Glasgow Butcher
Crooked Ewe Brewery & Ale House

On tap at the source. Some malt wallop, moderate scotch flavour. A whisp of smoke. Quaffable stuff, a style I haven't had for a while. One of their best.

 

This award winning Scotch Ale is the beer to measure other Scotch Ales. On the sweet side, making it European style...the Glasgow in the name is a giveaway...it is full-bodied and the scent/smell is excellent combination. By the way, this beer is still available daily at the Crooked Ewe.

Early midwestern American craft brewers often leaned on classic European beer styles for influence, direction and guidance. Although most of these brewers have found their own way as they matured, that homage to those roots still play out from time to time. And the strong Scottish styled ale of Crooked Ewe is one such of these beers.

Dark brown and with a masculine garnet haze, the light creme of froth that greets the rim calders gently with deep toffee, toast, coffee, dark fruit, light vinous scents and an earthen tar element to draw the senses closer. Malty sweet early and often on the tongue, a host of caramel, molasses and caramel come across as candied nuts, peanut brittle and cracker jacks snacks.

But those whimsical treats begin to fade on the middle palate as a peppery spice rises to offset the sweetness and welcomes a mild hop balance with woods, tobacco and peppery dryness. The remnants of malts linger like the skins from peanuts while a stone fruit presence of fig, prune and raisin nearly insists of flavors of port wine.

Full bodied but in a relaxed fashion, the beer's rich malt structures are reluctant to fade, eventually revealing a sarsaparilla spice with root beer nuances. A long linger of toasted sweetness, coffee and cocoa keep a savory but drying earthiness alive throughout.