Brave Liver Scotch Ale
Mt. Begbie Brewing Co.

 

 

This is a solid scotch ale. I would recommend it.

650ml bottle poured into tulip.

Pours a dark cola brown with two fingers of cappuccino head that leaves some undersea rock formation lace as it quickly recedes.

Smells of biscuity caramel malt, muddled dark fruit, brown sugar toast, some faint smoke, even fainter licorice and a bit of leafy hops.

Tastes of more biscuits drizzled in caramel, candied raisin and prune, more wispy smoke, unsweetened licorice and more faint weedy hops.

Feels full and soft. Full bodied with weak carbonation. Finishes trending sweet.

Verdict: Recommended. Tasty and heavy enough to get you through a cool night.

Brave Liver pours into my glass leathery brown with ruby highlights. This crystal clear Scotch ale supports a dense, cream colored head.
Brave Liver’s nose is very malty. It’s rich and sweet with notes of leather and brown sugar. Aromas of leather and brown sugar lead into a center that gives me a restrained, and therefore not unpleasant earthiness. As the aroma’s earthiness moves towards its finish, I’m picking up aromas of ripe dark fruit and just a wisp of smoke. Dark fruit has a richness to it that comes in somewhere between dates and dark chocolate.
Taking a sip forces me to confront a medium bodied ale that is full flavored, well carbonated, and showing initial promise of genuine complexity. Brave Liver’s flavor is huge and malty with flavors of leather and damp earth leading the charge. The beer’s assertive carbonation lead the flavors into a dryish center before becoming somewhat sweet again in the finish. Somehow the whole flavor profile comes together in a rum and raisins sort of way without giving me any actual flavors of rum and raisin along the way. Interesting.
This is a very full and complex Scotch ale, one that’s definitely not for the faint of heart. It reminds me of Traquair House more than beers like Belhaven. I think this will make the craft beer lovers happier than those who are less experienced in the world of craft beer. All I mean to say is this: Brave Liver is a respectable, well executed example of a strong Scotch ale that may not appeal to all drinkers despite how good it is.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I enjoyed this as my Christmas afternoon, post Mimosa pre Eggnog treat. I'm a big fan of this style and Mt. Begbie in general. This is a very decent Scotch Ale. It has a nice mahogany colour, whiffs of smoke and peat, and a nice caramel malt base. The peat is relatively unassuming- just enough to fit the bill of this style.

650ml bottle - a hell of a name for a Scotch Ale (or Wee Heavy, they confuse it on the label), especially if it's only 13-proof. The concept is a bit on the nose, yet still applies to me right now, I gotta say - but onward ho, ach!

This beer pours a clear, dark red-brick brown colour, with two fingers of puffy, loosely foamy, and bubbly tan head, which leaves some burbling witch's cauldron profile lace around the glass as things quickly move towards the southern lands.

It smells of gritty, grainy, and slightly meaty pale and caramel malts, dime store chocolate, weak earthy black stone fruit, a twinge of peaty smoke, and plain leafy, weedy, and herbal hop notes. The taste is bready, kind of doughy caramel malt, a further semi-sweet graininess, ethereal coffee-flecked cocoa drink powder, some tame woodiness, herbal peat moss, and more earthy, weedy hoppiness.

The bubbles are fairly underwhelming in their generic and more or less wan frothiness, the body a decent middleweight, and smooth enough, I suppose, with a tiny (not using that other word again here) creaminess showing up shortly after kick-off. It finishes off-dry, the lightly peaty caramel malt persisting like the Highlands boss emulation that it surely is.

Overall, a pleasant and engaging Scottish ale, but sorely lacking the toffee-forward and booze notes that would uptick this into Wee Heavy (there I fooking go) territory. Worthy of keeping a bottle or two around until the end of next January, and if you don't know what that means, bugger off and leave this one to the adults, won't you, then?