Traquair House Ale

Popped the top and toffee and roasted malts hit the olfactory. A dark, nearly-opaque ruby color gives way to a legitimate off-white head and slightly watery body. The body is certainly drinkable with a dark fruit, caramel, and hint of toffee flavor. This brew is why ESAs make me happy!

Pours a completely opaque very dark chestnut brown color with a thick frothy 1.5 finger tan head. Decent retention but slowly fades into a lasting ring after a bit. Sporadic spots of lacing. Roasted malt aroma with hints of hazelnut, chocolate and leathery malts. Very earthy with a nice alcohol scent. Roasted chocolate malt flavor with some caramel sweetness and subtle hop bitterness. Estery dark fruit notes, mostly plum and berries with some chestnut/hazelnut notes and slight alcohol warmth. Kind of a barleywine brown ale hybrid.

Bottle. Dark brown with a nice beige head. Rich aroma of malt, vanilla, plums. Malt, licorice and a light fruit flavor. Slight peat and alcohol. Finishes medium dry.

Pours dark copper with ruby tints and a small but persistent off-white head. Very malty aroma combining caramel (crystal?), loads of toffee, some diacetyl, butterscotch, molasses and dates. Excellent. Equally malty flavours, predominantly caramel and cookie-dough, with some of the alcohol showing through. Mild earthy hops notes are also noticeable, finishes slightly watery with a very gentle bitterness. Nice rich body, good creamy carbonation.

Pours Deep brown, thin beige head.Aroma is very nice, malty, oaky, slighhtly fruity, Very complex. Strong oak flavour, nice malty sweetness, subtle notes of caramel. This is one fine beer. I also like a beer at about the 7% mark. It gives it a bit of a thicker flavour that i enjoy with out it tasting hot and alcoholic, This is a very well balanced beer a real pleasure to drink.

Poured from a 330 ml bottle a dark aubergine/chestnut hue with no head and a fragile wispy, soapy top. Malt driven nose with some dark fruity character. Chewy yet relatively mild and wort-y. Mild woody character relaxes a subtle delicate thin finish with a few residual boozy bursts.

12 oz. bottle - pours clear, dark brown with trace tan head; thick aromas of dank fruit, apple juice; medium body, rich, fruity, malty and dry; nutty and yeasty; quite a bit going on with lots of dark fruit, raisins, toffee and chocolate coming out; coriander too; flatness of texture is the main complaint here; very nice though

Enjoyed from a 11.2oz bottle in a pub glass. The beer pours a dark brown to just slightly lighter than black with a small but noticeable just off-white head. Complex malt notes come through in the palate, with an especially strong emphasis on crystal malts (perhaps ranging from C-40 to C-80). No hop presence is found in either the aroma or the palate, unsurprisingly. The palate is unapologetically malty, showing the aforementioned crystal malt notes, hints of milk chocolate, and a very very subtle roasted character. Overall, excellent.