Highland Games Ale
Dunedin Brewery

 

 

 

Thanks for sharing this one, Bobby.

A: The beer pours almost black with a finger or so of tan colored head.

S: A mild smoke to the aroma. Some dark chocolate and roast, and maybe a little of dark fruits. The roast becomes more intense as it warms, maybe becomes a bit ashy. There are some definite problems here, especially a noticeable acidity.

T: Slightly watery, but quite a lot has gone wrong here. Chalky and astringent with a strong roasted malt bitterness. Ash and roasted malt, a hint of coffee, a little bit of dark chocolate, too.

M: Medium in both body and carbonation.

O: Can't say that I was too big a fan of this particular beer.

I poured this into a pint glass. The carbonation was out of control! The head was more than a quarter of the glass and it took a good couple of minutes to settle to a managable size. the foam was a thick lacey off white. The brew is a deep/dark ruby color. It is almost too dark to see through. The taste is very malty up front and then again in the back end. The hops are present and they cut in now and again, but they never take complete control. Very hoppy for a Scotish Ale. The caramel tones are there. The body is relatively thick and slick. I would say with the over-carbonation in this brew the drinkability is brought down.

Pours a dark brown, red around the edges. A thick tan head with good staying power.

The smell is complex with sweet malts, alcohol, and slightly metallic smoky notes.

The taste is initially dominated by sweet malts almost like a milk stout there are notes of chocolate and coffee but these quickly give way to the smokyness. The smoke is complex and interesting but it finishes with a slightly off aftertaste. Improves as it warms.

The mouthfeel is highly carbonated and a little light for the style.

A very interesting beer but certainly not sessionable.

Thanks to Jredner for the trade.

Dispensed from a one pint bottle into a pint glass. Pours an opaque black color with a sufficient, creamy, tan head. Lots of lacing and nice retention.

Aroma is wonderfully smoky. This may not be suitable for some, but I love scotch and Rauchbier. Lots of peat and smokiness, like this beer was hanging in the smoker with about 20 loins of pork and beef. Smells just like a campground. Makes me hunger for sausage.

Taste replicates the aromas. Tons of smoke flavors. Chocolate malts as well. Quite comples. One detraction is the smoke seems to dominate a bit too much, but the overall flavor is still pretty well balanced.

This is probably a one and done beer, but that one beer is certainly tasty and goes down very smoothly. I dont think this beer is for everyone. It is much like a smoke beer, or Rauchbier. I tend to like this style so I enjoyed this one.

16oz bottle into a nonic. 2" mocha head full of fine bubbles becomes slightly rocky as it falls leaving a little thick lace. the beer is nearly opaque, a dark brown with mahogany highlights.

Aroma is strong with smoke and pine tar. Some roast malt and toffee lurks underneath. Bit of a rough feel to it.

First sip starts out watery. The malts kick in with some roast, then more smoke and pine tar. A little astringence from the peated malt, but not enough to be objectionable. Good balance.

Medium body and medium carbonation but it still comes across as watery. The peated malt is interesting and makes for a very different experience. The peat lends complexity but Dunedin should amp up the rest of the malts to really capitalize on it. As is, it is an interesting and ok beer.

Average brown, porter color. Ok head-more like soap bubbles on top then any real layer or head. Peated and whiskey type aroma. While I wouldnt normally have a problem with that its way overdone here and almost a plastic or resin type smell. Flavor makes me think I am sucking on a band aid. I dont liken this to the peat either. Medicinal and plastic like-a step above awful. Has that "wang" you might find in a homebrewed beer. Ok body-cant really find much there. I would give this a wide berth. I have had several of Dunedin's beer at the brewery but this one is a big miss. Tastes like a bad batch of homebrew to me.

Had this on tap at the Dunedin Highland Games. Boy was it nice to have fresh scottish style brew that did not make a multi-thousand mile journey.
This has a nice smokey aroma and flavor that makes you feel like you should be looking out over the moors.
This is one dark brew with a great flavor to match it's appearance.
Has great mouthfeel and is very drinkable. At least the 3-4 pints I had felt easily drinkable. Reccomended!

