Isle of Skye Cuillin Beast

Brewed by Isle of Skye
Style: English Strong Ale
Portree, Scotland

Serve in English pint, Trappist glass

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Pours a copper color with a small white head. It has a funky cherry aroma with a hint of licorice. The flavor is very tart with berries, cherries, chocolate, and licorice. It does taste like its trying to be a sour. Kind of confusing, but interesting. A little harsh, but tasty.

Pours hazy copper with off white head. The aroma has some punch with it emitting light colored fruit notes, sweet – tart candy, light earthiness and sour yeasty notes. The taste is bright and punchy too with tart candy and modest sourness to go along with a spectrum of berry notes going from sweet to tart. Is this a Scotch Ale meets a Sour? It comes across as interesting but not tasting all that great.

Bottle, courtesy ibrew2or3. Clear copper pour, some whitish haze, slight lacing. Sweet fruits in the nose, Belgiany sugar, some brown sugar as well. Tart flavors, some dry brown sugar, wheat and slight chocolate. Thin-bodied and very unique.

courtesy of ibrew2or3. Pours orange, white head. Aroma and taste, high carbonation, floral hops, malty,c aramel. Roasted malts cover the palate, and the beer has an unusual tartness to it, possibly of the herbal flavor. Mixed with some sweetness with an honey like palate.

Sampled as a bonus at the pre-Cinco de Mayo tasting at Blacklick Wine and Spirits on 5.1.09. Bottle labeled Wee Beast. Amber pour with a big and creamy beige head. Very fruity aroma of strawberry and blackberry with malt, some sourness and what seems to be tobacco. Slight vanilla flavor up front followed by the berries, a bit of nuts, some alcohol and tobacco. A bit of roasty character seeps in as it warms. Very odd, but tastes wonderful after all those boring Mexican beers.

Bottle (in NZ). Pours a dark copper with a large pillowy head. A familiar Scotch Ale aroma with plenty of woody notes in the malty nose. But there is an unusual sourness (which I see has been remarked on before). Very strong whiskey-like flavour - so much so I have to remind myself that I’m drinking beer. Scotch Ale is always a difficult style to appreciate, but I like the unusualness of this.

(Sample Date: 12/20/2008 Source:Once Apon a Vine - Northside) 1/2L bottle 7% ABV Wine like almost sour aroma with underlying maltyness and woody notes. Cloudy golden brown with small off-white head. Malty with slightly sour grainy flavor and maybe some woody notes. Not really sure the sourness was intended to be here, its not offensive at all and along with the woodiness it almost works.

Bottle - pours a reddish orange with an off-white and quickly dissipating head. Fairly strong aroma of sour apples and other fruits. Nice roasted malty flavor, again, matched with some tart/sour fruitiness, smoke. Good clean finish. Not particularly complex, ok drinking beer.

The aroma may not be as mild and indistinguishable as it appeared to me, as I have a slight head cold. It was pleasant but beyond my condition to identify. It has a lively pour and was very frothy. “Energetic” describes it best. The head was thick and creamy. Lighter in color than I expected, but not pale or sickly. It was like smooth Ivory. The lacing was good. It’s appearance in the glass is a caramel copper with a slight haze, like a good pub. It doesn’t seem content to sit in the glass. Flavor was robust, and full. It was very satisfyingly smoky without being overpowering. Smoky but crisp. Well balanced and very satisfying. I’ll have a second before I finish writing this. Palate is excellent, brilliant even. Brewed on Skye but there’s no empty sky taste, you know full well you’re got a mouth full of grain and hops. The fruit of the earth. I haven’t a clue why they call it “Wee Beast”, this is no beast. It’s a lovely lady and I’m going to get to know her real well.

Sample tasting - Pours dark amber. Wee Beast (Cuillin Beast in the UK) is a beer brewed in Scotland at the Isle Of Skye Brewery. It’s Skyes strongest ale, originally only brewed for the bottle but now available in cask. Its fruitiness, sweetness and dry caramel contradict its strength. It was won many awards in competitions and at festivals throughout the UK. In the USA it is known as "Wee Beast" in its bottled form. The taste is winey grapes, fruit, stewed dried fruit, leaves, tea, earth, hints of bread and black pepper, and a definite light hop quality. In all, it almost seems more like an English barleywine than a Scotch ale.