McEwan's Scotch Ale
Eagle Brewery

11.2oz bottle
Best before 28 JUL 22
I saw this on the shelf and grabbed it so fast! It HAS to be a decade or more since I had this one. Glad to see it’s back!
L: chestnut brown colored body with a frothy tan head
S: sweet malty aroma: caramel, grain, peat, fruit
T: fruit cake, caramel, spice, peat, brown sugar, grain, raisin, prune, plum, cherry, earthy hops
F: medium body, ample carbonation, finishes more sweet than I remember
O: sweeter yet more complex than I remember it being; I look forward to going through the rest of the 4-pack. It’s been too long.

 

 

Poured from 11.2 oz bottle into Chimay goblet.

L - Sandy head, dissipates quickly, reddish brown pour.

S - Toffee, malts, dried figs, roasted grains.

T - Whole grain bread, not a syrupy malt profile, a grain malt flavor.

F - Thinner than expected, touch of heat.

A classic of the style. Founders Dirty Bastard is probably based on this.

Copper with a 1/2" tan head, which fades to a wisp. Light lacing.

Aroma is toffee, coffee, peat.

Taste follows nose: Toffee, slight coffee, peat. Earthy.

Medium body, light carbonation. Dry finish.

A fine Scotch Ale.

Seein' ol' ragehead do up a review reminded me I haven't done mine for this one despite drinking it since the mid90s when it was owned/brewed by Caledonian.

Pours a dark black cola like color appearance but with more viscosity. Solid small bubbled beige head 3/4". The aroma has a big dark fruit, sherry like earthy bitterness. Basically as these age they get more and more like that. Prefer them fresh. Its a goth like aroma of darkness and smoke.

The taste is pretty complex and this is where my mind goes when I think "literal Old World" its nuanced flavor like this. Treacle, expired raisin, fig, sherry bitterness and booziness. Back in the 90s I grew to love this stuff, as time moved forward, I think it was my palate that shifted even though the ownership and brewing changed. Became weirdly, more of a chore to drink. Less caramel, more charcoal and toffee. Seemed thicker to me back in the day, now seems thin by contemporary standards.

Can't wait to see what the next few decades bring me in terms of feelings about this beer.

330ml bottle. Best before 15 May 22. Purchased at the Beverage Warehouse in Los Angeles.

Rich, practically opaque, dark brown with tawny hues around the edges and an off-white, creamy, clingy, head. Light peat and fig jam in the nose. Surprisingly light in body with a incredibly creamy mouthfeel. Dark bread, toffee, cola, baked chocolate, black treacle, fig, peat, and a lingering smokiness that sticks with you for a long time. Some earthy and nutty notes in the back too. Other than the light smoke and some char at the end, the finish is sweet and clean.

McEwan's Scotch Ale is a classic that showcases old-school finesse in brewing. One of the benchmarks for the style.

 

 

 

 

 

Sweet aroma. Toffee and figs.

Clear dark ruby with bubbles (visible with a backlight) rising to a 1/2 inch off-white-to-tan head with relatively short retention. Thick lacing lines the glass.

The taste does repeat the flavors from the aroma, toffee and figs, but more assertively and with more complexity. There's an earthiness, a peatiness, a very slight bittering in the initial taste that retains throughout, but fades in the aftertaste. Bready malts make their contribution. The beer is a bit on the sweet side, but not overly so.

Mouth feel has a moderate body with a restrained carbonation. Creamy.

Overall, this is an easy-drinking, tasty scotch ale. Perhaps not as substantial in the body as some of the more modern examples of the style, but a nice traditional example. I only just this evening had this beer for the first time, so I can't comment on whether it has changed. I can say, though, that it seems to have come through the jumble of owners and brewing locations as a very nice scotch ale.

 

 

Bottle purchased at Tap and Mallet in Rochester, NY.

This oe pours a golden amber/brown-ish color, with a small white head, and a bit of lacing.

This smells like toffee, breadiness, chocolate, smoke, and some light peat.

This is a solid traditional scotch ale, with a mild sweetness, some steely breadiness, a touch of smoke, and just a hint of peat - not too much. I don't really want it to be too peaty, so I'm happy with it.

This is medium bodied, crisp on the back end and somewhat creamy up on front.

It's nice to go back and appreciate stuff like this every so often.

 

 

A great Scotch Ale. Not the best-in-class, But it will not cost you $5 a bottle . You get exactly what it says on the label - an 8% Scotch Ale that's as malty and wonderful on a crisp fall day. We All hope someday to bring back the 12oz bottle...

 

hated this 20+ years ago in Der Baron's in Las Vegas.... what a greta place, though! 101 Beers From Around The World!!! T-shirts, pewter mugs, jackets.... what a great time! many of us Air Force guys would drink til we saw double and never noticed the owners snorting so much coke thay they eventually lost the place.... aside from the beer, their nachos were THEE greatest construction of artwork on the planet! i would wake up with dreams of their nachos still lingering in my head... so anyway, i love the sweetness, which i can now enjoy after many years of torturing my taste buds with american IPAs, and the way it leaves the glass so clean.... slight tinge of 'band-aid' to the flavor but that may be from sitting on a Total Wine shelf a bit too long.

 

 

 

I’m always on the lookout for a good scotch ale, I think this one fits the bill...

Great dark caramel coloration, think head and with a tiny bit of lacing. The smell was about average for the style, and mouthfeel was light with some carbonation at the back end. I enjoyed the mild scotch flavoring and maltiness as well. Overall, solid enough if not spectacular.

 

 

 

I like the classy looking bottle label artwork. The pour is brown with red ruby tinges when the beer snifter is held up to in the light. The taste is malt, peat, brown sugar, faint roasted nuts, & faint char. Cheers! B

 

 

 

 

330 ml bottle into a snifter. Best by date of 5/31/19, had 10/20/19.

Pours a fairly dark ruby/brown amber, semi opaque, with a quick flash of a head and some soapy cling. Aromas of malt, caramel, some chocolate, some smoke, a little bread. The taste starts with a pretty good jolt of earthy hops, though it diminishes over time. Malt, caramel, some smoke, some chocolate- more as it warms, Smooth, a good medium body, appropriately carbonated.

A well made example of the style. Has a good flavor and aroma, but both are a little muted than I look forward to. Worth a try.

This is the first truly good beer that I was ever introduced to over 20 years ago when the options were much fewer. It has really stood the test of time and is still one of my favorites. It is a perfect example of what can be done with malt. That a malt heavy beer does not have to be ,one-dimensional, syrupy or end up tasting like raw grain. There are a number of IPA producers who could learn a great lesson from McEwans. Dumping more hops in doesn't cover up a poor malt profile. This is the classic Scotch ale and well worth trying.

 

L: deep ruddy brown, almost black
S: malt, caramel, and cherries
T: malt sweetness and hops dryness
F: excellent carbonation

A very good, rich, refreshing ale. Somewhat one-toned in flavor, could use more nuance. Buy with confidence.