Traquair Jacobite Ale

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

In short: A clean and lean dark ale with a wide flavour spectrum. Excellent.
How: Bottle 330ml. Many many times. This rating for a 6+ months old bottle
The look: Clear dark ruby-mahogany body topped by a beige ring of foam
In long: Nose of crème-caramel and dark fruits. Body is lean, a bit too much for the style, I would prefer a more corpulent body for this beer. Soft carbonation. Taste is molasses, black liquorice, some dark fruits, caramel and black pepper spiciness. I don’t know what herbs they use (Traditional Ales don’t use hops I think) but there is a strong tobacco leaves flavour in there. Finish is black pepper and tobacco leaves. Because of the extra-clean/lean body the alcohol is showing a bit despite the relatively low abv. The beer has a lot going for it with many cohesive flavour elements and it is highly drinkable. Very very good yet it is too clean and lean, and imho it is not the world-class beer that so many others make it to be. Still, I’ve been drinking the Jacobite on a regular basis for a while and I will continue doing so because this is a very good (almost excellent) beer that is widely available. Seems to be Scotland most appreciated beer export. A traditional ale that Scottish have been drinking for many years during their annual eight weeks of fog and rain. Or if you prefer the way they call it over there, a summer ale.

Bottle at Lee’s Brown body with tannish head. Nice and spicy head with sweet caramel malts. Very strange and interesting flavor. Nice carbonation. Tasty.

Bottle. Pours deep ruby brown with a beige head. Huge spicy aroma, with light smoke and some fruity, almost whiskey like sweetness. The flavor is malty and spicy, with cocoa, smoke, toasted bread, and a light sweetness. Very good.

Pours deep dark brown (almost balck) with a nice tan coloured head. Nose is really expressive! A heap of spice & tea, almost gewurztraminer like (i dont know how...?) hides beneath a layer of dark choc/coffee malt. Palate lets the dark malt come through more. Dry coffee roast and bitter chocolate with a layer of dark fruit & caramel sweetness, crazy depth! Finishes with significant spice. Like muggus says, a weird hybrid style here - part belgian dark, part porter with some crazy aromatic spice to boot. Awesome!

330ml bottle. Deep near black body with small dense tan head. Leaves good lace and legs on the way down. Amazing sort of nose. Rich burnt toffee, dark chocolate, smokey woody roasted malts, liquorice, with a unique spiciness that makes it almost seem Belgian; pepper, clove, coriander, citrus peel, cinnamon, nutmeg, dark fruits. Oilly body, sticky texture, carbonation relatively low, slight spice astrigency but well balanced by malt sweetness. Rich malt body, seems to take a different direction to the nose. Dark chocolate mixed plums, prunes, dates, good helping of rich nutty maltiness, liquorice, vanilla, leading onto clove and cinnamon spice. Orange peel on the finish, some pepper alluding to alcohol, and a lingering dry bready yeast note. Another unique and delicious beer from this brewery. If I had to narrrow it down to similiar beers, it’s almost like a Porter combined with a Weizenbock, and a Belgian Wit, odd combination, but its so tasty!

The spice comes through strong in the aroma - I’m assuming it’s the coriander. The flavor is much maltier than the nose suggests, nice roasted malts, a little chocolaty on the front end, the spice pulls through towards the end but doesn’t over power. Nicely balanced between the malt and spice. Very enjoyable, I want another!

Poured a nice cola color with a thin off white head. Aroma was malt, a lot of toffee notes, and a hint of spice. There was something kind of mysterious lurking in the background that I couldn’t place, but was very intriguing. Flavor was more of the same. Heavy toffee caramel notes with a good malt kick and that fleeting mystery flavor. The spice was nice and I’m sure it was the coriander that was lending the mystery, but it didn’t really taste like coriander. Intriguing beer.

bottle - dark brown beer with a not very long lasting beige head. Spicy aroma, like fruits and cinnamon. Flavour is also spicy, toffee and malt.