Grand Teton Scotch Ale

Vintage 2005, wax-dipped one quart bottle, with "cellar reserve" moniker. Very handsome. Pours opaque mahogany, with dark amber hues faintly seen through the edges. A moderate beige head developed to a half inch and receded fairly quick to partial coverage at best. A few errant dots of lacework as well. Aromatics are mainly sweet malt and caramel. As the brew warms up, some decent complexities pull through...Hints of whiskey, chocolate, and smoke. The nose finishes with nougat and brown sugar. Mouthfeel is medium at best, with carbonation a bit subdued, but well suited for the brew. Pallet is well balanced for style and not overly sweet. Rich malts, dark chocolate, with hints of vanilla, bourbon, and a suggestion of maple. Finishes malty and lightly sweet, with lingering cocoa. An extremely drinkable Scotch ale, and leaning twords a big bock.

Taking a short break from the melee that is OT-M to do an actual beer review. 2005 Vintage, big bottle w/wax. Appearance (dark and opaque) conforms to style designation, the rest comes across as pretty mild albeit tasty and sugary, just as style designation would indicate. Actually one of the sweetest ales I can remember having in some time, aside from, say, Black Boss.

Listening: io, Ennio Morricone. The avant-garde portions. Damn, he’s as good as anybody in whatever style, be it melodic or avant-garde.

1 liter bottle, 2005 vintage, via BückDich. Pours a clear rich dark mahogany under a small foamy head that fell to a fine bubbled creamy film light brown in color. Nose is sweet and malty with light notes of smoke, overripe dark fruits, raisons, and alcohol. Flavor is slightly sweet with alot of dark fruity malt, some alcohol, brown sugar, and a touch of smoke on the finish. Mouthfeel is medium to full bodied with nice fine pinpoint carbonation that’s lively and a little too fizzy at first but really mellowed out on the carbonation after it was allowed to breathe a while though. Overall, I really liked this one. I liked that it wasn’t overly sweet and sticky or heavily alcoholic tasting.

1 lt. Bottle Dark mahogany with a light brown ring on the top. Aromas of brown sugar, burnt caramel, and mild alcohol. It displays earthy tastes of peat, alcohol, and sour grapes. It does a strange thing in your mouth, kind of puts the inside of your cheecks on edge - cool. Fairly thin body with a slight syruppy feel. I don’t normally like Scotch ales, but this one isn’t bad.

1 Quart, Pours out a darker amber. Topped off with a light tan head. A nice roast tast. Thanks Indiana Red

Bottle Pours a clear deep redish brown witha nice fine light tan head. Dark carmelized, brown sugar woody aroma. Flavor is very woody, grassy, and light roasted malts. Moderate carbonation and a nice creamy smooth feel. Palate is also a bit chalky and unfliterd tasting. The lingering bitterness is more of the astringent, tannin tree bark than of hops. A bit off for me.

Pours with a rather frothy and rocky head; doughy, smokey aroma; very toasty and fairly nutty maltiness, mild roasty bittering; a hint of flowery hops; some light phenols; fairly prevailent alcohol for not being overly strong; creamy mouthfeel. This is very nice.

Crimson amber color, nice head. Nose of toasty fruity caramel and full bodied nutty sweet toffee. The flavor is creamy and tart, a bit rindy on the edge. Finishes toasty with a bit of marshmallow. Yum.