Great Dane Black Watch Scotch Ale

Brewed by Great Dane Pub & Brewery
Style: Scotch Ale
Madison, Wisconsin USA

On cask at the brewery, downtown location. Pours a murky dark brown with deep caramel tones and a medium layer of large bubbled beige head with a thin consistency. Aroma is fairly light and sweet, decorated with a gentle whiff of smoke and a lightly caramelized layer of english toffee. Perhaps a hint of diacetyl buttery-nes, but not enough to be offensive. Medium bodied, lightly carbonated mouthfeel. Could really stand to have a bit more creaminess to add some chewiness to the palate. Doesn’t quite have that borderline-milky quality I expect from a cask pull. The flavors are quite tasty, albeit somewhat one-dimensional. Lots and lots of peaty, mossy smoke with a touch of brown sugary caramelization. Could stand to either be a bit more attenuated or get more sweetness from malt caramelization rather than leaving an impression of residual, plain malt sugars. This might sound overly negative, but it was actually thoroughly enjoyable and paired quite well with my grilled bratwurst.

Cask at the downtown Madison location. Murky orange-brown body, medium-thick cream head. Light peaty aroma. Toasty body with caramelized brown sugar, earthy, with a delicate sweetness. Rather light and watery, but I liked the interplay of peat and delicate, sweet malt and earthy tones.

Clear dark amber with off-white head. The aroma is toffee, bread, cookie and raisins. The flavor is raisins and toffee. Medium body with watery texture.

Cask. Flat brown body. Apple juice and dyr smoky malt in the aroma. Fruity apple and lightly smoked green raisins alongside pale malt round out the flavor. The finish has a dry sugary caramel thing. No carbonation but it doesn’t hurt it too much.

Cask. Pours to a very dark mahogany body with a red hue. Nearly non-existent head. The aroma is lightly sweet, peat malts. The flavor is smoothly peaty, smokey, apple juice, dark caramelly malts. The palate is flat, medium-bodied, nice mouthfeel. Fairly plain-Jane unfortunately.

Cask at downtown location. Poured a deep, clear iced-tea brown with a short-lived beige head. Lots of sweetness in the nose... toffee, caramel, and berries with very minor peat and earth. Toasty caramel, toffee, and berries again in the flavor.. very sweet. Light and slick on the palate.. low carbonation.. sticky uber-sweet caramel at the finish. Not too enjoyable.

Cask. Translucent, cherry-lacquered mahogany in color with no movement elsewhere. Chocolate, peat, and rich dark toffee kick things off - aromatically speaking - along with burlap sacks dipped in brown sugar, some prune juice and a touch of boysenberry. Separated, thin stream gives a mild cocoa battement with blueberry pancake syrup. Peat and chocolate give a strange combination, and err on the side of caution, so as to not create any complexities in the flavor. Liquid streams in and is tremendously non-causal on the palate. Prune juice and diluted cocoa butter come out in the finish, which almost couldn’t come soon enough.

on cask at Madison. dark brown, almost black in color. a mild ale with hints of fruit, chocolate and some toffee, but little if any caramel or hops. in addition, an earthy quality and hint of peat, but not what I was expecting for a cask scotch ale. a nice velvety mouthfeel. unusual but in a good way.