 donteatpoop (112), Youngstown, Ohio, USA
May 21, 2008
Old Jock. I think this is why I didn’t used to like most ales. I used to buy this fairly regularly and it was wonderful, I loved the hell out of it; and then I would drink another ale and it would pale in comparison. It was pathetic really, the other red ales; especially a few days or weeks after I’d had an Old Jock. It was such a great ale.
Then I stopped buying it for almost a year. I bought one the other day becase I figured I should rate it now that I’m rating things on here, and wondered how it would compare now that I have started to enjoy more and more ales.
I poured it about two minutes ago, a dark amber color. The head was thin but present; clinging to the glass.
The bottles sweet too, makes me think about being a kick ass guy with a big beard and shit. He’s got a nice thick mustache, the kind I keep trying to grow... I mean I have a sweet civil war mustache and all, it’s really pretty badass; but this guy’s stache/beard combination blows mine away. Just like it continues to blow away all the other ales.
I remember now why I bought this regularly.
The smell is hard to pick out, barely present hints of caramels and malts.
The taste is a beautiful cacaphony of caramels and malts and flavor. It stikes me as what an ale should taste like. The best ale I’ve ever had.
Thick and heavy in the mouth, a little creamy from all the caramels. There is a presant but not overwhelming level of carbonation.
I should buy it more, in fact I will buy it more. I wish I had bought more as I’d like to crack another one open.
Serving type: bottle
Todeon (214), Höllviken, Sweden
Sep 13, 2008 Bottle. Nice brown/red color. Really clear. Aroma is sweet with lots of malt and caramell but also some bready notes. Taste is a bit thin with nice malts and a nice touch of caramel. A bit hoppy for the style. Good!
durhambeer (537), Durham, USA
Sep 3, 2008 Sale for $2 at Sam’s. Bottle says expiration date was a month ago, but it tasted fine to me. Deep copper pour with off-white head. This is a rich, malty brew; surprising hop presence for a Scottish ale. I thought it was much sweeter than the "slightly sweet" description, but also bitter and surprisingly fruity (figs, apricot jam, maybe some orange). Malt is still the dominant flavor though; on the biscuity/toffee side. A bit more alcoholic tasting than expected. Tasty brew.
Svesse (1821), Hässelby, Sweden
Sep 2, 2008 (Bottle, Monk’s Café, Stockholm) Reddish brown colour with huge, frothy, beige head. Malty nose with toasted grain, hints of apricot marmalade and caramel, but mainly malty. Malty, slightly toasty taste with notes of orange peel, caramel, toffee and spicy hops in a fairly bittersweet finish. Balanced malt sweetness dries out towards the end. Lovely balance, nice beer.
Fin (2370), Merton, Oxfordshire, England
Aug 12, 2008 Bottle that was in my Cropredy swapbox from Craig at Cropredy Festival 2008, cheers Craig Poured looking quite wonderful, chesnut in colour with great clarity and a nice white head. I tasted this straight after some Pannepot and Pannepot Grand Reserva which I suppose was a little unfair as the first taste immediately flagged this up as being nowhere near as refined or complex as the previous two, but putting that aside this is clearly a very different beer. I’m immediately swamped with a bit mouthfull of sweet rustic molasses and a sort of crunchiness, theres toffee, its soft in the mouth and really quite full flavoured but lacking a little in complexity. Its fruitiness and toffee surge through again and I like this but felt that it could have been even better.
bembelembe (56), Zagreb, Croatia
Aug 3, 2008 Strong beer. Dark roasted malt, caramel sweet. Fruity and nutty. Not very carbonated. Recommended to drink at room temperature.
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