Innis & Gunn Highland Cask

Innis & Gunn
Brewed at Belhaven (Greene King)
Style: English Strong Ale
Edinburgh, Scotland

Serve in English pint, Trappist glass

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Bottle pours a clear deep amber with a small off white top. Scent is sweet malts, wood and caramel. Taste is sweet with wood and some earth.

Strong aroma has a firm overtone of whisky-soaked wood, plus hints of malt and caramel. It pours a clear coppery with an average white head. Malty, slightly fruity flavor has a woody overtone and a firm whisky note. Texture has average body but a good amount of persistent fizz. Definitely worth at least a try.

2012 - 04 - 24 330ml bottle in brownish cardboard box, 2012 edition. light amber colour. very small white head. hint of licorice in aroma. light sweet taste. dry palate

from bottle. deep copper colour with a thin lacy head. strong aroma of sweet vanilla, grapes, white wine. Bland water watery palate with little definition. distinctive flavour of whisky but lacking any kind unique tag. As far as my palate could tell this was matured in a cask of Famous Grouse, and i do have a modicum of whisky experience. In trying to extrapolate out the flavour of the original beer it appears to have been a sub par brew as there is certainly a lack of identifiable malts in the beer. I’m going to go out on a limb and say that breweries that like to barrel age there beers should release or at least start with the pre aged beer. In this case it seems to be a case of marketing over product.

Don’t take this wrong, but this is my least favorite of the 4 I&G I have tried. But I still enjoyed this beer. I bought it in a "gift pack" which came with 3 different I&G beers and an I&G glass. Nice color, small head, but still has the richness and spicyness of the I&G oak aged beers. If I hadn’t tried the other I&G beers first, I might have rated this higher. But I still recommend this to people that enjoy the oak aged beers.

330ml bottle poured into an Innis & Gunn tulip. 2011 edition. Appearance is a clear dark copper with a one finger tan head that fades rather quickly to a thin cap with light lacing on the sides of the glass. Smells quite skunky at first due to the clear bottle. Once that is allowed to fade there is raisins and plums along with a bit of toffee and oak. The taste has tons of oak evident throughout. Some of that dark fruit is there but there is also a little bit of smoke and lots of wood. It is evident this was aged in scotch barrels but it is more subtle than what I was anticipating. The beer is pretty sweet but not cloyingly so. A light bitterness finishes everything off. Overall this is a good beer but not too different from other Innis and Gunn offers I have had. Could have used more scotch character and not really worth the price.

330 mL bottle. 2011 Edition. Pours transparent red with an off-white, very rapidly dissipating head. On the nose is apple, raspberry, raisin, oak, barley, vanilla, and some nice floral/perfume notes. Hiding in the back is salty sea air, a touch of peat, and latex gloves (probably the phenols; not a bad thing in my book under the circumstances). The mouth feel is on the thin side with medium-high carbonation. The taste is intensely sweet and syrupy at first. The oak influence is very obvious. Plum, raisin, molassess, rum, a bit of smoke, honey, and biscuity malts. As the sweetness fades it transitions into nutty/woody/earthy flavours. The finish is medium bitter and fairly long leaving smoke, dried fruit and some hops. I don’t normally like Innis and Gunn beers, but this one was pretty good. At first, I thought it was too sweet, but it really opened up after a few minutes and develops nicely. Unfortunately, it’s not quite worth the price.

Pours a dark caramel color. Lots of brown sugar and toffee on the nose. Dried fruit and toffee on the palate. Creamy, smooth mouthfeel. Nice smoky whiskey finish. I really liked this beer.

Oak sweet alchol aroma... I like it. Alot. Thin head light tan ok appearance, but the box makes it seem cooler. Taste is oak sweetness. Enjoyable. Easy to drink . If this is supposed to live off the shoulders of a single scotch... then good job guys!

330ml bottle. Pours amber red with a thin off white head. Aroma of vanilla, malt, caramel, coffee, bourbon, slight roastiness and muted hops. Palate is soft carbonation medium bodied with an average sweet finish. Overall the base of this beer is decent. Really enjoyed the use of oak casks though. Big fan of that but the base beer could be improved.