Scapa Special
Swannay Brewery

Scapa SpecialScapa Special
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From:
Swannay Brewery
 
Scotland, United Kingdom
Style:
English Pale Ale
ABV:
4.2%
Score:
87
Avg:
3.87 | pDev: 10.85%
Reviews:
8
Ratings:
14
Status:
Active
Rated:
Oct 08, 2019
Added:
Apr 05, 2011
Wants:
  1
Gots:
  1
No description / notes.
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Ratings by bros:

  None found.

Photo of TheDoctor
Reviewed by TheDoctor from Canada (QC)

4.11/5  rDev +6.2%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4
Serving: Cask
Consumed: Sep-28-2019


Pours crystal clear gold with a fat finger of white cream, good retention, literal sheets of lacing that cover the whole glass as you drink. Aroma and flavor equally have earthy hops, grainy malt twang and light almost smoky character (though I don't think it's actually smoked anything), a bit bitter. Light carbonation nice fairly bitter finish. Very nice balanced beer with a good balanced bitter flavor to keep it all together. It has more of a hoppy snap than I expected, very nice with a kind of subdued malt profile. Lovely, luscious look and good all around. Drinkable, substantial-but-light-on-its-feet. A really enjoyable beer with an interesting character overall.

4.5...4...4.25...3.75...4
Oct 08, 2019
More User Ratings:
 
Rated: 4.96 by IRONRakkasan from California

Jan 05, 2019
Photo of vinicole
Reviewed by vinicole from England

3.54/5  rDev -8.5%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
Hazy yellow. Thick white head.
Bread malt and fruity hop aroma.
Malt continues. Some earthy flavour. Hops are subdued but present.
Decent feel to a bottle conditioned beer.
Mar 11, 2016
Photo of Hsquad12
Reviewed by Hsquad12 from Texas

4.25/5  rDev +9.8%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
Poured on cask in the Reel, Kirkwall and the Commodore, Holm Orkney. Plus I've had a few bottles from Baikes's in Finstown over the years.
I'm not smart enough to write a review without the beer next to me in a glass. Suffice it to say that a few pints of Scapa every year is one of the highlights of my annual pilgrimage home from Austin, TX to Orkney. I stopped in last month and was told they have a deal in the works to increase capacity and sort our global distribution. Happy days ahead for everyone outside Orkney and the North of Scotland.
Great job Rob Hill and Co! - love your beers.
Aug 10, 2015
Photo of jmdrpi
Reviewed by jmdrpi from Pennsylvania

3.69/5  rDev -4.7%
look: 3.25 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75
On cask, served in an imperial pint glass. Golden in color, pale malt and delicate hop flavors. Easy drinking. good mouthfeel from the cask conditioning.
Apr 30, 2015
 
Rated: 3.75 by Drknight from Virginia

Jan 12, 2014
Photo of Hanglow
Rated by Hanglow from Scotland

3.54/5  rDev -8.5%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.5
Rating for bottle.

Better cask dispense, good solid beer
Jan 08, 2014
Photo of mick303
Reviewed by mick303 from Canada (ON)

3.96/5  rDev +2.3%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Pulled on cask in Kirkwall. An attractive light amber gold colour, nice head of soapy white head and great lacing. Smell had some pleasant grapefruit citrus and tropical fruit notes, a good crisp hoppy presence. The taste delivers a full flavour, with honey biscuity finish that ends very dry. The taste has a lots of balanced citrus hops and bitterness. Mouthfeel is light and highly sessionable, crisp carbonation and highly drinkable and crisp. Just a very balanced, flavourful ale that doesn't disappoint, was quite impressed with this and its worth trying for sure.
Jun 19, 2013
 
Rated: 3.75 by Beerstorian from District of Columbia

Feb 16, 2013
 
Rated: 3.75 by RockinRob925 from Florida

Oct 02, 2012
 
Rated: 3.5 by gulden from Australia

Dec 20, 2011
Photo of bark
Reviewed by bark from Sweden

3.54/5  rDev -8.5%
look: 4 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3 | overall: 4
The colour is gold, the liquid clear. The low head is offwhite.

The smell is light. Some hay-like hops. It is very light.

The taste starts with a fresh clean bitterness. Quite a lot of hops; hay and old grass. Low sweetness, hints of bullion. Smooth malty flavours and some minerals. The aftertaste got some flavours of green plants and caramel malt.

The carbonation is fresh, the bubbles medium strong. The liquid is medium smooth.

A good PA. Shame it didn’t smell anything at all.
Dec 06, 2011
Photo of stcules
Reviewed by stcules from Italy

3.45/5  rDev -10.9%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5
Deep blonde color, with one finger ow a quite good white foam.
Pleasant smell, with light notes of tangerine and camomile.
Good taste, with a light malty base, tending a bit toward the sweet side, then again hop, camomile and tangerine.
Pleasantly drinkable.
Jun 21, 2011
Photo of lackenhauser
Reviewed by lackenhauser from Maryland

4.45/5  rDev +15%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 5
Very nice pale golden color, maybe a step darker then pure golden. Nice, soft white head. Fruity and malty aroma. Very faint yeasty and bread like quality. Malt right upfront but the hops come thru for sure and stand up quite well. Hops tend to linger once they are present. Again a somewhat bready, faintly nutty flavor. Very nice mouthfeel-had this on draft as well though just as creamy from the bottle. When I first had this my thoughts were "wow I could make a night of this". Easy going down, perhaps just like a ship in Scapa Flow! Just a great beer all in. Well worth enjoying when you find it.
Apr 05, 2011
Scapa Special from Swannay Brewery
Beer rating: 87 out of 100 with 14 ratings