Scotch Ale
La Barberie

La Barberie "Scotch Ale"
en füt at the brewery on 5 Octobre 2014
$4 / verre de 12 ounces

Notes: Listed at 9.5% ABV. Clear copper-russet in color beneath a creamy white head. Average retention and lacing. The aroma is malty, caramelish, subtly smoky, and phenolic with some green banana and plastic. That carries into the flavor where it displays banana, alcohol (it's not too hot), and caramelish and nutty malt. Mildly bitter. It's smoky towards and into the finish, followed by plastic and alcohol. Odd, perhaps something went wrong - this beer is normally listed at 7.0% ABV. It's rich and sweetish but tempered. Odd, but actually quite good. Unfortunately when judging it as a Scotch ale the phenols have to throw off the score. I'll look forward to trying this again to see if it's different.

 

500 mL brown bottle, 3 months after bottling date. 7% alcohol, according to the label.

Rich brown brew, slightly hazy with hints of red. A moderate carbonation pushes up a thin, creamy tan head.

Smoky and faintly grainy aroma.

This ale starts off quite malty with notes of raisin and sour cherry. Quite quickly, an astringent vinous/tannic flavour dominates, withdrawing into a moderate hop biterness. Alcohol is revealed, and is followed by dryness. A touch of smoke is also present. The body is quite thin, almost watery.

Not unpleasant, but much dryer than any other scotch ale I have tasted.
Not quite to style, in my opinion, and all-around, an average drink.

Big thanks to 3Vandoo for a bottle of this stuff.

Poured from a 500 ml brown bottle, the abv. on my label says 7%. I like the design of the label, simple but effective, nice work there. The beer itself is a dense opaque walnut on appearance, only a transparent sienna nimbus around the edges of the bottom of the glass. Small tan head on the pour, it settles to a thick ring but still maintains a dime-thin cap. The nose is quite vinuous, dried fruits like dates and figs, some spice, brown sugar, and thick malty molasses. A spicy warming effect with the flavour, becomes sweeter towards the finish, a bit of alcohol on the aftertaste, but for the most part the taste is quite nondescript, nothing really stands out on its own. Not necessarily bad, I'm enjoying it, but there are no characteristics to make it memorable. The more it warms up it also gains the flavour of currents on the finish. The mouthfeel however is disappointingly thin and watery at first, affecting the flavours, but does gain a bit of body towards the finish. Not much of a contender as a Scotch Ale, it needs to be beefed up a fair bit to wear that title.

Poured a very deep walnut colour with hints of garnet under a quickly fading but generous beige head. This is where the fun stopped.

I'm open-minded enough to accept, in fact embrace, deviations within styles of beers. This one wasn't even on the map as far as deviations are concerned. Completely wrong in my opinion.

Nose was light and somewhat sweet/fruity upfront, with notes of holiday spices trailing but ahead of subdued tannins as you would find in robust red wines.

Medium in body, the texture was somewhat firm. First sip revealed what I had been fearing. Very vinous and tannic, almost sour and somewhat salty. Any malt or caramel which might have expressed themselves were killed by this overpowering flaw. The finish was long and bitter from alcohol with hints of field berries closing out.

I tried this beer last year at about this time and had the same result. Thought I would wait one year and try a new batch to eliminate the possibility that I had stumbled upon a bad bottle. The second chance yielded no signs of malt, caramel or the accompanying softness and roundness of a good scotch ale like the Traquair House Ale for example.

Pours a very dark brown leather color with a nicely firm caramel head. Needed an aggressive pour to conjour up a head but it made a fair amount of lace thereafter. Smells strongly caramel with a hint of bourbon in the nose. Tastes goodly malty like a scotch ale should. Starts thin but builds up well. Good amounts of dry nutty and caramel flavors abound in the middle.Perahps a little apple too. Slightly dry on the finish. An almost maple syrupy mouth feel. Very drinkable. Lots of alcohol. Nice effort.

I like Quebec and it's beer.

500 ml bottle. A dark, dark brown ale, just shy of opaque, topped by a lovely, large, creamy tan head. The aroma is a bit thin -- a bit of peat malt and a bit more hop bouquet than I expected for the style. Flavor starts off a bit thin as well, but stands up nicely as the beer warms, developing an assertive maltiness midpalate, and a healthy hop finish that combines nicely with the alcohol to leave the mouth just slightly dry. The hop flavor is a bit high for the style, but probably necessary to balance given the higher-than-average alcohol content of this brew. The aftertaste is probably my favorite part of the beer -- a nice, lingering smokiness. Mouthfeel is "like buttah" -- medium full and deliciously creamy in texture. Good stuff. Thanks to Rastacouere for the bottle.