Great Dane Black Watch Scotch Ale

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

16 oz draft on tap at the brewpub (Madison, WI). Pours a pich black pour, opaque, bubbly tan head natural from the cask. Dies to a decent layer, fairly picturesque. Aromas are faint chocolate and caramel. A bit of sweetness, peat, and vanilla. Faint char and sugar with good feel. Initial is malty, peat and vanilla with caramel, a bit of sweetness, light coffee and chocolate. Vanilla and peaty caramel rule the day. Body is firm, a good cask ale, solid but sessionable. Good malts, faint bitterness, this really coats the palate for a cask ale. Pretty good!

Cask: Chestnut color with quite a bit of translucence. Small, but typical cask head. Mild earth and toffee in the aromas with a touch of licorice and stewed fruit. Slick full bodied feel. Dark earthy caramel flavors dominate. A easy drinking dark ale. Somewhat like a mild, as there needed to be a touch more depth.

On tap at the downtown brewpub 8/8/08: Pours a transparent dark copper mahogany with a stringy-lacing off-white head. Aroma of big, semi-sweet peaty dark caramel malt and a hint of light fruity character. Body starts about average with big earthy grainy grassy bitterness and a ton of smoky peat toward a semi-dry finish. A nice, fairly authentic Scotch ale.

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.

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.

Cask at the brewpub (downtown location). Poured a slightly hazy dark orange-red. Head was clingy, off white, and left some lace behind. Distinctly nutty and chocolatey aroma. Smooth mouth feel. Sweet on the tongue with brown sugar, subdued peated malt, mixed nuts, and alcohol flavors. The alcohol was almost bourbon-ish. Decent beer.

On tap @ the brewpub (downtown): Pours red with a tan head. Aroma, caramel and some other sugary notes, earthy. Flavor, nutty caramel, some peat, earthy, molasses.

Amber with thin tan head. Light aroma of sweet malts and caramel. Taste was sweet of caramel and sugar and semi-sticky.