Stone Cat Scotch Ale
Ipswich Ale Brewery

Poured from a 12oz bottle into a US tumbler pint glass.

A: The beer is a deep amber color, with a thin off-white head that fades quickly and leaves a thin lace on the glass.

S: The aroma contains bourbon, vanilla, caramelized malt, some fruit and a faint touch of hops.

T: The taste starts out sweet with flavors of fruit, vanilla, caramel and toffee. Then a hearty malt character comes in, but it’s on the thin side for the style. The hops presence is mild but complementary and brings a little bit of balance. The after-taste is slightly sweet.

M: Crisp and smooth, medium body, medium carbonation, finish is slightly sticky.

O: Tasty, goes down easily, not too filling, decent kick, good representation of style, it’s a solid beer but there are others in the style that I would pick first.

 

Appearance: 1/4 inch head, cloudy, orange-brown in color, high carbonation

Smell: earth and toffee

Taste: earth, caramel malt, apple, and alcohol

Mouthfeel: medium bodied, sweet with an alcohol spike in the middle, moderate carbonation

Drinkability: An above average peaty, malty Scotch ale. Not the best in the style, but if you can get past the bitter alcohol spike, this is a sipper.

This beer reminded me more of a barleywine than a scotch ale. It pours a cloudy dark amber color with a thin off white head that quickly fades away. The aroma is loaded with malt. Notes of cherry, caramel malt and alcohol are detected. Each sip of this medium to full bodied beer begins with a strong roasted malt taste. Cherry syrup and alcohol flavors move in towards the middle and it finishes somewhat bitter with a mild alcohol burn as it goes down.

Pours a hazy brown with a tan head that quickly dissipates. Smells of sweet caramel malt. Some hints of fruitiness.

Taste is all malt. Lots of caramal malt. A bit one dimensional. Very light carbonation. Candy corn flavors? Kind of a sticky mouthfeel. Not a bad scotch ale but not very good either. Something is missing, maybe a smokiness that I would expect in a scotch ale. Probably won't get again.

Pours with a medium head, leaves no lace, miniscule carbonation and is a nice amber color. Nose is clearly malty and malts dominate. A good but not great scotch ale - I'm expecting a heavier bodied ale. Still, smooth and easy to drink. This is a strong ale but the ABV is no where to be found - 8+??

This is, I believe, my first Scotch Ale, so feel free to take this review with a grain of salt.

Deep golden/light amber in color, with a coarse white head that very quickly dissipated almost entirely. Plenty of malt in the nose. Taste is very malty with a cloying sweetness. Carbonation is minimal--mere minutes after pouring, there are no rising bubbles to be seen, and the head has vanished completely. Warming on the way down. Sweetness lingers on the tongue.

The big malty brews are not really my cup o' joe, so I found this ale pretty disagreeable. I can't speak to whether this is true to the Scotch Ale style, but if you like malty beers it's a good bet that you'll enjoy this more than I did.

Presentation: 12 oz brown long neck bottle with no freshness date to be found.

Appearance: Golden amber hue with a head that dissipates too quickly for my liking.

Smell: Sweet dextrin aroma with a mild solvent alcohol in the back.

Taste: Sweet and slick on the mouth with a medium to full body, carbonation is level. Malt flavours lack in complexity and seem one-dimensional. Sweetness from the malt seems a bit too much but the alcohol drops some spicy solvent flavour and the grain in the finish kicks with a mild astringency.

Notes: A bit problematic, head retention is lacking as well as a combo of flavours that you would expect in a Scotch Ale. Sadly this brew does not get my recommendation.