This isn’t a review. It’s a challenge. I dare you to name a better Scotch Style Ale that can be purchased in the USA all year long. If you can’t, then you are welcome to provide your own recipe if you think it’s better than the Bastage.
Love DB, and agree its prob the best overall but I would say that Oskar Blue’s Old Chub stands up there with it. Great Divide Claymore also right up there, as far as US year rounders are concerned.
Cigar City Big Sound is my fave US SA but its seasonal.
AFAIK, I can get Traquair House in the US all year. I ould be wrong about that.
I’m a big fan of Old Chub, too, but really like DB as well. Traquair is still my fave and IIRC still year round as Denny said. Could be wrong.
Or you could use Skotrat’s clone recipe and not have to worry about when it’s commercially available.
http://www.skotrat.com/skotrat/recipes/ale/scottish/recipes/10.html
Interestingly, my Traquair House recipe lists EKG and Nottingham yeast (also described in AHA reply #25: https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/forum/index.php?topic=8071.15) vs Skotrat’s recipe listing N Brewer and Scottish yeast. Skotrat acknowledges the hop choice but does not address the yeast variation in post #1 of that same thread.
The description for the source of my recipe says “Traquair House Ale is a deep reddish, full-bodied and richly- flavored ale. It carries an alcoholic warmth, hop bitterness and smoky malt flavor that is unmatched by any other beer.”
Cheers!
Which is exactly what I do! It’s the base of me Wee Shroomy.
Traquair is a $7 a pint beer that I can buy all year long. It’s a very good beer that is worth no more than $3 a pint. However, it’s a very un-pragmatic beer that is getting pumped by a preacher of beer pragmatism, ITT. The linked recipe uses no oak. Did Traquair stop fermenting in oak? I doubt it.
Even if money is not a factor: Dirty Bastard > Traquair all day long…
Old Chub is decent. Maybe a little better than decent, but it uses too much smoked malt for the style depending on who defines it. It’s too thick and it lacks the carefully crafted malt complexity that DB reliably provides. DB is elegant. OC isn’t.
So far, Great Divide Claymore is the only Scotch Ale I haven’t tried mentioned so far. I can buy it locally and will try it soon. Thanks.
One thing I thought about since pondering this thread is I can’t think of a bad beer that a pro brewer made with the designation of Scotch Ale and I’ve tried many of them. Not many brewers even try to make a Scotch Ale. It’s a good style.
I feel the same way, that most that I’ve had have been good. Of course I can’t remember them all.
I think it’s available year round, although probably not available much outside of Colorado, but the Odell 90 Shilling is fantastic. Did two taster trays there with some friends and that one blew the other 11 out of the water.
We just recently got Founders in Oregon, so I haven’t tried Dirty Bastard yet, but I do have a bottle of Backwoods Bastard in the fridge that I picked up a couple days ago.
I’m a fan of Old Chub but I agree it’s not entirely to style. It’s more of an Americanized adaptation of scotch ale.
Dirty Bastard is on the short list of top scotch ales brewed here. Alesmith Wee Heavy might edge it out for me. I think it’s a year round beer for them.
Dirty Bastard is Americanized also. 50 IBUs, balanced with a high % of Crystal malt.