Scotch Ale
Meantime Brewing Company Limited

750 ml bottle. Pours light brown with tall, long lasting, fluffy off-white head, nice lacing and lively carbonation. Aroma is of bready malt, sweet cherries, toffee and earthy hops. Body is medium and crisp. Taste is of caramel malt, cherries, brown sugar, some honey and herbal hops. Finish is long and spicy. Great brew.

 

Appearance: Pours tea brown with a frothy head (despite the weak pop when the cork was released); dots of lacing hang around

Smell: Toffee, stone fruit, tobacco, brown bread and vague peat tones

Taste: Toffee, brown bread and stone fruit flavors, up front, with tobacco and ann acrid character developing, in the middle; after the swallow, the acrid bitterness builds and overwhelms

Mouthfeel: Medium to full body with moderate carbonation

Overall: I discovered this is an older bottle (BBE 20/07/13) so a fresher example may well be better but this really lacks the big malt and peat character that I expect out of a better Wee Heavy

 

From BeerAdvocate magazine Issue #69 (October 2012):

A thinking person’s beer, so much depth it really takes a good while for this one to open up entirely. Originally brewed for the “Rare Beer Club”, now it is brewed on occasion. If you hear of another release it is certainly worth seeking it out, consider grabbing a couple of bottles as well … a bit of age on it, say six months, does it well.

STYLE: Scotch Ale
ABV: 8.0%
AVAILABILITY: Rotating

LOOK: Glowing garnet, very healthy lacing

SMELL: Chicory, dark bread, blackberry jam, faint caramel, spice, toasted wood, rose water, peppery, dried grass

TASTE: Creamy, smooth, full bodied, treacle, toasty, faint coffee, bread crust, green figs, browned apples, jam, faint leather, ghost-like smoke, musk, peppery backend, slight alcoholic warmth, semi-dry finish

 

 

 

02/20/14 On tap. Great body and texture. A touch of caramel and just the right amount of hops on the front side (which makes me happy). This is a solid beer. If it wasn't for the 8% ABV I would drink it all day. I'll be looking out for more from Meantime Brewing.

 

 

 

 

Served from bottle into a Bruery tulip. Poured reddish brown with a one finger light tan head that subsided to a minimal amount slowly. Maintained excellent lacing throughout the glass. The aroma was comprised of sweet malt, caramel, dark fruit, bread, and plum. The flavor was of sweet malt, bread, dark fruit, plum, and earth. It had a medium feel on the palate with high carbonation. Overall this was a pretty decent brew. The aroma on this one was more on the sweet and dark fruit aspect rather than the usual peat aspect. This I really enjoyed as peat and I have a bitter love/hate relationship with each other. The flavor was more of the same. Tons of dark fruit going on. A fairly well done brew for the style.