Bristol Laughing Lab Scottish Ale

Brewed by Bristol Brewing Company
Style: Scottish Ale
Colorado Springs, Colorado USA

12 oz. bottle from Weidert. Drank on 5/20/06. Clear deep dark amber. 1+ cm. light tan head. Creamy, but drops fairly quickly. Nice layer of foam and good lacing. Aroma - some smokey, roasty, peaty malts. Smells great. Flavor - fair amt. of bitterness up front. Smooth and really well balanced in the mouth. Some nice smokey, peaty malty flavors after the swallow. Nothing really strong though, which is great. A little sweet. Palate - light to medium. Smooth and a little bit creamy on the tongue., but the carb. balances that well. Overall - Really good. This is everything my 80/- wants to be. Really well balanced and really drinkable with some nice malty character and good amt. of bitterness to balance it out. Really good session and year round beer.

Nice orange smokey brown colours come form the bottle. Nose is Alcohol and honey, green cuts and bananas. Flavour is orange wheat with a yeasty rye character. Mouth is slightly foamy and thin. Fairly sweet. No smoke notes at all.

12 oz. bottle into tulip glass. Purchased at some grocery store in Brookfield, WI sometime in 2004. Smells like resiny hops: somewhat acidic, like Pine Sol Lite, musty pine needles. Red amber in the glass with a slight trace of off-white head. Full bodied for a scottish ale; cherry and butterscotch flavors with a tinge of hoppy acridity; coats the mouth, slightly syrupy but not sickly sweet or thick; a bit of bitter hops are all I get on an understated finish. Not bad; but not great either.

Thanks to Zuchinnicat for the bottle. Amber-brown body with a significant suspended particle load and a smooth beige head. Aroma of scorched malt, roasted marshmallows, molasses, and baked squash. Flavor of sweet malt, plums, roasted barley, burnt grain husks, cooked fruit, and some smoke and plastic phenols. Medium-thin body that dies in the finish. Bristol continues to disappoint me.

Light copper, filtered and clear colored, topped by a timid off-white head that slowly becomes a memory. Despite the intense filtration, surprising banana notes make their way through the otherwise rather typical nutty, fruity (dried raisins, wood berries) nose in which malt aptly dominates. It never develops too far in its sweetness, betting on a nutty and cerealic combo backed by the necessary fruits and smoke hints for balance. In terms of palate, it is well constructed, light-medium body with mostly engaging carbonation that lasts. Hops are almost neglectable, barely providing a light herbal kick toward the finish, while a graininess grows from sip to sip. Forgettable, but clean.

Deep, translucent and ruby brown in color with a grey ice sheaf branching off to a grey wrung around the edges. Concord grapes, nutmeg, tree bark and amaretto provide most of the aroma’s make-up, aided by grenadine, Boo Berry cereal and brown sugar marinating rum raisins. Nutty derivatives parley with the flavor, along with a holiday pistachio composure. Some notes of sugary cherry chestnuts. A musky Stetson cologne annotation is encouraged by potpourri wood chips. The bigger picture is rather hollow. Touch of smoked peat and a scotchy, peppery burn. Light, wholesome, medium-bodied performance, and an effervescent whole mouth quaff that’s a bit much. Cherry toffee chocolates and chocolate powdered bran flakes bring up the rear.

Not like any othe Scottish I’ve had. Very earthy and slightly grainy. A little hoppy, but quite thick. Slightly above average for the style, but still not my style.

A delicious and crisp scottish ale that I drink year around. I actually rarely buy this in a bottle since it usually ends up being my beer of choice on tap at the local pub. Good in a bottle, great on tap, and even better straight from the brewery.