Wee Heavy
Wild Wolf Brewing Company

Wee HeavyWee Heavy
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From:
Wild Wolf Brewing Company
 
Virginia, United States
Style:
Scotch Ale / Wee Heavy
ABV:
5.7%
Score:
84
Avg:
3.68 | pDev: 8.42%
Reviews:
4
Ratings:
32
Status:
Retired
Rated:
Aug 02, 2018
Added:
Nov 11, 2013
Wants:
  0
Gots:
  11
Our Scottish style brown ale is deep brown in color – just take a smell of this beautiful beer and you will see why it is Scottish in style. Strong notes of roasted caramel malt & finishing with a touch of smoke…very reminiscent of the best scotches.
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
Ratings by brocktune:
Photo of brocktune
Rated by brocktune from Virginia

3.56/5  rDev -3.3%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75

Jul 13, 2015
More User Ratings:
 
Rated: 4.54 by DSGerlach from Virginia

Aug 02, 2018
 
Rated: 4.06 by whattheshelley from Virginia

Feb 21, 2017
 
Rated: 3.79 by SonOfKyuss from Virginia

Nov 03, 2016
 
Rated: 3.73 by sisterofba from Maryland

Oct 22, 2016
Photo of Pantalones
Reviewed by Pantalones from Virginia

3.75/5  rDev +1.9%
look: 4 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
My last can from the six-pack, canning date clearly marked on the bottom: May 4th, 2016. It's around 4 months old, pushing 5, but for a malty style that generally ages well (I've seen higher-ABV versions with best-by dates YEARS out!) that should be no problem at all.

The beer is a dark brown color, not to the point of being stout-black but still very dark; maybe just short of cola-colored. Rising bubbles are abundant, and the head of foam that forms after pouring seems to be pretty long-lived -- it's shrunk to about half its original size at this point, but has this nice tightly-packed condensed look to it rather than thinning away to nothing. Pretty clear, there's a slight haziness but light gets through and the bubbles are clearly visible. Looks pretty nice!

Smells malty, a bit sweet. Definitely a roasty, maybe even smoky thing going on in the background which I'm noticing on my second or third sniff. Doesn't jump out of the glass at me, but what's there is mostly pleasant. I'm noticing halfway through the glass that there is a bit of this "almost-gone-bad fruit" sort of sweetness in there which is less pleasant than the malty, smoky, slightly-sweet smell it had initially; thankfully that does not carry over to the flavor at all!

Taste is similar to the smell but heavier on the smokiness; it's surprisingly mild at the start of the sip, but approaching the end this smoky, woody flavor pops in and lingers for a bit. After that mostly fades, there's a slight roasted sort of flavor left behind for a bit, almost approaching coffee-like at times but not as big as in most stouts/porters, just a hint. No hops that I can perceive, unless they're contributing to that woody flavor blending in with the smokiness; not much bitterness but it doesn't come across as sweet either (the smell seemed sweeter than the flavor for sure) so they must be hiding in there doing their balancing thing. I'm getting a very faint almost-sourish sort of thing in there at times, wondering if maybe that could be hops as well? It's just a little hint every now and then, popping in right at the end before fading into the slight roast that I mentioned before.

Mouthfeel is nice as well. Very drinkable. It's lighter/thinner than I expected based on past examples of the style, but the others I've had were much higher ABV (7%+ rather than in the 5% range where this one is) so that's probably not surprising. Still, I feel like that may be the one downside mouthfeel-wise, I'd like it to feel just a bit thicker while retaining all the positive features (if possible -- I know balancing these things is pretty tricky.) Has a nice soft bubbliness to it, not prickly harsh carbonation at all, which definitely makes it easy to drink a good bit quickly.

Overall a pleasant beer, and one that I'm glad I finally got to try (I saw it on the shelves of a store once last year but they vanished by the time I came back to pick some up, so I missed out until finally stumbling across another six-pack many months later.) Scotch Ales are in short supply around these parts, so it's nice to know that there's one coming from one of the breweries that's close enough I can easily drive to if I had a day off!
Sep 26, 2016
Photo of smcolw
Reviewed by smcolw from Massachusetts

3.61/5  rDev -1.9%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5
Clear, light brown color. Small, but lasting head from the pour from a can. Minimal spots for lace.

Deep semisweet toffee aroma. I get a bit of alcohol to the nose and just a touch of raw pale barley.

Mild start, even a bit watery, but as the beer warms on the tongue, I taste darker malt (perhaps chocolate malt?). Lots of carbonation, which really stands out with the watery base. The swallow is very good, the culmination of all the aforementioned elements plus a little bittering hop--not enough to leave the style, but enough to provide some interest and avoid some the cloyingly sweet after-tones. The aftertaste is relatively short, but decent.
Aug 26, 2016
 
Rated: 3.9 by Hockey_Fan from Maryland

Jun 15, 2016
 
Rated: 3.88 by JamieDuncan from Maryland

Sep 04, 2015
 
Rated: 3.94 by zp6167a from District of Columbia

Aug 11, 2015
 
Rated: 3.06 by hophugger from Virginia

Jun 30, 2015
 
Rated: 3.64 by Big_V from Maryland

Jun 14, 2015
Photo of obywan59
Reviewed by obywan59 from Virginia

3.67/5  rDev -0.3%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
Near mahogany with a 4 1/2 finger light tan head from a really hard pour. Decent light to moderate lacing. The color of the head reminds me of Irish Cream. Held up to my brightest light, the beer is a gorgeous ruby color with light carbonation.

The aroma is of spiced tart cherries, smokey oak, and milky caramel.

The taste is even more smokey. Maybe a hint of caramel and cherry again. Very dry with a bit of dark fruit, and the bitterness of roast malt.

Fairly crisp with a medium to medium full body that leaves a bit of a syrupy residue in the mouth and on the iips giving the brew a somewhat drying character.

A bit on the dry side for my taste, but the dark fruit aspect moderates that a bit. Overall, it's fairly well rounded with plenty of character to interest and entertain.
Mar 06, 2015
Photo of SFC21
Rated by SFC21 from Florida

3.85/5  rDev +4.6%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
Malty with a nice dose of smoke a really enjoyable
Feb 14, 2015
 
Rated: 3.4 by robebo44 from Virginia

Dec 28, 2014
 
Rated: 3.25 by JandJMD from Maryland

Dec 11, 2014
 
Rated: 3.75 by Martyrob from North Carolina

Nov 20, 2014
 
Rated: 4.25 by fishguyac from Virginia

Nov 03, 2014
 
Rated: 3.52 by Dougwillhike from New Jersey

Oct 19, 2014
 
Rated: 3.7 by jaymo18 from Virginia

Sep 14, 2014
Wee Heavy from Wild Wolf Brewing Company
Beer rating: 84 out of 100 with 32 ratings