Special Reserve Wisconsin Scottish Ale
Sand Creek Brewing Company

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From:
Sand Creek Brewing Company
 
Wisconsin, United States
Style:
Scottish Ale
ABV:
Not listed
Score:
86
Avg:
3.77 | pDev: 3.98%
Reviews:
10
Ratings:
11
Status:
Retired
Rated:
Jul 27, 2013
Added:
Feb 21, 2009
Wants:
  0
Gots:
  0
No description / notes.
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
Ratings by dstc:
Photo of dstc
Reviewed by dstc from Florida

3.95/5  rDev +4.8%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4
Pours a murky orangish, brown with a nice tan head. Head falls slow. Nice lace.

Nice sweet caramel malt nose. Smells delicious.

Sweet malts in the mouth backed by a mild but noticeable hop flavor. Bit tinny.

Medium bodied in the mouth with a slight bite.

Fairly drinkable and pleasant. Would have again.
Feb 01, 2010
More User Ratings:
 
Rated: 3.75 by Rihup from Illinois

Jul 27, 2013
Photo of arkurzynski
Reviewed by arkurzynski from Wisconsin

3.48/5  rDev -7.7%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3
Pours deep amber brown with creamy tan head. Aroma almost overwhelmingly caramel malts with some toasted characteristics. A slight nose of alcohol. Taste is slightly sweet up front with more impressionable toasted and biscuit finish. Hop bitterness and spice at the very tailend and some alcohol warmth. Something different.
Feb 21, 2010
Photo of drabmuh
Reviewed by drabmuh from Maryland

3.79/5  rDev +0.5%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 4
I guess this is the correct beer. The bottle says "Wisconsin Scottish Ale" from Sand Creek but there's no mention of reserve. Received this aged beer in a recent trade. I'll review it here unless someone points out my error.

Poured from a 12 ounce bottle into a standard pint glass. Beer is dark amber / brown and hazy, forms a thin off white / yellow head that falls away to a very thin but contiguous layer on the top of the beer, there is no lacing on the glass. Looks OK.

Sweet and malty in the aroma, smells awesome. No bitterness but this nice almost spicy sweet flavor.

Beer is a little thin and there isn't much in the way of sweetness I was hoping for based on the initial aroma. There is a roasty character to the flavor in the back of the mouth. There isn't an aftertaste as far as I can tell yet, no bitterness, kind of a boring beer unfortunately. Second taste, slightly sweeter, overall my first impressions remain. Drinkability is good mouthfeel falls a little short for me. I like Scotch ales a lot, this one is just too weak.
Dec 22, 2009
Photo of wisrarebeer
Reviewed by wisrarebeer from Wisconsin

3.8/5  rDev +0.8%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
A: nice copper color
S: sweet, almost like malted barley nose, a smattering of hops, alcohol
T: good, traditional sweetness of Scottish, nice hop balance, well-rounded, a decent beer, but needed more malt qualities
M: a bit tinny, but decent, easy drinking
D: decent overall, was close for a Scottish ale but needed more malt
Nov 01, 2009
Photo of scruffwhor
Reviewed by scruffwhor from Illinois

3.87/5  rDev +2.7%
look: 3 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4.5
Pours a dark amber with hints of ruby. Pretty quick , thin head and only a half ring of foam after the first few sips. Pretty good, muli-columns of bubbling. Prunes and sweet carrot cake bread. Some black cherry scents make me think of flavored brandy. The taste starts off bready and syrupy sweet fruit. The middle dries out the prune and dark cherry flavors, while the malts tak on a more grain flavor and texture. The finish is full on carrot cake bread and fruit cake with still a grainy finish.
Sep 13, 2009
Photo of kittywamp
Reviewed by kittywamp from Minnesota

3.97/5  rDev +5.3%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4.5
Poured from 12oz bottle. Nice half ince head and good dark amber almost muddy color. Smell was a little od kinda indescribable but nice. Taste was good with a good amount of caramel? Mouthfeel was a litle thin and wattery. Drinkability was good despite the thin mouthfeel.
Jul 10, 2009
Photo of Fartknocker
Reviewed by Fartknocker from Wisconsin

3.88/5  rDev +2.9%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
12 ounce bottle with no date or codes on the bottle.

