The Duck-Rabbit Wee Heavy Scotch Style Ale

Brewed by The Duck-Rabbit Craft Brewery
Style: Scotch Ale
Farmville, North Carolina USA

A/A: Lovely ruby-chestnut body with a big cascading head that quickly collapsed into a nice skim of bubbles blanketing the surface. Smoky, woody aroma with sweet malt in the background. F/P: Intensely caramel sweet up-font with candied cherries & sherry, faint oak and toffee. Touch of alcohol in a strong chewy finish. Moderately heavy plate. Note: Flavor and aroma varied considerably between two bottles sampled. This reflects the better of the two bottles.

If you melted down a couple pieces of caramel and poured it into a glass, that’s what this reminds me of. Not a bad thing at all, but it looks like caramel, smells like sweet malts and caramel and tastes like, you guessed it, caramel. Pretty smooth all around, although it’s missing the characteristic dark fruit, or peaty flavors of a wee heavy.

Pours a dark murky brown with hints of red when held up to the light. The head is small and recedes to almost nothing pretty quickly leaving no lacing. The aroma is very fragrant with a huge dominant malt sweetness that has some caramelized sugar and dark fruits. Great smelling beer. The taste is a slightly toned down version of the nose with the caramel malts and sugar still dominating. There is toffee, figs, and the slightest bit of bitterness to balance the blasts of sweetness. There is a boozy element that shows up throughout the aroma and taste. The mouthfeel is fairly full bodied and chewy with a little bit of carbonation. This is a great scotch ale and right up there with the Baltic Porter on my short list of Duck Rabbit brews. Highly recommended!

Best By Date of 06/08; Sampled October 2008
A slightly vigorous pour into my 25cl tulip glass produces a three-finger thick, lightly amber-tinged, tan colored head that is fairly large bubbled, but still manages to last a bit longer than I would expect. The beer is murky, dark, amber tinged, brown color that shows a somewhat hazy, light cranberry-red hue when held up to the light. The aroma is quite sweet and malty with expressive caramelized malt sugar aromatics, sweet toffee, brown sugar glazed whole grain bread, well toasted grain and a dusty grain character. This has a touch of fruitiness to it that provides a very soft berry like note to the nose. If you like caramel and toffee, then this aroma is for you; very malt focused.

While a bit sweet, it is not nearly as sweet as the aroma suggested; instead it has a rich, chewy, caramelized maltiness to it that is exactly what I was hoping for. This has a very thick, rich, body to it that really sticks to the palate; it is almost a bit too thick and rich for a Wee-Heavy. Lots of toffee flavors that have been mixed with the crust of a chewy, well browned, almost burnt, whole-grain bread crust. A touch of alcohol heat enters in at the finish at times, though it is never overwhelming. As the beer warms it gets less sweet, and chewier, with even more palate-coating malt character to it as well as more of a murky-malt character.

The aroma is spot on for the style, though the aroma is perhaps a touch too thick and toffee / caramel focused, even for a Wee-Heavy. Somehow the flavor comes off as being a touch to muddled, perhaps even murky, though I definitely appreciate that it is not overly sweet for such a thick beer. This must have a pretty standard best by date, as this will easily be good for another couple years.

12 oz. bottle picked up at Sam’s in Durham, NC. poured a deep mahogany with a short-lived khaki head, fading quickly to not much lace at all. aroma was brown sugar. flavor was malty sweetness dominated by the brown sugar and some ripe fruit lurking around. almost full-bodied and rather boozy. booziness never really bothered me, but I never picked up any peat qualities and the beer seemed rather one dimensional.

330 mL Bottle. Holy crap these get picked off the shelves fast. Pours a clear ruby red with very little head. Guy below must’ve really dumped it in there. Lots of brown sugar, malt, and dark fruit. Body is very sweet and malty but the 8% alcohol is very apparent- almost like straight up vanilla extract. Close to a barleywine and thus very appealing. Aftertaste is dry and tart. I prefer the DR Barleywine over this I’ll have to say. The alcohol has too high a presence and not enough creamy body to balance.

Thanks to Durhambeer for this 12oz bottle. Pours a nice ruby reddish brown with a thick tan head. Big malty aroma with candy sweetness, dark fruits and roasted grains. Thick malty body, lots of roasted grain flavor and a dark fruit sweetness. Finishes is excellent, a little roasty and chocolaty yet not thick. Really nice and I would have thought a Baltic Porter because of the dark fruit sweetness.

Bottle, thanks to ucusty. Brown / burgandy pour, no head. Aroma is really sweet, dark fruit, vanilla, and caramel. The flavor is the same, very sugary and fruity, but with a slightly roasted aspect. Decent for the style.