Traquair Bear Ale

Brewed by Traquair
Style: Old Ale
Innerleithen, Borders, Scotland

Amber coloured with a slim, foamy, off-white head. Malty, caramel and fruity aroma. Malty and fruity with a hoppy finish. Light to medium mouthfeel. Pretty good, if unremarkable.

Musty, dry, caramel aroma has some musty, sweaty, wet paper-like notes. Clear copper coloured body is topped by a low, off-white head that laces well. Caramel malts and fair bitterness with very dry, lightly roasty finish that shows some warm spices. Medium-light body with low carbonation. It has a tired, dusty mouthfeel. Must be a bad bottle. Sampled at Mondial de la Bière 2005.

2005 bottle at the Mondial, 6/4/05. Aroma of musty hay, honey and sweaty feet/gym shoes. Also a subtle boysenberry/blackberry note in there. Copper-red color, clear and filtered with a beige head, some retention and no lacing. Flavor of peppery spices, toasted grains, dry papery feel to it. Light caramel with touches of house yeast. Medium-light body. I’m betting something went wrong here between Scotland and Montreal.

Small sample at the Mondial. Light amber with a bit of head and lace...nose of musty old papers, dried up caramel, light fruitiness...a bit of chocolate emerges in the body, again the caramel, a sort of oxidized old caramel if that makes sense, and later some unpleasant vegetal characteristics to go with the aluminum-can texture at the finish, which is very light and cottony. All in all, not good.

Sample at the Mondiale 2005: Poured a medium brown color ale with medium head with limited retention. Aroma is quite sweet with some spicy notes and some nice malt. Taste is sweeter the expected with some honey. Body is average and carbonation is low. Average Scottish ale.

Bottle. Characteristic Traquair aroma. Clear chestnut colour. Small head. Quite bitter flavour. A little watery (naturally) in comparison with other Traquairs.

Bottle from Moffat Wine Shop in the Scottish Borders not too many miles from the brewery. Lovely tawny colour with a good persistent white head leaving nice lacework. Rich malty nose and a full malty palate, attractive fruity hops appearing on the finish. A big well flavoured ale from a tiny brewery...loved it lots.

Brown colour, low white head. Ashy hops, wet stones and grass in aroma. Light smokey and plastic flavour. Small ashy and yeasty notes. Short aftertaste.