Tartan Pants Scotch Ale
Big Rig Brewery

 

 

 

Good looking pour, but no follow up lace, or anything else interesting, just a partial film. Smells quite tasty. Carmel malts, raisins, earthiness, a whiff of smoke. Lots of malt and fruit to taste, finishes with a touch of smoke. Sweet, on the edge of being cloying. Best for sipping at i think, but not bad overall.

Pours a deep ruby chestnut in color, with finger of head that breaks fast. No lacing or remnants from the break.

Smell is malt forward, as it should be, but they seem a little dull. A little fruity and a touch of peat.

Taste is a little sweet from the prominent malts, mostly caramel but a touch of bread. The peat smoke sneaks in at the end.

Feel is light for the style, with a bit of sticky. Carbonation is fair,and the finish is sweet and slick.

An ineffective attempt at the style, yet this beer is inoffensive. It is a utility beer, that could be worth a pickup occasionally,however there are much better options.

No lacing. Mouthfeel wasn't as rich as I'd of liked. Pours dark brown with tan head. Tastes of caramel molasses hint of raisins and a big smokey peat finish. Decent but probably better smokey beers out there.

Pours a clouded chestnut color with ruby highlights, 2 finger tan cap. Aroma is sweet smoky malts over some earthy herbal tones - Flavor is rich....malty smoky, very light burnt treacle notes, balances well mid-palate with hopping providing fair balance - long wet smoky bitter finish with a subtle warming at the end. This is a scots cottage ale for sure - decent.

 

Dark brown with a ruby tinge, topped with 5 fingers of beige head. No visible carbonation.

Smells of toasted malts, Munich hops, butter scotch, and toffee.

The taste follows the nose, followed by a fruity, candy like note, then more rich maltiness.

Medium to light body, with little carbonation.

Got in Ontario, drinking in New Hamburg Nov 20th, 2017. Really not a bad brew, loving the style on a cold, snowy day.

 

 

473 mL can from the LCBO; filled Sept 15 2017 and served barely chilled. I'm not sure if this is a tweaked version of their old Scotch Ale (which was quite possibly my favourite Big Rig beer overall), or if it's an entirely new recipe.

Pours deep chestnut with ruby-red highlights; relatively clear in complexion, with one inch of foamy, beige-tinted head seated atop. It fades within a matter of minutes, leaving behind a smooth, paper-thin cap surrounded by a small, creamy-looking collar. Little to no lace. The aroma is malt forward, as it should be - notes of sponge toffee, brown sugar and toasted biscuits are quite apparent, overshadowing subtler hints of figgy dark fruit and a mild peated smokiness. Smells enticing.

A yummy brew; it definitely leans toward the saccharine side, but does so without overshooting into 'cloying' territory. Toffee and treacle come to mind, along with notes of toasted bread, biscuits, raisin and fig. Peat smoke is also a fairly consistent background presence, being most easily discerned near the finish, alongside some subtle earthy hop bitterness. Smoky-sweet, malty aftertaste that lingers on the taste buds for a moment or two following each sip. Medium in body, with gentle carbonation that weakly nudges the palate; very smooth in texture, bordering on silky. Very easy to drink, with the 6.4% abv being largely undetectable.

Final Grade: 3.86, a solid B+. I'm not sure that I like Tartan Pants as much as I liked their old Scotch Ale, but in the end this is still a perfectly serviceable brew with no serious issues (at least, that I've been able to identify). This is a 100% malt driven experience, with hardly a peep out of the hops from start to finish - hardly unusual for the style - but it still manages to maintain some semblance of balance, with the smokiness (weirdly enough) helping to keep the residual sugars in check. I don't know if I'd buy it regularly, but I'm sure I'll return to it occasionally over the course of the coming winter.

473 ml can served cold into a pint glass. This edition is advertised at 6.4% ABV. Also listed at a Scotch ale / Wee Heavy as opposed to a Scottish Ale. Purchased for $2.75 CDN.

Appearance - Marginally lighter in color than cola, pours a deep hue of brown and is topped with a finger of quickly diminishing light tan head. No lacing and very minimal retention time.

Smell - Sweet caramel notes, molasses, a little peat. Nothing unusual and aromatic are reasonably potent. Smoke shines through more as the beer warms and after a few sips.

Taste - Good flavor with plenty of earthy peat qualities, some middling sweetness molasses and caramel mixture with a trailing earthy bitterness. Pretty much like the nose with a little more smoke. Flavors don't really linger with the exception of the woodsy smoke and are fairly abbreviated in the duration in which they stay on the tongue. Improves as it warms.

Mouthfeel - Medium bodied, carbonation is a little too much reminding me of club soda more than I'd like.

Overall - A pretty decent scotch ale, although not as good as the old Scotch Ale they used to have. Not sure what was changed I remember that one being a big flavor bomb with similar levels of smoke just more sweetness and malt in it. Nonetheless nice to see this available in cans now.

 

 

 

 

I bought this at the LCBO but the can suggests an ABV of 6.2% rather than the 7.20% on this site. I'm Scottish (and I mean I'm actually from Scotland and not "Scottish" because my granny visited Glasgow once like some people I've met here) and it always tickles me when I see Scotch Ales. I've never seen them back home or tasted beers with the same flavour profile (McEwans Export was the closest when I was a kid) but, admitedly, they are usually great beers.

This one is no different. It has a dark red colour and a nice head for a canned beer of higher ABV. It has a smokey flavour in the background which reminds me of beers aged in whisky barrrels so this one ticks all the boxes.

I am looking forward to visiting the brewery (once I figure out what public transport will get me there). This is one I will be drinking a lot i the future.