Two Brothers 90 Shilling Scottish Ale

Draught pint at Redbones on 06/06/06.
Dark caramel-toffee body shows medium to medium-high clarity, with strong cherry red highlights and a bit of mahogany in the middle. Head is one-finger in height, butter yellow and rapidly diminishes to partial cover and then ring.
A good deal of roast in the nose opens things up, showing strong dryness and even a touch of bready, crunchy malts. Caramel sweetness is slow to follow and combines to give a buttercream-like note that is somewhat softer than the roasty malts up front. Not exactly deep and pillowy, though nor is it syrupy and underattenuated. Yeasty, lightly so, with some nuttiness and maybe a soft kiss of leafy, soily hops.
The flavor is toasty, with light coffee and anise keeping things dry. Caramel only comes out upon warming, with more chewy texture than sweetness. Far from fat and deep, the malts are rather highly attenuated as this brewer is known for. But you can still sense the caramelization in the kettle, even if not much residual sweetness is present. As the caramel runs in to the roast and dries out, some very light apples and cherries bounce around in the background. Carbonation is moderate, though the bubbles are a bit large and unwieldly. Alcohol is not noted. Some light phenolic dryness and a pinch of hazelnut give this a hard edge on the end/aftertaste that seems to rob it of the rich, heary, sweet taste that 90 shillings possess. I suppose it’s not a 120 shilling but whatever the case, this one just seems a bit too lacking in malt depth and complexity. To be fair, draught carbonation does not work in its favor.

Draught pint at Red Bones 6/6/06. Pours a medium brown/amber color with a very minimal fizzy off white head. nose is lightly nutty with some nice sweet malt hints. Palate is smooth with a decent body to it. Flavor is lightly nutty with some very distinct chocolate malt notes mixing in well and providing a very ample backround.