Hammer & Nail Scotch Ale

You might be wondering why I’d choose to rate a 4+ year old bottle of scotch ale from a long gone brewer. While I had some reservations about rating this one at first, I thought it’d be a good learning tool for anyone just getting into cellaring and also to shed some light on what happens to weaker scotch ales as they age. Once I opened this and the initial diacetyl note faded, any reservations I had were quickly dashed as this one shaped up to be a very drinkable enjoyable beer that took on some older barleywine qualities and some of its own character courtesy of some underlying smokiness.

Bottle a good friend of mine had cellared since 2002 and was kind enough to share with me at my tasting. Pours dark brown with a thin tannish head. The carbonation on this one was still present, but, as expected, was on the scarce side. Smells doughy and malty with some very mild diacetyl creeping in. The smoke which was pronounced when this one was fresh has blended into the background, playing a more subtle role. Tastes of juniper, roses, caramel, and slightly toffeish with nice spicy elements. Finish is of slight sherry but with a lot of nice malty character backing it up. While on the decline, still very drinkable and enjoyable. This gives me faith that scotch ales, even lower ABV ones are good as cellaring candidates.

Damn that’s a lot of malt. Roasty and rich. This stuff would make any Scot proud. I’m not huge on malty beers, but the balance was there on this one.

Dark brown; seriously malt nose; big smokeiness, fat malts, long finish.

I’m a sucker for smoked beers, this had a smoked malty aroma, some faint fruit. Sweet malty smoked flavors, but overall much too sweet for my tastes.

Very deep ruby red, garnet if you like, beige head that fades quite quickly, decent lace. Large malt nose, hints of caramel, and that slight touch of smoke. Front is sweet, the middle light, the finish nicely hopped, moderate carbonation, dry, and quite good, not over powering, just good and pleasant to the palate.’Thanks Venom’, the King of beer Trades!