Traquair House Ale

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

I’m giving it my first perfect score. I was amazed at the wonderful malt flavors, almost like a red wine. Perfect balance, beautiful deep red/garnet color. Rich aroma (yes, pretty close to the SATB). This was actually served to me at room temp (note: *not* cellar temp, *room* temp) and it was wonderful, with all the various flavor notes at their best, showing off the amazing complexity of this beer. Updating with more specifics: Dark cloudy brown, with thick dense head. Rich plummy aroma. Flavor full of dark fruit, figs and plums. Lingering warm and alcoholic finish. Not as stunning as my previous tasting, but I’ll leave the 5.0 score alone.

Amazing!...Find it, but it, savor it.

gentle roasted/smokey aroma. foam diminishes to a little. really nice brown color. great flavors of mild chocolate, tootsie roll, smoked malt and lingering bitterness. finishes dry and soft on the palate. my mouth has been bathed in some beautiful malt. classic!

Bottle from Mort Subite, Altrincham. Rich red/brown with generous tan head that fades a little but leaves pleasant lacing. Rich, complex aroma with butterscotch, liquorice, spice, alcohol, malt and fruit all coming through. Roast malt flavours with more butterscotch/liquorice and a beautiful touch of coffee and chocolate. A touch of hops lead to a drawn out, bitter finish. Surprisingly low carbonation gives a wonderful smooth palate. One of the very, very best.

THe best Scottish ale that I"ve ever had by a long shot, and certainly one of the best beers period. How bad do I wish this wasn"t $6 a bottle. Malt, Malt, Malt. Hides its alcohol content completely. I figured this was a 5% ABV. In my mind this is almost a perfect beer if you like sweet malty brews. No hints of smoke found in some Scottish Ales.

I really dunno what glass to pour this into so I finally chose myChimay Glas, turned out to be a good choice as in the chalice the beer looks most excellent stuff a deep smoky red with a nice sized tannish head that dissapates to the most fantastic ring and lace all over the glass..great. The smell of this excellent ale is strong, but it materfuly balanced between the strong dark fruitness and a lighter smoky chocolaty aroma. Ahh what an amazing taste to this brew..tastes like the best Rum christmas pudding ever with the added extras of dark chocolate and black espresso chocolate..and this taste stays around to visit for a while..very nice. Very very good feeling on the taste buds..this is "A-1" stuff all round

Damn. This was good. By far the best Scottish ale i have had. Amazing flavors of fruits and caramel/and butterscotch. Loved this one a lot.

One of the finest beers I’ve ever tasted. Strong butterscotch flavor/aroma - normally an off-flavor, it’s anything but in this brew. Caramel and toffee with a hint of chocolate blend in a beer with suprisingly drinkable body - not heavy or cloying. I obviously had a bottle that was in good condition. I will seek this beer out again!