Traquair House Ale

Brewed by Traquair
Style: English Strong Ale
Innerleithen, Borders, Scotland

Appearance: Very dark, redish brown. Not much head. Aroma: Dark chocolate. Malt. Coffee. Taste: Chocolate, malt, coffee. Warming. Bitter Info: 330ml bottle, 6/8-2006, 142/300, 75/500

Traquair House Ale is a beer of huge complexity, interesting oak characters and roasted malt flavours, subtle nuances of PX and dry oloroso sherry, caramel, winey sometimes port like levels, chocolate and coffee and good hop bitterness. Carbonation is not too high, balance of sweetness and hops works wonderfully (some lovely caramelisation in the copper) and leads to a dry finish. Great with cheese, after dinner and although a great sipper, the mouthfeel can lend itself to being drunk awfully quickly. That’s (heaven forbid) not to say it’s easy drinking and not complex however - this is a beer of subtlety. It deserves a much higher rating in my opinion and another gem in the quest for skill and subtlety in brewing to be recognised alongside extreme, easy to pick out flavours.

Dark amber color without much head. Burnt Molasses and wine aroma. High malty flavor with a barely wine like mouth. Raisins, coffee, and port. Mellow hopiness. A tad bit flat.

Bottle Hazy brown to black body. Nice, off-white, creamy head. Of lace. Very complex aroma of wine, wood, citrus, grapes, strong malts, port. Well balanced aroma. Moderately bitter (hoppy bitterness), lightly sour flavour - bit out of balance (oxidised?). Nice beer.

Bottle. Pours a dark amber with a small tan head. Sweet malty/toffee aroma with dark fruit, caramel, molasses, and spices. Complex flavors of sweet dark caramel, toffee, smoke, dark fruit, raisins, and a light touch of oak. Medium body with a dry finish.

Bottled 33cl. It pours a hazy dark brown beer with a small tanned head. The nose is of fudge, caramel, grapes, apples and fennel accompanied by a strong smokiness. Sherry, vanilla, wood, candy, dark chocolate and fudge in the taste. Very salty. Some vitamin tablets showing up. Perfectly balanced. Smoky. Smooth mouthfeel. Mediocre lacing. Dry bitter finish with fennel and licorice appearing.

Very dark amber pour, small head. Smells a bit like a chocolate covered cherry to me, yet there’s almost an overture of vanilla in there somewhere as well. Great mouth feel that’s much less overpowering than I expected -- so smooth and definitely helped by having a fairly low alcohol (I guessed initially that a beer like this might have been up in the 9 range). Nice finish. Strong overall .

Pours a deep chrimson with small tan head. Aroma is deep sweet malt and dark fruit. Flaovr is dark fruit and sweet malt. Verynice beer with a great finish.