Smuggler Scotch Ale
Prohibition Brewing Company

 

 

 

 

 

 

Enjoyed several samples at Calgary Beer Fest 2014. A light copper/amber color with some largish beige bubbles that failed to stick around for long. Aroma does indeed evoke a "wee heavy" in my estimation, featuring some butterscotch and a whiff of roast barley, a rummy sweetness, and faint apple pomace. Malty and sweet on the nose. Taste reflects this quite well, more caramel and rum notes, apple, and some rather out-of-place citrus hop. There's a decent dose of booze, perhaps more than I'd like in this particular concoction. Body is on the light side for the style and there is a graininess and hoppy vibrancy that is more pale ale than Scotch. Finishes dryish, boozy, bitter. Carbonation is also on the high side. Still though, a pleasing enough belly-warmer on a cold rainy/snowy day.

Prohibition Brewing 'Smuggler Scotch Ale' @ 6.0% , served from a couple of 650 ml bottles purchased for $5.50 each

A-pour is a light amber from bottle to glass with a smallish tan head leaving a minimal lace along the pint

S-caramel & pale malts

T-somewhat smooth start , gives way to a malty goodness that lingers on the tongue

MF-ok carbonation , big medium body

Ov-ok beer , decent enough Scotch ale

prost LampertLand

650ml bottle. More 1920's era illicit barrel handling depicted on the label, with a very Canadian winterscape background. The assertion on the label that 'Scotch ale is a traditional style strong pale ale' bears some scrutiny, methinks.

This beer pours a crystal clear, medium copper amber colour, with two stout fingers of weakly puffy, flatly foamy dirty white head, which leaves some pleasant snow rime lace around the glass as it genially recedes.

It smells of biscuity, crackery pale and caramel malts, an isolated musty dustiness, and plain earthy, weedy hops. The taste is more somewhat astringent grainy pale malt, dry toffee, a touch of citrus rind, a hard water flintiness, and earthy, leafy, and weedy hops.

The carbonation is on the light side, and weakly frothy at best, the body a so-so medium weight, and moderately smooth, the biscuity character weirdly having a negative effect - who knew? It finishes off-dry, the caramel and bready malt now benefiting from the lingering biscuit essence, as well as the subtle (or underwhelming, it's really hard to tell) citrus and leafy hop notes.

An actually tasty brew from this seemingly contract-oriented marketing company. Or something. Anyways, the only problem here is that they've got their perception of beer styles a bit out of whack (nascent from the label, it would appear), as this is very much a sassed-up ESB, as opposed to anything that might have originated from Scotland's brewing history.