Piper Down Scottish Ale | Ballast Point Brewing Company
Brewed by:
Ballast Point Brewing Company
California, United States
ballastpoint.com
Style: Scottish Ale
Alcohol by volume (ABV): 5.80%
Availability: Rotating
Notes / Commercial Description:
No notes at this time.
Added by BeerAdvocate on 06-15-2003
View: Beers | Place Reviews | Events
Ratings: 399 | Reviews: 86
3.79/5 rDev +4.4%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4
A ruddy light brown brew. Deep rich malty sweet nose. Some caramel and light earthy hoppiness. Taste follows suit. Malty grains and caramel sweeteness. Tea leaf bitterness. Lighty tingling carbonation with a medium weight. Lighter and easy drinking. Good solid Scotch Ale.
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look: 3.5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4
A ruddy light brown brew. Deep rich malty sweet nose. Some caramel and light earthy hoppiness. Taste follows suit. Malty grains and caramel sweeteness. Tea leaf bitterness. Lighty tingling carbonation with a medium weight. Lighter and easy drinking. Good solid Scotch Ale.
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2.88/5 rDev -20.7%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 2.75 | feel: 2.75 | overall: 3
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 2.75 | feel: 2.75 | overall: 3
3.58/5 rDev -1.4%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
One of the lightest scottish ales I've ever had. That's a good thing for me because I'm not generally a fan of scottish ales. Poured a deep crimson red. Hardly carbonated..almost flat..which led to a very very thin layer of foam. Smell and taste are malty caramels with a touch of hoppiness. Mouthfeel is light but wide-bodied. Overall not a bad beer but not the best from BP.
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look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
One of the lightest scottish ales I've ever had. That's a good thing for me because I'm not generally a fan of scottish ales. Poured a deep crimson red. Hardly carbonated..almost flat..which led to a very very thin layer of foam. Smell and taste are malty caramels with a touch of hoppiness. Mouthfeel is light but wide-bodied. Overall not a bad beer but not the best from BP.
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3.75/5 rDev +3.3%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
3.44/5 rDev -5.2%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
3.5/5 rDev -3.6%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
3.75/5 rDev +3.3%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
4.28/5 rDev +17.9%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
Not going to say any more than if you like beer then get this beer. Not the greatest beer ever but excellent just like almost every beer they make.
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look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
Not going to say any more than if you like beer then get this beer. Not the greatest beer ever but excellent just like almost every beer they make.
147 characters
3.76/5 rDev +3.6%
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75
4.48/5 rDev +23.4%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
3.2/5 rDev -11.8%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 2.75 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.25
Poured from bottle into a pint glass
Appearance – The beer pours a deep mahogany brown color with a one finger head of tan colored foam. The head fades rather fast leaving a good deal of foamy lace on the sides of the glass.
Smell- The aroma of the brew is strong of a roasted malt and molasses smell. Along with these aromas comes some other smells of caramel and darker fruits with just a hint on a floral hop note.
Taste – The taste begins much drier then I would have anticipated from the nose, starting with just a hint of caramel sweetness mixed with a rather stronger roasted bready taste. As the taste advances the caramel upfront fades away with a light dark fruity flavor taking its place. At the same time some hop flavors of a grassy and floral hop taste mixed with a little bit of graininess come to the tongue and with a light earthy hop coming at the very end, one is left with a rather dry and roasty taste to linger on the tongue.
Mouthfeel- The body of the brew is on the thinner side with a carbonation level that is rather low. The low carbonation is nice for the style, but a thicker body would have accentuated the roasty flavors slightly better. Overall, it was an OK feel.
Overall – I have to say I am a bit disappointed with this Ballast Point brew. They normally do most all styles nice, but this was way too dry and flavorless for a Scottish ale in my opinion. Certainly not their best…
1,434 characters
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 2.75 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.25
Poured from bottle into a pint glass
Appearance – The beer pours a deep mahogany brown color with a one finger head of tan colored foam. The head fades rather fast leaving a good deal of foamy lace on the sides of the glass.
Smell- The aroma of the brew is strong of a roasted malt and molasses smell. Along with these aromas comes some other smells of caramel and darker fruits with just a hint on a floral hop note.
Taste – The taste begins much drier then I would have anticipated from the nose, starting with just a hint of caramel sweetness mixed with a rather stronger roasted bready taste. As the taste advances the caramel upfront fades away with a light dark fruity flavor taking its place. At the same time some hop flavors of a grassy and floral hop taste mixed with a little bit of graininess come to the tongue and with a light earthy hop coming at the very end, one is left with a rather dry and roasty taste to linger on the tongue.
Mouthfeel- The body of the brew is on the thinner side with a carbonation level that is rather low. The low carbonation is nice for the style, but a thicker body would have accentuated the roasty flavors slightly better. Overall, it was an OK feel.
Overall – I have to say I am a bit disappointed with this Ballast Point brew. They normally do most all styles nice, but this was way too dry and flavorless for a Scottish ale in my opinion. Certainly not their best…
1,434 characters
3.82/5 rDev +5.2%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4
3.58/5 rDev -1.4%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
3.1/5 rDev -14.6%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 2.75 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.25
Surprisingly low in alcohol for a Scottish Ale, not bad but there are much better examples of the style elsewhere, which is probably why this is in a sampler pack at my local store. There is always one beer in the sampler that makes you kind of regret getting the pack to begin with.
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look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 2.75 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.25
Surprisingly low in alcohol for a Scottish Ale, not bad but there are much better examples of the style elsewhere, which is probably why this is in a sampler pack at my local store. There is always one beer in the sampler that makes you kind of regret getting the pack to begin with.
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3.67/5 rDev +1.1%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75
3.74/5 rDev +3%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75
3.37/5 rDev -7.2%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.25
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.25
3.5/5 rDev -3.6%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
3.02/5 rDev -16.8%
look: 3.25 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3
The color was the best part of this beer. Poured a deep amber caramel color with a thin head that dissipated quickly with little lacing. Nose was sweet malt and little more. Likewise the taste was mostly malty with a bit of caramel, minimal nuttiness and a late bitter finish. Overall this was an underwhelming brew. Just nothing remarkable. Very one dimensional and not a great example of a scotch ale. If anything it was more like a typical amber ale, but even that would have been an unimpressive example. For the i prices you pay here on the east coast for Ballast Point I'd expect something special. This could be a Saranac or other non-craft brew. BP better step it up with more than fancy IPAs if they expect me to buy their beer.
738 characters
look: 3.25 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3
The color was the best part of this beer. Poured a deep amber caramel color with a thin head that dissipated quickly with little lacing. Nose was sweet malt and little more. Likewise the taste was mostly malty with a bit of caramel, minimal nuttiness and a late bitter finish. Overall this was an underwhelming brew. Just nothing remarkable. Very one dimensional and not a great example of a scotch ale. If anything it was more like a typical amber ale, but even that would have been an unimpressive example. For the i prices you pay here on the east coast for Ballast Point I'd expect something special. This could be a Saranac or other non-craft brew. BP better step it up with more than fancy IPAs if they expect me to buy their beer.
738 characters
3.67/5 rDev +1.1%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75
Piper Down Scottish Ale from Ballast Point Brewing Company
3.63
out of 5
based on 399 ratings.
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4
Can't beleive the low reviews here on this ale. I like it a lot. Peppery up front with a crisp finish. This is probably the beer Killians Red always wanted to be. BP does well again.
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