Black Watch
Mill Street Brew Pub

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

355 mL bottle from the LCBO; this brew has been resurrected and included in Mill Street's latest seasonal sampler pack. Listed at 6% and served slightly chilled.

Pours a clear, attractive crimson-copper colour, with one finger of pale beige-coloured head seated atop. It dissipates quickly, being succeeded by a creamy-looking collar and thin, smooth cap. A smooth curtain of lacing is generated; looks enticing enough. Bready malts, toffee and caramel come through loud and clear on the nose, with minor accents of fig, treacle and toasted nuts. Nothing to write home about thus far.

An approachable wee heavy that falls comfortably on the lighter end of the Scotch ale spectrum. A backbone of bready, lightly toasted malt is featured strongly, as is a pointed toffee/caramel sweetness. Touches of dark fruit and roasted nuts are next up, with the profile ending upon an earthy, dirty, somewhat leafy hop bitterness that does not last long before being overrun by the (much more potent) malt flavours in the aftertaste. Medium in body, with light-ish carbonation levels that weakly prickle the palate, resulting in a rather smooth, soft mouthfeel that suits this style nicely. Reasonably quaffable, but the one-dimensional flavour means that I won't be scrambling to find another bottle.

Final Grade: 3.53, a B grade. Mill Street's Black Watch Scotch Ale makes for a decent tipple, but not a memorable one. I find that the majority of Mill Street's rotating seasonals are passable beers, but almost none of them are really worth searching for. This one definitely falls into that category - drink it if it piques your interest, but don't expect a mind-blowing experience.

 

On tap from the MS pub:

A deep brown ale with ruby highlights, smallish cap.

Aroma is caramel sweet nutty malts, light wisp of smoke.

Taste is on the sweet side with the caramel malts and nutty-woody tastes in the front then the back thins out and drops off quickly.

Tasty, malty but a rather thin bodied less intense version of the style.

A welcomed surprise on tap at the UWO Grad Club. Pours a murky reddish brown with soft ruby edges and an off-white head. Lots of lacing on the tumbler. Smell and taste are mild roasted and caramel malts, earthy peat, biscuit, nuts, whole grain bread, some toffee, and a citric, orangey hop bitterness to end. Balanced and flavourful. Delicate, light bodied palate with a crisp dryness in the aftertaste. This is very similar to Tankhouse, but I like it. Big thanks to Len for the heads up!

20oz, Imperial pint at the brewpub in Toronto. We're a few weeks past the traditional Burns Night for this year, but it's still cold as witches' teats outside, so a warming ale, Scotch or otherwise, is definitely in order.

This beer appears a clear, dark bronzed amber colour, with two fingers of puffy, finely foamy, and creamy beige head, which leaves a thin wash of spectral tree branch lace around the glass as it gently falls away.

It smells of lightly roasted caramel malt, some treacly toffee, a smoky nuttiness, mild black orchard fruity notes, and plain earthy and leafy hop bitters. The taste is quite consistent with the aroma - more softly roasted caramel and toffee-accented malt, some generic sweet nuts, a red plum and bruised apple fruitiness, still rather tame earthy and kind of musty hops, and a twinge of metallic alcohol.

The carbonation is adequate in its understated and generally supportive frothiness, the body a decent medium weight, and fairly smooth, with a growing creaminess as things warm up a bit. It finishes edging on sweet, with the caramel/toffee thing a real going concern, and the lingering fruitiness aiding and abetting.

Overall, a tasty enough offering, what with the robust sweetness and soft bittering offset. However, it lacks that extra punch to the sporran that one might expect for the style - so, with apologies to the old poet, as my words may seem inelegant - this particular stew would by no means make a pig sick!

On tap at the brewpub, served in a dimpled mug.

Pours a clear light orange, some brown tinges to it, medium sized white head forms, slowly settles down to a thin ring around the glass, leaves a few sticky chunks of lace. Smell is alright, not what I would think of a Scotch ale though. Hoppy, some grapefruit and caramelized malts, biscuit, brown sugar, quite fruity, tea, pretty interesting. Taste is similar, quite hoppy up front, hop tea sort of flavour, some caramel and brown sugar on biscuits, apricots, touch of peach, light touch of smoke, almost tastes like iced tea, light bitter in the finish. Mouthfeel is medium bodied with medium carbonation. Pretty drinkable, although I'm kind of confused on what they were going for.

On tap at the brewpub. Not a wee heavy, but roughly a Scotch style. Large soapy off white head on an opaque amber. Some scotch aroma but also something substituting for hops. An interesting bitterness and sourness. Under average mouthfeel. Lacey. Understated carbonation. Average drinkability.

Brewer's description: "This is a classic old-school Scottish pub ale with a rich caramel and roasted malt accent and very low hop flavour."

This is Mill Street's second attempt at a Scotch Ale, and a nice improvement on the first iteration I had last Spring. Very dark brown liquid with ruby highlights served in a dimpled mug. Large rocky and creamy looking tan head which leaves nice lace. Smell is generic light roast malts with some caramel sweetness and minerals. Good all-round scotch ale flavour. Lightly roasted malts compliment a mild caramel sweetness, which is balanced a peat-like earthiness. There's also a slight hint of vegetal quality which reminds me of my in-law's tap water. Nice medium body, with restrained carbonation.

A nice drinker. Less smoky and a lot smoother than the other scotch recipe they ran out. Its also considerably less sweet than other examples of the style I have had up to this point, and that's a good thing in my book, as the whole beer seems to have a better balance, and it allows some of the peat and hop aspects to shine a little more. Mill Street really does do an awesome job of their one offs.