Old Kilt Lifter
Downtown Grill & Brewery

Creamy and malty. Quite delicious.

Bigger than brown ale, yet just shy of barleywine; the "wee heavy" Scottish ale makes its mark with earthy peat, toasted woods, soft fruit, and perhaps a good jolt of booze to frame its manly and verbose attitude.

Knoxville's Downtown Brewery rewards us with Old Kilt Lifter, a seasonal ale that's climbing down from the cooler days of winter but not quite light enough for those balmy Sunday nights. Its deep coffee-brown appearance swirls with espresso-like creme providing a rich and aromatic cap. With hints of burnt toast, coffee, chocolate, molasses and sherrywine all swirling in the nose, its taste is decadently sweet with black-strap molasses, sorghum and singed caramels.

Rich, robust and earthen with bog, bark, peat and pepper, its delicate taste of smoky chocolate fades in and out of the molasses, toast and coffee framework. While its malt focus is unwavering, the rise of peppery peat and warming booze offers their balance of vinous and fortified red wines, sherries and faint port. Its slender hop balance lurks in the background and rounds the taste with its coffee-like bitter rebuttal.

Meant much more for a slow and sipping affair, it lavish sweetness and powerfully complex alcohol structures call for deep contemplation and long conversations. Full and candied sweet, but not chewy or cloying, the beer begs for a pairing of aged gouda, chocolate truffels, and walnuts.