AleSmith Wee Heavy Scotch Ale

Brewed by AleSmith Brewing Company
Style: Scotch Ale
San Diego, California USA

Murky Brown Color with Sandy Skin. On the Nose...Light Smoke, Rich Chocolate..Sweet Like a Tootsie Roll. Light Roasts, Vanilla Notes..Overall a Wonderful Aroma. Medium Bodied and Creamy Mouthfeel. Syrupy as Well. Flavor Notes of Molasses, Brown Sugar, Vanilla and Chocolate..Some Light Roasts and a Welcoming Warming from the Alcohol. Very Well Balanced with a Light Dry Aftertaste. First Beer to ’Wow!’ me in a While..Also Helps When its a Style You Highly Enjoy. I Would Stock Large Quantities of This Highly Enjoyable Brew.

Bottle (75 cl) from Ölbutikken, Copenhagen, Denmark. Shady mahogny with a rich creamy beige head. Rich malty aroma, with dark chocolate, dark fruits, plums, and unfortunately a touch of alcohol. Full bodied with very soft carbonation. Very well balanced, dry with moderate bitterness. Long chocolatey aftertaste. Would have preffered the alcohol to be tuned down a bit.

2004 Vintage. I’ve had this beer a dozen times, just getting around to rating this spectacular specimen. 750mL bottle. Deep mahogany color. Slight aroma of smoke. Big caramel malt. Chewy sticky delicious. Top notch, A+

Bottle. Pours a deep mahogany with a massive silky head and excellent retention. Good lacing. As far as aroma? Blindfold me beforehand and I would swear this was chocolate milk. Maybe a little whiskey as well. Absolutely creamy mouthfeel. Taste is caramel and brown sugar with the faintest bitterness at the end. I’ve been kind of afraid of scotch ales after I barely choked down McEwan’s, but this is nice.

This one seems to be definitely all about the malts! - Smokey, burnt caramel, ginger oatmeal cookies, sugary hard candy, chocolate, dark fruits - plums and figs, bing cherries. Yeah, it’s all in here. Aroma is strong and simillar to the taste. Palate is syrupy thick - I’d have a problem drinking the whole bottle - sharing is good! This has got to be the best of it’s style.

Re-rate, 12/09, 2yr old bottle - wow, a complete train wreck after aging, just like the Grand Cru and the Weizenbock, don’t let AS age beyond a year! Total English Style Barleywine / Old Ale at this point, maple, brown sugar, molasses, raisins, ick. All bad. Please, no more old AS bottles, please! Leaving the ratings the same, per fresh bottles, but there is no excuse for beer gone this bad! Re-rate, 3/07: Same appearance, aroma was caramel, coffee, and chocolate, some doughy-ness. light grass. The flavor was much the same, some faint peat smoke in the flavor along with a light presence of dark fruits. Mouthfeel was smooth. Within style, I’m not convinced this beats out Bellhaven anymore, but it was nice. The smoke is so faint, that this comes off more like a doppelbock than a scottish ale, imo. Original rating: This beats out the Bellhaven in my book. Poured a nice dark brown with reddish-mahoganey tints and hues. The aroma was the most complex I’ve ever whiffed within the style. Lots of liquor type aromas mixed in with coffee (Kahlua-like) and some dark fruit type scents. Flavor is much the same with a thin mouthfeel and a definite alcohol presence. A vinous aftertaste, this one was good stuff. A tingling of hops in the finish.

2001: A medium thick tan head sits atop a beautiful red-brown/mohagony body with lots of lacing hugging the glass. The aroma is slightly sweet and malty with a peaty smokiness and a slight bitterness as well as the slightest bit of alcohol. The flavor is bitter sweet, malty and slightly salty wtih a slight smokiness and notes of alcohol. Full bodied, smooth and slightly warming.

Looks like a good brown porter with the black appearance but far from blocking all light. Nice malt character. Chocolate with some coffee and it seems that there’s some peat in the flavor. The alcohol is prominant in the finish. Head sticks around for the long haul.