The Duck-Rabbit Wee Heavy Scotch Style Ale

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

Pours a clear, deep mahogany with a decent tan head - very inviting. Aroma is strong and smoky with hints of caramel and coffee, much like a stout or porter. Rich malty flavor has firm nutty and smoky tones, as well as hints of caramel and hop bitterness. Texture is smooth but edgy, and finish has a hoppy undertone and a touch of sweetness.

Thanks to Ross for this one. Dark brown pour going toward black. Aroma of heavy roasty malt, figgy fruit, brown sugar, some maple syrup, cacao. The flavor is caramel malty, figgy, dark fruity, with some brown sugar, almonds, molasses, cacao, and slight rauchy oaky barleywiney notes. Very complex aroma and taste, with a dense, complex, well balanced palate. Duck Rabbit is a brewer that has always impressed me, and this beer is an elite scotch ale. Find a friend in North Carolina, and get ya some today!

NorCal tasting Jan 07 - My first try at a Duck-Rabbit beer and what an impression. This was one seriously intense beer. An aroma of toffee, raisins, dark fruit, maple syrup, and a little boozy. Appearance was a deep brown/reddish color, hazy with a small head. Mouthfeel was medium bodied, slightly sticky but still excellent. Flavors were nutty, dark fruits, spicy, woody, earthy, a little smoky and just incredibly complex. This rates very high with me. Thanks so very much to JCB for sending!!!

2006 Vintage


3/01/2007: Well, the Duck-Rabbit Barleywine tasted more like "Bandywine", but Ross redeemed himself one this one. Apparently the bottle he sent me is approaching a year old and it was awesome right now...

Duck-Rabbit Wee Heavy Scotch Style Ale pours a clear dark amber color. It has an ample amount of carbonation, but it isn’t over done. Initially there is a small honey-colored head, but it quickly diminishes and leaves only a partial film. This stuff looks pretty thick; the bubbles rise slowly to the surface through the viscous beer... The aroma is sweet, deeply malty and contains a complex blend of aged fruit, caramel/chocolate, and fine alcohol. The flavor is rich, full, malty, and complex. Flavors of aged dark fruit, something darker like caramel and/or chocolate, and reminants of subltle smoke blend into an amazing experience. The alcohol is extremely well integrated into the overall flavor and barely noticeable. The mouthfeel is thick, full, sticky, and creamy. This is one of the best Wee Heavy/Scotch Ales that I’ve had. Actually, as this beer warms it seems to open up even more. Some additional whisky/scotch notes become more apparent as well as a little bit more alcohol. This is a truly impressive and very fine beer. I like it just as much if not more than the Duck-Rabbit Baltic Porter (probably more actually). This beer would be perfect with just a touch more smoke...

12 fl oz bottle from ross, Enjoy by 3/07. Thanks Ross. This bottle was amazing! Please send me a 6-pack of this wonderful brew the next time it is released! Rating = 9/3/9/4/18 = 4.3
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2007 Vintage

8/10/2007: An entire case of this just showed up on my front porch today. I was wondering if this beer was ever going to make it out of the brewery this year since it was so late in being released. Oh well, it’s here now... The Duck-Rabbit Wee Heavy Scotch Style Ale pours a clear, dark, ruby-amber brown. This bad rabbit looks thick - the bubbles are having a hard time making it to the surface! There are lots of very fine bubbles shimmering around the edges, but there isn’t any head since they the bubbles are so suppressed by the viscosity of the beer. The aroma is just as wonderful and complex as I remembered it from last year: Rich, sticky caramel, alcohol-soaked dried fruit (kind of like fruit cake), and a hint of caramelized malt (faint smoky character). The flavor delivers what the memory held on to as well. It is sweet on the lips and strong and malty on the palate with notes of caramelized sugar, smooth alcohol, pecans and dried fruit, subtle cherry, and some oak or wood dryness. Overall it is rich and quite intense. The label might state that the alcohol content is 8% by volume, but there’s no way. It’s definitely much higher, yet well melded into the overall flavor. The body is medium-full and thick. It’s super smooth though. This is such a great beer! I look forward to sitting down and slowly sipping every one of the 24 bottles that I received. Oops, only 23 now since I just drank this one...

12 fl oz bottle ( 8% alcohol by volume) from ross, Enjoy by 6/08. Thanks again Ross! You really went above and beyond the measly 6-pack I had orginally asked for. I appreciate it greatly!
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2006 Vintage

10/24/2009: The Duck-Rabbit Wee Heavy Scotch Style Ale... Aroma: Wonderful caramel; real maple syprup; cedar. Appearance: Beautiful rich honey-amber color with a beige crown; shimmering carbonation slowly rise through the apparently thick liquid. Flavor: Sweet maple sugar and several layers of rich caramelized sugar, caramel, and candied dates; faint hints of almond, dried peaches, and toasted wood (cedar?); a whisp of alcohol through the nose. Palate: Smooth and milky texture; medium to medium-full body; slightly syrupy. Overall: This beer has become a bit more sweet, but still incredibly delicious; truly a magnificent beer, but may have been closer to prime at 1-2 years...

Twelve fuild ounce bottle ( 8% alcohol by volume; Enjoy by 3 07 ) from Springlicker. Thanks Jay! Rating: 8/4/8/4/18 = 4.2
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2007 Vintage

10/26/2009: The Duck-Rabbit Wee Heavy Scotch Style Ale... Aroma: Lush caramel aroma; nicely caramelized malts; deep citrusy hop presence (mild); touch of smooth alcohol. Appearance: Cloudy to murky deep, nearly opaque amber color; frothy beige head and residual crown. Flavor: Several layers of sweet, rich caramel malts; mild aged hops; slightly dry finish; warming alcohol. Palate: Medium-full body; smooth and mellow texture; slight stickiness on the lips. Overall: Still quite good, but not holding on as well as the previous vintage...

Twelve fuild ounce bottle ( 8% alcohol by volume; Enjoy by 6 08 ) from ross. Thanks Ross! Rating: 8/3/7/4/16 = 3.8

Bottle. Shared by a generous Ratebeerian at the PP Strong Ale fest 07. Burnt amber color with an ivory head. Warm roasted aroma with toffee and port notes. Sharp and fruity with dark fruit flavors. Very clean finish. Avery nice beer.

A dark amber appearance. The aroma is nutty with some caramel and alcohol. The flavor consists of chocolate, caramel, nutmeg, and some alcohol notes. A sweet finish. Damn good one.

Heard this was in the store, and since I choked and only bought 2 or 3 bottles of the imperial stout, I just bought 12 of these. Scotch ales are something that I am not too fond of due to the massive amount of malts that seem to overwhelm the beers. That said, this was the best scotch ale I have ever had, and one of the better beers from NC. Pours out dark brown with a tan head that goes to the end. Smells malty, some hops, little hints of alcohol. Taste is sweet, malty, refreshing, and excellent. The beer goes away very quickly compared to other beers I have had in the style. A great malt bomb that will only improve with some age. Excellent offering.

Deep burgundy in colour, thin beige coloured head, spotty lacing. The aroma was very malty (lots of caramel, chocolate), light toffee, rich and sweet, light alcohol, licorice. The flavour was very rich and chewy, lots of toffee, chocolate, very malty, plums and cherries, christmas fruit cake. Sweet mouthfeel, medium/large body, medium carbonation. Finishes warming, lingering, lots of caramel sweetness. Wow, very smooth, low alcohol and lots of malt. Excellent stuff.

355ml bottle obtained in a trade with <a href=http://www.ratebeer.com/ViewUser.asp?U target=blank>OldGrowth, thanks Tom. Best Before March 8, 2007