McNeills Tartan Export Ale

Brewed by McNeills Brewery
Style: Scottish Ale
Brattleboro, Vermont USA

Serve in English pint, Thistle

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2005 bottle. Unfiltered orange-tinted golden-brown with a rusty hue to it. Good off-white head recedes slowly to foamy cover. Smells of caramel, toffee, dirty yeast, a bit of rusty/iron-rich earth, caramelized sugar. Flavor begins dry and rather attenuated. But as it warms it gets lightly sweet. Some deep barley flavors, light roast, dark, lightly tart blackberries, salty mineral water and tons of dry toffee and faint hints of baker’s chocolate. Good mouthfeel, carbonation a bit on the high side, though. Runs a tenuous line of being not malty enough, but in the end, I liked the flavor profile. Medium body, smooth, easy palate.

Sweet carmelized toffee aroma with herbal, leafy notes. Opaque dark brown with lighter highlights is topped by a dense, fine-bubbled tan head. Earthy, chocolatey, carmelized malt flavour that gets a slight farmhouse/smokey feel as it warms. Fair bitterness. Bittersweet chocolate lasts in the aftertaste. Medium body with moderate carbonation feels somwhat full in the mouth. On tap at the brewpub with MartinT, muzzlehatch and Rastacouere.

On tap at Mcneills. Copper hue, lasting beige ring. Mellow yet interesting candy bouquet, caramelic and cookiesh. Well balanced in mouth, not too sweet and rather light, but has pleasant touch of smoke and earth together with raw barley and bready undertones. The mouthfeel could be a bit fuller perhaps, this is a bit watery and strongly carbonated..

brown in color with a medium off-white almost tan head. Aroma is very bready with sweet caramel. Sweet flavor,caramel,bready,butterscotch finish. Creamy mouthfeel and a very full body. A very good Scottish ale.

Bottle. Just a sweet version of a Scottish ale with some candied sugars, roasted malts and light grass. Not much peat taste but the body is extremely smooth. Just too damn sweet.

Had this at the DC/MD/VA/WV/PA gathering. Bottle courtesy of BuckNaked. Clouded brown. Nose is brown sugar, watery cocoa, light malt and old shoes. Taste is mild fruit notes, light malt, mild peatiness, some thinner hops, and maybe a hint of caramel. Body has a medium feel. Finishes with more light fruit hints, roasted malt, and some light sweetness.

Pours amber. Aroma of bread, marshmellows, and tabasco. Flavor is much the same. Odd but I am glad I tried it.

Crystal clear, dark, caramel-colored ale with a large, tan, rocky head. Nice lacework. Terrific nose. Notes of dates, hazelnuts, molasses, earth, toffee, sweet bread and alcohol. The flavor doesn’t stand as tall as the aroma. A bit of caramel, hazelnut, smoke and cocoa. Fairly nondescript, but not at all offensive. Medium-bodied with a lightly creamy mouthfeel and mild carbonation. Moderately dry finish.

Brought this to the DC gathering: Amber brown color with a small tan head. Light smoke, peat, sweet malts, caramel, cereal grains, slightly bitter and very dry. Medium bodied.

Poured a clear copper color with a small, light tan head, and no lacing on the glass. Butterscotch, and sweet caramel malt aroma. Taste overall was bland with some more roast, sweet caramel malts, light peat, but also a funky sour finish.