale on the website, but the beer style is dead-on (Capital Ale House agrees with me on this). The oldest craft brewery in RVA has been knocking it out of the park lately. The Norwegian style Utebier and their 'Z Dam Ale' in particular are two of my go-to session beers lately. 9.0% ABV, [unlisted] IBU's
Steam Bell Beer Works Deep Roots and Smoked Braggot (Midlothian, VA) - finally(!) somebody noticed there were no proper* breweries for my fellow 350,000 suburbanites south of the James in Chesterfield County (#3 in VA). The first is a traditional wee heavy. the second an applewood/cherry smoked 'braggot' beer (in itself a combination of barley malt and mead). 8.3%, 8.4% ABV respectively, [unlisted] IBU's
*Extrabilly's BBQ (the Alverser Drive location) has brewed its own beer since 2000, but as a side project for the restaurant. Pretty good, actually.
Midnight Brewery Cairn's Wee Heavy (Rockville, VA) - a seasonal release with 'intense malty sweetness, balanced by a subtle, spicy hop note", and the only reason I can think of to go anywhere near Short Pump Town Center. 7.0% ABV, 23 IBU's
Center of the Universe Scotchtown (Ashland, VA) - 'strong scotch ale', late winter seasonal that incorporates both peated malt and roasted malt, available only in 22 oz. bombers, also comes in a barrel-aged 2015 vintage release, matured in A. Smith Bowman (Fredericksburg, VA) whiskey casks. Bonus points for sponsoring and releasing a special beer for our AA minor league baseball team, the Richmond Flying Squirrels. 7.0% ABV, [unlisted] IBU's
Devil's Backbone Brewing Kilt Flasher (Roseland, VA) - a full-bodied wee heavy, malty and sweet. The high ABV sneaks up on you big time. Easy to find at RVA grocery stores, this is a regular purchase for me. 8.0% ABV, 20 IBU's
Blue Mountain Brewery MacHayden's Wee Heavy (Afton, VA) - a winter seasonal using the same yeast as McEwan's Scottish ale, also features peat-smoked malt. This one was available at Growlers-To-Go last time I was there. 7.8% ABV, 25 IBU's
Wood Ridge Farm Brewery Attaboy Wee Heavy (Lovingston, VA) - a standout brew from Nelson County's latest. Well worth the detour from the Route 151 usual suspects. 7.2% ABV, 25 IBU's
Apocalypse Ale Works Heavy Red Horseman (Forest, VA) - "Strong Scottish Ale", Gold Medal 2014 Virginia Craft Brewers Festival. Delish. I can vouch. 7.4% ABV, 23 IBU's
Brass Cannon Angry Scot (Toano, VA) - the brewers managed to drop 'sopapillas' and 'black treacle' into its online description. Um... you have my attention. 7.8% ABV, [unlisted] IBU's. There's also a seasonal version, Apple Scot, brewed with apple juice for a lighter, more cider-ish profile. 7.2% ABV
Sunken City Tartan Tent (Hardy, VA) - "Scottish Export Ale", a winter seasonal brewed near Smith Mountain Lake. It never occurred to me to go there in the winter. I saw a bomber of this one recently at the Woodlake Lucky's gas station/convenient store/bait shop/post office/craft beer emporium. Best kept beer secret on the Southside (well, until now). 6.6% ABV, 27.8 IBU's
St. George Winter Scotch (Hampton, VA) - From the home of what appears to be the world's largest coffee filter, Hampton Coliseum, comes a newly released peat smoked full-bodied malt. By the way, there's an old Studebaker and a VW Beetle submerged in the Coliseum's moat for scuba classes. 6% ABV, 25 IBU's
Starr Hill Psycho Kilter (Crozet, VA) - a 2013 limited release wee heavy that can't come back soon enough. Best name of the bunch too, complete with a 'David Byrne in an oversized suit' likeness. Qu'est-ce que c'est. 9.3% ABV, 24 IBU's
These are just the ones off the top of my head within a 90 minute drive of RVA, I may have missed some. These things move faster than I can keep up with, so feel free to browse among our metro area's finest yourself:
Ammo Brewing, The Answer Brewpub, Ardent Craft Ales, Canon & Draw Brewing Co., Castleburg Brewery, Center of the Universe Brewing, Champion Brewing (RVA), Dogtown Brewing Co., Double Dizzy Brewery, ExtraBilly's BBQ and Brewery, Final Gravity Brewing, Fine Creek Brewing Co., Garden Grove Brewing Co., Hardywood Park Craft Brewery, Intermission Beer Co., Isley Brewing Co., Kindred Spirit Brewing, Legend Brewing Co., Lickinghole Creek Craft Brewery, Manastoh Brewing, Midnight Brewery, Origin Beer Lab, Rock Bottom Brewery, Rusty Beaver Brewery, 7 Hills Brewing Co., Steam Bell Beer Works, Stone Brewing, Strangeways Brewing, Three Notch'd RVA Collab House, Trapezium Brewing, Triple Crossing Brewing, Twisted Ales, Vasen Brewing, The Veil Brewing Co., etc.
Now back to the hard stuff...
No comments:
Post a Comment