Four Peaks Kilt Lifter Scottish-Style Ale

Brewed by Four Peaks Brewing Company
Style: Scottish Ale
Tempe, Arizona USA

On tap at Red Lobster and in bottles. Amber in color with white head that fades quickly. Carmel tones and a hint of smokiness. Not very impressed.

On tap at Old Chicago in Tempe, AZ. Aroma is very faint. Light, mildly roasted caramel/cereal aroma that is not overly potent. Transparent copper color with frothy enough white head and nice lacing. Starts toasted/roasted, turning a bit metallic with more toastiness and a bit of sweet caramel. Finishes creamy, malty, and smooth with minute hop bitterness. Decent for the style, unfortunately the style sucks

Draft. Clear brown color that looks a lot like root beer. White head. Malty aroma with caramel notes. Rye-like flavor with more caramel and some raisin notes. Rather musty finish.

I’m a lager bigot but I’ll get a Kiltlifter. Flavorful enough to make me forget its an ale. It really tastes like some craft, time, and thought went into it. Head is noble, pours good, and tastes like a crowd-pleaser. Hop and malt, what more could you ask for? And taste. It’s filling, but not a complete dinner like Guiness is. I have no idea what "Scottish Ale" is so I cant comment there. This is a "gateway" beer: it’ll lead to whiskey...

Deep copper color with a nice off white head. A light malty smoke aroma. Flavor leans to the malty side with just a tad bit of sweetness. Light to medium body. I like this beer.

On draught at Tempe brewpub: Clear copper-amber with a small eggshell-colored head that, like all their beers, has nice retention. The aroma is sweet caramel, sugary malt, light grains, with a hint of hops and fruit. The taste is sweet caramel, grains, mild hops, but it seems the sweetness comes from it being a bit underattenuated. Light-medium bodied, medium carbonation, finishes clean with some light caramel notes. Absolutely nothing wrong with this one, but not one of the best scottish ales out there.

Draught at the brewpub. Clear light brown color with thin off white head. Sweet vanilla and caramel aromas. Vanilla comes out again in the flavor along with nutty, roasty undertones and even a touch of campfire. No smoke in the aroma. Decent beer.

i brought this kiltlifter before a small assemblage of kilts, to see if any "lifting" would occur. apparently, the kilts were no more impressed than i am, because in lieu of any elevation, we all drooped with despondency. that despondency was forced upon us because of the realization that the oh-so-witty name is meant to be SO intoxicatingly funny that the fact that the beer is slightly boring can be overlooked. but being boring is to me a flaw, and overlooking it is as challenging as overlooking a bloated, dead horse on your front porch. this is not a bad beer by any means, but typical. to get any ’smoke’ in the average american interpretation of this style, you’d have to light your beer coaster on fire; and this one is no different, with only slim evidence of a half acre grass fire blowing over from the next county. it’s the same ruddy tortoise shell color of a fender guitar pick, with some trub residue. the head was okay, though no thicker than the towels at a cheap motel. aroma is christmas tree spruce aroma, melon rind, beer nuts. yawn. tanned malts occur along with their predictable sweetness, bright carbonation, and a little sour peach bitterness. so, while it’s a decent amber ale, don’t expect any spontaneous speaking in gaelic, and above all, you can be sure your kilt will stay right where you put it-- until you’re ready to take a leak, that is. maybe the ol’ commode has a better claim to be called ’kilt lifter’, aye?