Light Scottish Ale
Twisted Rail Brewing Company

 

 

 

This beer was served on tap at Twisted Rail Brewing Company in Canandaigua, New York. It arrived in a flare house tasting glass, showing a glowing honey marigold with a whitish film across its top. Lacing appeared in drips of dotted lines, but only as the liquid descended. No haze or sediment was noted, and carbonation appeared to be moderate. The aroma gave soft buttery diacetyls, chemical and Band-Aid phenols, maraschino cherry syrup, dried apricot, brass, salty coral, uncooked maltiness of caramel, amber, and pale grain, gentle rye bite, toasted wheat bread, peanut dustiness, gingerbread spiciness, and distant floral hoppiness. To follow, the flavoring consisted of big chemical phenols and those aromatic buttery diacetyls, sweaty caramel and red malt graininess, clean soapy hoppiness, apple cider sugars, massive synthetic red cherry sweetness, mossed oaky warmth, sweet and corny alcohol fumes, silver spray paint, salt water taffy, acetone, and dried pumpkin spice. The body was light to medium, and carbonation was medium. Each sip gave decent slurp, smack, cream, and froth, with the mouth left dried of tannins after a coating of stick foaminess. The abv was appropriate, and the beer drank back well.

Overall, this was probably the least memorable beer from our visit to Twisted Rail. Although its primary components were nicely in place, it wasn’t until our conversation with the brewer on site that we even realized this was fermented on oak chips. Prior to knowing that fact, you really have to stretch your imagination to locate such subtle nips of said process. Perhaps it was all psychological, but after knowing that we supposed we picked up light oakiness, but only in the flavoring. The nose was rather light in comparison, with flavors typical of a “light” Scottish ale. What was most remarkable about the flavoring, was this massive cherry fruitiness. This likely stemmed from the more fusel and phenolic chemical components of the mash, but still, it made the beer all the more sweet and stylistically appropriate.