Traquair The Lairds Liquor

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

Bottle. Transparent mahogany. Complex aroma, prominently yeast and brandy. Sweet and mellow. Smoky, complex, some slightly lactic characteristics. Almost like Westy-12’s baby brother. Some vague red apples in the finish. Overall, a complex and interesting brew.

Bouteille de 330 ml obtenue via les Importations Privées Bièropholie. Arôme: Odeur de petits fruits et de chocolat. Apparence: La couleur est ambrée foncée avec une faible densité de bulle. Absence de col mais présence d’une fine dentelle sur le verre. Saveur: Goût de prunes, de chocolat et de caramel. La durée de l’arrière goût est moyenne. Apparence: Le corps est moyen avec une texture vineuse. L’effervescence en bouche est moyenne. Présence de prunes en en arrière goût. Vraiment une très belle découverte. (Rating #394)

The first time I had this was in Traquair Castle in Scotland. 3£ to see the brewery museum, and not the rest of the castle (would have beer 5£). The so called museum was a souvenir shop, with half a wall of museum - so a money-trap would have been a better name. But anyhow, I fell in love with this beer, and have had it several times since then. It’s brown/black with a moderate head. The aroma has notes of roasted malt, caramel and licorice. The flavour is incredibly nice. It’s neither thick nor oily beer, but it has a lot of body and soul, and the notes of licorice, caramel and spice melt together in a very nice overall impression, and I have a weakness for this one!

12oz bottle labeled "The Laird’s Legacy". Brown pour with a medium beige head. Malty caramel and vanilla aroma with some nuttiness. Caramel malt flavor up front, followed by vanilla and a smoky coffee finish. I really liked this.

A deep nutty brown colour bordering on opaque. Pours thicker than a 6% beer should and it was a fight to get a whisp of head. Molassesy aroma shows faint wood, burnt cherries and sweet, lush malts. The molasses notes, sometimes leaning towards buckwheat honey, meld with a hint of chocolate and cherries. There’s an añejo rum character backing this up. Apparent alcohol, again stronger than 6% would indicate, provides a brawny backdrop and balances out the rich blackstrap malts.

The body is lighter than you’d expect from such a richly malty beer. This despite very low carbonation. Surely this is a classic Old Ale, in the vein of Old Peculiar but taking a cleaner, maltier (ie. Scottish) tack. For its richness, it’s surprisingly laid back. Perhaps too much so, as the flavours are great but not particularly assertive. I think it’s a mind trick - a beer this rich and you want it to be huge. So it feels thin when it’s not. Another solid effort from a great brewery.

Bottle: Poured a deep copper color ale with a medium foamy dirty white head with pretty good retention. Aroma of sweet malt with some subtle molasses. Body is thicker them most example of the style with nice creamy texture. Taste is richer then expected with a nice dose of molasses and good malt presence. Not an overly huge beer but a quite complex example for the style.

330ml brown bottle. Dark reddish brown colour. Holds it’s tan head for only a short while, leaves no lacing. Aroma has a lot of chocolate malt, dark fruit notes. Flavour has some sweetness coming from chocolate and caramel malt, light roasty edges, a bit of medium strength coffee also shows up. Finish is a little chocolatey with light roastiness, dryish with some nutty notes, finishing with some light hop bitterness. The beer has a lighter mouthfeel with fine tight carbonation.

Bottled. Nut brown, brief head. Dominated by it’s rich, sweet, soft, toffeish warming malt character, justlike the House Ale. It does not really have the richness and the complexity of the House Ale. Some licorice in a velvetty finish.