Arcadia Loch Down Scotch Ale

Brewed by Arcadia Brewing Company
Style: Scotch Ale
Battle Creek, Michigan USA

Serve in Thistle

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UPDATED: JAN 23, 2006 On-Tap at The Happy Gnome in St. Paul. I am a fan of few things, but Scotch Ale is one of them. I have few to choose from in my neck of the Tundra, but Arcadia hit town a while back, and it has yet to disappoint. This is the beer that separates the Scotch Ale from the Scottish Ale. This is definitely thicker, meatier, if you will, than my other fave in the latter category, Robert the Bruce. Highly recommend anyone who wants to know what all the hubbub is about regarding this autumnal style.

This one was the last of my build a 6er from Binnys. It was garnet colored as advertised, maybe even a little darker. No head, just a little lingering lacing. The malt was caramel and toffee all the way, with just enough raw herbal hop to balance. The alcohol level was hidden well, and it went down easily. Easy to drink too much of this.

Very nutty, with lots of caramel, toffee and roasted flavors. Hints of dough. Stiff bit clean alcohols in both aroma and taste.

Bottle. I'm learning to like scotch ales. I don't smell anything other than some caramel. The head went poof fast. Hazy dark red brown color. I haven't had enough to compare this to other scotch ales but it's nice. ---Rated via Beer Buddy for iPhone

Poured from a 12 ounce bottle into a miniature snifter. Appearance is a dark copper with an appropriate sized khaki colored head of foam. Aroma is sweet, caramel, some light chocolate, and alcohol. Taste is more on the earthy sweet side of things with an alcohol presence that is noticeable at first, but as the beer warms, that blends into everything else and just kind of disappears.

Dark mahogany pour with a thin tan head. Very sweet and deeply roasted malty aroma with hints of fruit and smoke. Malty sweetness dominates the flavors, a scotch like profile, but leaves me wanting more of something. Mouthfeel a bit thin and finish very much in need of a hoppy finish. Not very well balanced. Decent tasting beer, but missing some key scotch flavors.

An interesting brew. I like hte caramel malt, clove / spice and earth tones. The finish is dark fruit and toffee.

Bottle. Pours dark brown with generous but short lived head. Aroma is alluring and earthy, almost meaty. Taste and body come slightly short of its potential: slightly thin with fizzy carbonation and a very straightforward taste. I keep waiting for the flavor to unfold into some hidden sweet or sour below all that peat but it isn’t forthcoming. Ends up tasting somewhat like a weaker Belgian dunkel. I’d like to sample this beer on tap, perhaps nitro, and see if it doesn’t settle more comfortably into its style.

Starting out this brew hits with a slight alcohol smell almost like scotch! Pours a deep dark brown with very little head. Malt, caramel, scotch-like flavors in the taste. Overall I’d not my cup of tea.

This bottle says 8%...close enough. Roasty chocolate and caramel aromas. Gelatinous brown appearance. Toffee flavor, but also a bit medicinal. Strange syrup taste really killed it for me. Thick, sludgy body. Not my idea of scotch ale.

Draught at TJ’s: Aroma of caramel, roasting, nuts, and a hint of peat. Poured brown/deep amber in color with a small, creamy, dense, tan head that diminished but lasted throughout as a film on top of the beer, as well as around the edges. Hazy. Lightly sparkling. Flavor is lightly sweet. Tastes of malt, slight caramel, scotch, light alcohol, slight smoke, and yeast. Medium body. Lightly dry texture. Average carbonation. Malt, slight caramel, slight smoke, slight peat finish is lightly dry. 7.5%ABV is completely hidden throughout.