Like all of my dunedin bottles this one is old, I assume at least 3 years old, and from before the brewery move. Pours nice tan 25% head into a pint glass.

I have often wondered how peated malt would taste in a beer and now i know. This is not like an islay whisky but a dry peaty smell and taste is in this beer, along with a subtle background of roasted malt taste. the phenolic character is very pronounced and arguably stronger than the porter-notes themselves. That alone tells me a brewer would have to craft a fairly strong-tasting brew to keep from being dominated by the peat.

This is a decent porter in its own right and the addition of the peat element makes it quite pleasant. Of all the older bottles of dunedin beers I have left this is by far the best survivor and makes me want to find a more recent bottle!

Roasty smoked aroma with a touch of peat. Some mild coffee notes as well. Pours nice with a thinnish mocha head on a dark brown almost black body. Great flavor. Dark choclate and peat smoke with roasted malt. Very well blended and a decent bit of hop bite. The beer is a lot bigger than it used to be. The taste holds longer. Very drinkable now.

Bottle provided by LuckySevens82, thanks for the opportunity. Pours a two finger light tan head over a dark brown, slightly murky, liquid. The head falls as sink-holes form and the clingy chunks slide down. Smell is caramel, fuggles hops, and peated malt. There is a wet sweet that's tainted by an acrid smoked. Taste is an interesting mix of caramel and smoked malts. Combined they create a tangy plum skin character. Upon swallowing, the sweet of the caramel leaves, as does a rounded part of the smoke leaving a sour iron-like jerky taste in the aftertaste. Hops are absent in the flavor, but rise in the aftertaste as a grassy floral that dosie-dose with bitter from the smoke. They work well together, but I would appreciate the beer a bit more if there were some supporting caramel beneath it. Medium-light body with moderate carbonation. Damn if that frothy head isn't still hanging around on top of the beer...almost one finger thick. Lotsa lacing on the inside of the glass.

Another brew from FLA. I am sampling in a snifter at room temp (against bottle suggestion). The beer pours a deep dark mahogany color with rich garnet tints. Siginificant light blocking. A large spongy and marshmallowy beige head of 3 cm foams up easily and fades gradually to a think surface layer leaving tight latticework.
Aroma is rich toffee and caramel with an ashy smoke background. First sip reveals a creamy textured brew with average body and fine gentle carbonation. Flavor is sweet malt briefly and then finishes with a strong smokey ash flavor. No hint of alcohol or hops anywhere in this beer. THe beer is nice and smooth and after the first couple sips the smoke is much more mellow. I really enjoy the brew, but would call it a rauchbier not a porter.

Pours a clear deep garnet color. It is topped by a thick light brown head. There is a sharp smoky phenolic aroma from the smoked malt, and some underlying aromas of crystal malt is barely able to peek through the smoke. The taste is lightly sweet with notes of caramel, malt and toast. The finish is solidly of smoke, which is quite strong in the first sip. Subsequent sips are much less smoky though. The smoke has a plastic/ phenolic note to it, which is perhaps a characteristic of peat smoked malt, as I don’t remember it in the beech smoked beers of Bamberg.

Definitely and interesting beer. The, at first, intense smokiness really dies down as my taste buds become saturated with the smoke. This is a solidly malty brew with nary a hop note discernable, which is a good thing.

Dark ruby brown hue wearing a sticky off-white ead, big at first and rapidly going down. Aroma is cofeeish, earthy -> lots of peated malt, humid, pleasant. Palate is different though, while the medium body is creamy and displays adequate carbonation, the flavor strikes as rather unusual for a porter.. cobwebs? dirt? tobacco..Martin says dirty socks, let's just say I'm not a fan here which is sad because I liked their APA. Btw.. what's with every dunedin beer being at 5.2% ?

I don't know, maybe this was an old one or just a bad one but somethings wrong with this one. Pours dark reddish brown with the appearance of a Porter. Small head dissapeared quickly with hardly any lacing. Aroma is earthy and dank with a foul yeast presence. Tastes as it smaells with slight smokiness to it. I really didn't enjoy this one. Reminded me of one of my first homebrew experiments.