A- a dark amber or copper color with about a one half inch head.
S- a clean aroma of the scotch.
T- a mild and smooth scotch flavor, with little if any of an alcohol taste.
M- plenty of carbonation.
D- good, it comes in a four pack, which is about how many I would drink in an evening.
May 25, 2009
Photo of cokes
Reviewed by cokes from Wisconsin

3.56/5  rDev -5.6%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 4 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5
Mostly clear, dark amber-bronze with a thin ring of beige lacework.
The nose is a bit hollow in overall impact, but exudes toast, rusted metal, apples, cherry (cough) syrup, toffee, and vanilla.
Toasted and nutty upon entering the mouth. Loads of dark breads, with a spiciness that almost mimics rye. Molasses and brown sugar glaze it all, as it fades towards cherry and apple. A small heathery smokiness bubbles up from the depths...think Speyside. Hops are low, but insistent with their peppery, herbal bitterness. It concludes with a small boozey flame, and linging burnt nut notions.
Relatively light in texture for a pretty massive beer. The carbonation is tiny and fleeting. But even once gone, it's not overly clinging, cloying or sticky. In many ways, it's more drinkable than it should be.
There is some charm here...actually, a fair deal of it. It has some rough spots and blemishes. At the end of the day, I'll give it an "alright", but probably won't pay the premium price for again.
May 13, 2009
Photo of SykDoc
Reviewed by SykDoc from Wisconsin

3.65/5  rDev -3.2%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
Poured from a bottle into a pint glass. It pours a nice amber red with 1/4 inch off-white head that reduces to a full coverage lacing. The carbonation is obvious and it is transparent with no sediment.

The smell is a nice combination of apple cider and an earthy/pine component, and lastly a malty sweetness as the backbone. It is not real complex but pleasant none the less.

The taste is a bit mild. The cider component comes out again with some hints of grass and a hoppy bitterness. A mild sweetness lingers on the tongue at the finish which is likely the caramel flavor from the malts. There is a slight metallic taste.

The mouthfeel reveals a light-medium bodied beer with a fairly heavy level of carbonation for the flavor. There is a spiciness from the carbonation that makes if feel clean and crisp.

Overall, this is a reasonably good beer. There are many better examples of scottish ales but this is a unique one and worth a try. The taste and mouthfeel are not so intense that you can't enjoy another but also not good enough that you're looking to have it regularly.
Mar 21, 2009
Photo of wheatyweiss
Reviewed by wheatyweiss from Wisconsin

3.76/5  rDev -0.3%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Poured from a twelve ounce bottle into a nonic.

Pours a medium amber with no visible cloud. Head is creamy tan but short lived, thick rings of lace. No date on bottle but a neat picture of a cast pewter amulet with a badger wearing a kilt, on top of a tartan background.

Aroma is of medium roasted, sweet malt. Slightly, ever so slightly smokey, with a small trace of fruit most likely yeast. Malt aroma is sweet and toasty. Soda cracker and Marmite with a hit of fruity yeast.

Taste is nutty bready malt with a cracker like snap which brings the sweetness down a notch. Caramel and nutty flavors in the middle with a slight alcohol warming. Finishes a bit dry, with a smallish peaty and smokey flavor with a little booze snap at the finish. Over the whole flavor I will say there are hops there, very muted. I'm not too used to that in a Scottish Ale, but it's not bad.

Mouthfeel is quite lush, with soft carbonation and an oily finish.

Pretty good beer, but I don't know if it would stand up to some other "Scottish Ales" a great locally owned easy drinking beer that I would buy and drink again.

(edited scores as the flavor improves as the beer warms above cellar temp.)
Feb 21, 2009
Special Reserve Wisconsin Scottish Ale from Sand Creek Brewing Company
Beer rating: 86 out of 100 with 11 ratings