3.5 AROMA 8/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 14/20
Aromas of oak, red wine barrel, some sourness, and perhaps a little sweetness. Barrel notes dominate really. Pours a copper color with a thin surrounding ring of foam. Lots of sour flavors, red wine, oak, very light pumpkin spice. Wine and oak dominate. Perhaps a more robust beer would benefit from the wine barrel aging. Still interesting. Light carbonation, tart finish.
2.8 AROMA 6/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 5/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 11/20
Draft at Elysian Great Pumpkin Beer Fest (GPBF) 08. Dark burnished copper with a medium, creamy tan head. Huge sour red wine grape nose. Watery body on the lighter side of medium. Biscuity, slightly pumpkiny mid-palate under a huge wash of sour red wine. Total mess.
4.2 AROMA 9/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 8/10 PALATE 5/5 OVERALL 17/20
Tap at the Blind Tiger. It seemed opinions were very split on this beer... I thought it was fantastic, while quite a few others hated it. Ah well. Aroma loaded with sauerkraut -- the defining flavor of this beer -- and also some malt vinegar, clorox, soap, lavendar, and white wine. Incredibly complex and very nice. Flavor has a rich sauerkraut tang, orange peel, minor oak. The wine is clear but remains well integrated with other flavors. Low carbonation and a clean body make this quite sessionable.
2.9 AROMA 5/10 APPEARANCE 2/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 12/20
Tap at Blind Tiger. Murky deep, burnt orange and rusty in color - pretty hideous. Funky notes from the oak are apparent in waves. Syrupy with a yeasty component. Sweet with pumpkin, apple cider, and spices - cinnamon, clove, nutmeg. Slimy tannic finish. I have no idea why they call this a Scottish Ale. Missed the mark for me, it seems like there are too many different applications going on here.
2.3 AROMA 4/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 4/10 PALATE 2/5 OVERALL 10/20
On tap at Blind Tiger. Pours a dark orange/deep red with a small head. Aroma of hard alcohol (whiskey or bourbon, couldn’t tell). Flavor of salty hard liquor with a hot finish. Odd Scottish Ale and not one I enjoyed. Too much hard liquor flavor.
4 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 5/5 TASTE 8/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 16/20
Draft at Blind Tiger, with Reuben & Jen, as part of their pumpkin Promo. 15 lines i believe. All sampled as 5oz pours. Had a nice sour bonus to it. Oak and a vinous character as well. Great beer my favorite of the night.
2.7 AROMA 6/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 4/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 10/20
Tap at Blind Tiger. Aroma of alcohol-soaked sour fruits. Flavor starts off with more alcohol, some raisin, lots of moldy vegetation, an odd earthy tartness. Not a favorite.
3.7 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 15/20
Tap at Blind Tiger: Murky copper/brown pour with a fading head. The aroma is vinous, nutty, lots of oak, with a sweetness of toffee and squash. The body is slick, with a solid vinous character in the flavor- gives off some fruit skin tannins and red wine notes giving it a slight tart edge. There’s a huge oak presence, yet it’s smooth and is accompanied by a toffeeish malt note, followed by an oaky finish. The oak is pretty dominate, but the wine character gives it a tart notes that melds well with the sweeter toffee-like notes, making it balanced and tasty. Pretty unique and interesting.
2.8 AROMA 6/10 APPEARANCE 2/5 TASTE 6/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 11/20
Tap at Blind Tiger. Very, very cloudy deep amber orange beer with almost no head at all. Aroma is very sweet and sticky with a lot of chewy bourbony oaky aroma. The oakiness in this one is quite herbal and dill-like. A bit earthy scuzzy with chewy/earthy dankness. Sweet caramel and light woody/orangey sweetness. Very slick palate with lots of oak and a fairly peppery alcoholic character. Boozy finish with very little pumpkin character coming through. There is a it of spiciness but it’s drowned by the sticky sweetness. There is a bit of raspberry/blackberry character. Lots going on here, but it doesn’t really work in any coherent way. This is a very strange beast and it doesn’t really work IMHO.
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