McNeills Scotch Ale

Bottle. Pours brown with a beigh head. Aroma is earthy with caramel, mild toffee and a hint of smoke. Flavor is moderately sweet with caramel, toasted malts, oaky molasses, and a touch of peat/smoke and has a light to medium body.

Draft at Flatbread: Minimal head, earthy sweet aroma, deep reddish brown color. Taste is sweet, earthy, light smoke. Light enough to be a heavy. It’s nice to see Ray do so well with a non hoppy beer.

Tap @ Blind Tiger. Poured a hazy deep brown color with an off-white head. Very light smoke pokes out of sweet toffee malt. Some earthy notes as well. Semi-sweet flavor with dry toasted malt. Somewhat earthy with a semi-sweet finish. Mild bitterness with a light-medium body. Over all the aroma and flavor were on the light side.

On tap at the Blind Tiger. Murky brown with some red highlights and an almost non existent head. Aroma- caramel and toffee, light bready and earthy yeast and some raisin. Taste is sweet caramel, peat smoke, some raisins, some dirty yeast with a medium body. Not too exciting.

Tap at Blind Tiger - turbid dark purplish beer, with pretty much no head - a bit of earthy, peat-like character in the aroma, high sweetness, some floral notes - the flavor is fairly sweet, too, and lacking a lot of complexity - there is some peat/smoke, strong vegetal/root vegetable flavors, and high sweetness - beyond that, there isn’t much happening here - a disappointment, but a drinkable one.

Draft at the Blind Tiger. Muddy brown pour with a reddish hint. Aroma is brown sugar, just very sweet, and some dishwater / toasted malt. Flavor is the same, really sweet and slightly spiced. Below average for the style.

Growler from the brewery. Deep dark brown-amber beer. Thin tan head. Aroma is lightly sweet and a bit malty. There is a lightly earthy hoppiness as well. Sweet and malty. It’s a bit herbal and toffeeish. It’s decent though, and I’m glad to see that they’ve cleaned up their yeast issues. Sweet and lightly caramelly.

22oz with the ghetto paper label, signifying limited one-off status.. earthy brown pour, clear with no sediment. head is constant, leaves a ring with some fizzy swirl. aromas of smoky molasses, rubber cement, and deep caramel. together, these whiffs makes me dream of girl scout samoas. first sip goes down like a champ, silky and brisk with a husky finish reeking of graham cracker and maple syrup. tastes like a bock, honestly.. regardless, i’m floored that i’m drinking a mcneill’s bottle that tastes so fresh and bright. what normally would be a muddy ale tastes like an uber-fresh lager? god damn i’m loving this brew. sip after sip after sip and i’m not slowing down at all. no idea on the abv, but the price point for the bottle falls in line with imperial ipa and imperial stout (over the standards), so i’m guessing somewhere 7 and up. definitely the best thing i’ve had from the little brewery that could in the recent 6 months of frequenting said establishment. if i had my andy crouch-ish say, this beer would make mcneill’s a katethegreaty winter destination... and yes, it’s just as good on tap.