Smoky Hollow
El Segundo Brewing Company

 

 

 

22oz bottle poured into a snifter

Pours a deep ruby-Amber color with a thick and creamy off-white head that retains long after the pour. Smells of caramel, toffee, peat, smoke, rum soaked raisins and some earthy tones. Tastes of sweet caramel, dark bread, smoky peat, raisins and fig. Mouthfeel is medium bodied with big foamy mouthfeel that continues to the finish. A nice scotch ale, I'd be ok with more smoke though

 

 

A - smoky stained maple body and thick puffy foamy head with decent cling - 4.5

S - rich clean fresh malts, like a recently spent mash. Changes slightly as it warms. 3.5

T - initially rich molasses toast flavor finish with an overly hopped finish. Unremarkable sadly. 2.75

M - smooth chewy and filling. Foams and effervesces slightly in your mouth with a tangy uninvited hop finish. 3.5

O - doesn't taste like a rich burnt Scotch Ale OR have the complex esters of a Wee Heavy. So while a tasty beer it is ultimately a failure and undeserving of the Scotch in the name. It would be better cclassified as another adequate hoppy American brown ale style. 3

 

 

Poured from the bottle into a wee heavy glass.

A deep rusted red body color, and fairly opaque off the pour. Forms a nice tan almost creamy head, with good cascading bubbles on the glass. Creamy three finger top that falls like a blanket down the sides, with a bit of a whipped up like appearance.

Nice simple nose. Hints of faint caramel, but with also some real nice toasty brown bread action too. A bit of biscuit like aroma slightly getting more taken over by a dense subtle toffee notes as well.

Nice simple palate. The middle gives a hint of toffee but some of the caramel hinting and sense of thickness is lost a bit. Slightly grainy finish which gets into some more of the toasty brown bread action. Slight bitterness to this strangely, with a noticeable hop quality it seems poking out which is unexpected, but doesn't get horrificaly bitter or astringent. Gets however a bit novocaine numbing after a little while.

Overall not too bad, but sort of getting away from it's roots a bit. Some deeper malt caramel notes would help I think, and some toned down bitterness for improvement.

 

 

Pours a murky super dark crimson-brown with a foamy khaki head that settles to a partial film on top of the beer. Thick swaths of lace form around the glass on the drink down. Tiny particles of sediment are seen floating around in the beer after the pour. Smell is of toasted malt, caramel, bread, and smoke aromas. Taste is much the same with toast, caramel, and smoke flavors on the finish. There is a mild amount of smoke bitterness on the palate with each sip. This beer has a lower level of carbonation with a slightly crisp mouthfeel. Overall, this is a pretty good beer with a solid and interesting smoke presence in both the aroma and flavor.

Serving type: bottle.