Highland Tasgall Ale

Brewed by Highland Brewing Company
Style: Scotch Ale
Asheville, North Carolina USA

Thanks to boboski and uncusty for bottles. Pour is very dark brown with a beige head that is initially substantial, but dissipates quickly.Aroma is nice...Caramel and roasty malts. Maybe a touch of cocolate and subtle fruits. Flavor is very good! Roasted, toasted malts. Slightly bitter with a great lasting finish. Body is medium/full with nice carbonation. This is a very good beer that would rent space in my fridge if I lived in NC.

Pours a delicious garnet with tan tinted consistent head; nose predominantly of biscuit malt with some tobacco, molasses. Nicely rich on the palate with hints of bittersweet chocolate, oaky cherries, wooden hops showing up mostly in the slightly yeasty, chewy finish. Not a bad brew at all and one of the few scotch ales widely available (around here anyways).

22 oz. bottle. Pours a nice, dark red. Medium sized, fluffy, khaki head sticks around until the end. Beer starts out sweet, with hints of caramel. As the beer finishes, a subtle bitterness sticks to the roof of your mouth.

Tap at Asheville Brewgrass Festival. I liked this brewery a lot, and they had really great merchandise too. The Tasgall ale was wonderful, everything you would expect from a scotch ale, but with an extra hop bitterness. It was very malty, a wee bit heavy, and had hints of molasses, toast, and licorice. Good stuff!

Deep red-brown. Big malts, sweet and fruity. Bit sour, wondering if it might be a bit off. Full palate.

22oz bottle shared with Russ in SC. Pour is very dark brown/black. Head is a thin cream. Aroma is sweet and malty. No smoke, but very smooth, sweet, a bit chocolaty. No hint of the alcohol - Very drinkable.

Pours a nice translucent brown in color. Decent head retention. Smell is somewhat hoppy, and enough malt to be balanced. Taste is full in body, very creamy. Plenty of toffee, and is well hopped. There is a nice amount of chocolate that adds a nice twist. This is a very good beer. Goes down really smooth and easy. Never noticed the ABV while drinking.

Wow, does this look great. A magnificently retained beige head, creamy and mid-sized, sits atop a totally nearly opaque, very thick looking deep chestnut body with crimson/mahogany underlying. The appearance is immaculate, staring into it is like looking into the mash tun while it’s being brewed. The nose is strinking, chocolate malt piling out first like there just isn’t enough room in the glass to hold it any longer. Moderate peated malt follows, complete with mild smoke notes and light peppery spice. Also present are caramel, dry toffee, cherries, aged Dominican rum, toasted grain and oily nuts. Alcohol is almost entirely masked. Chocolate is foremost in the flavor as well, followed succinctly by caramel, nut oils and ancient peat. Sweetness is medium and masterful for this style and particularly for this recipe, which seems to pay homage to faraway origins and remains fresh and inventive. The chocolate note is marvelous, neither bitter nor too sweet, but full and rich. Bitterness is low, spiciness low to mild, acidity very low but presented in such a way that sweets are dispersed evenly across the tongue. This provides a very full bodied mouthfeel and accelerates the involvement in a velvety texture. Carbonation is low(in feeling, most must have faded into the formation of the head), the mouthfeel is very smooth and rewarding. I do think if this were any thicker it would seem too syrupy but it’s just great as is. The finish is sweet and caramel-infused, light smoke and peaty spice lingering for a long while. A wonderful example of the style with no flaws and a superb display of Highland’s ability across the style spectrum.