Odell 90 Shilling

Brewed by Odell Brewing Company
Style: Scottish Ale
Fort Collins, Colorado USA

Serve in English pint, Thistle

Nice deep clear amber pour with a finger of off-white head that quickly dissipated and left only light lacing. This is a nice session beer with its common ABV, nice fresh-baked bread aroma, and simple flavor of yeasty bread, slight hoppy bitterness, and touch of sweetness to balance it out. Unfortunately, being a nice session beer doesn’t make it a great beer. The thin, watery consistency and rather bland finish limit it to a nice easy-drinking brew.

A vigorous pour into my 25cl tulip glass produces four-fingers of amber stained, tan colored head. The beer is a rich red color that shows a brilliantly clear, deeply red stained, copper color when held up to the light. The aroma smells of sweet crystal malt, with a touch of toasted grain character, but also has a touch of berry and herbal hop character to it. The finish smells of freshly crushed, nicely browned whole grain bread crust, some hay like grain notes and even a touch of sweet tea character. The nose is definitely malt focused, but it has a bit too much crystal malt character. A greater malt richness from kettle caramelization might help, but I do like the light, but noticeable hop influence that is here in the nose.

Dry toasted malt, and caramelized bread crust notes are noticeable as this beer first hits my tongue. As it rolls across the palate the beer picks up a caramelized sweetness and a fruity berry character that sticks to the palate beyond what a beer of this strength would suggest. The viscous heft is kept from being cloying by a solid, biting bitterness and a sharp herbal hop character that adds some nice spiciness to the finish. The fruitiness is fairly noticeable here and I think comes from all three of the malt, hop and fermentation derived sources; it is mostly berry like with perhaps just a hint of citrus character.

The hop character plays a much bigger role here than one would expect in a more stock version of the style, but I definitely like the addition as it is needed to keep this from being cloying and from allowing the crystal malt character to run rough-shod over the profile of this beer. Not bad, and in fact even enjoyable. I could wish for a bit more richness in the malt character, but I am happily consuming my bottle of this beer right now.

Pours a dark amber color with a minimal tan head. It is much like a lot of amber ales, though perhaps smoother. Not the best beer ever, but I could still drink it all day.

Poured a nice slightly hazy brown/copper a finger of tan head faded to a constant film.Smells of citrus hops and sweet malt. A little earthy with some oak scent in there as well.Taste is bitter hops at the start with a caramel malt and slightly sweet light toffee finish.Very crisp finish with a medium body.

A good full bodied beer that is a dark amber color. Head was creamy and lasts. Has a aroma that is pleasent with maybe a hint of carmel. Very good tast that is smooth and has depth. Makes your mouth water while drinking. Yum !

Malty, caramel notes in the aroma Medium amber color. Soft smooth texture. Malts, a little earthy. Lightly sweet. Easy drinking but not a session beer. Sits very nice on the palate.

Brown with ruby highlights and a very malty smell. I don’t really know how to judge thse "scottish" ales since I haven’t sampled many (Alesmith Wee Heavy was good). This was not thick or strong but it was tasty and the low ABV makes it easy to drink. Serving type: bottle Reviewed on: 01-25-2008 06:25:41

Had on tap. Pours dark amber with light tan head. Aroma is smoked malt, toffee, chocolate, and caramel. Flavor is malty, caramel, toffee, hops, and smoke. Smooth palate and good drinkability. Thought this pretty good.