Schloss Eggenberg MacQueens Nessie (7.3%)

330ml bottle.
Pours a clear light copper with a bare minimum white ring of a head. Aroma is slightly vegetal, highly malty, caramel-y, and a bit faint. Flavor is medium hop bitterness and big caramel malt up front, supported by a Belgian-like sugary sweetness and some grassy hop. I can’t help but notice that all Eggenberg products seem to have a similar taste profile regardless of purported style, including this one. If this is in fact a smoked beer, I failed to detect any smoke in the flavor, not even in the guise of Scotch-whisky-like peat-smoked malt. Thickish, moderately carbonated palate. This stuff just isn’t doing much for me.

Bright gold. Small white head. Nose of grainy malt, light smoke, pungent rotten light fruit, fresh cut wet grass, subtle spicy, floral hops. Unique aroma. Mellow flavor - malt, earth, light smoke, spicy floral grass moves ahead of the rotten fruit, both remain in the background throughout. Definitely highland malt. Soft, medium, balanced palate. I’d like to try one with islay malt. Solid brew, could drink a ton of it. Underrated.

Bottle. Short white head. Clear beautiful amber body. Smokey hops aroma and flavor with relatively low bitterness.

I remember this beer being red in color in the past. That is gone, as this beer pours to a bright, deep golden color. This beer is actually brewed with peat smoked malt used by Scottish whiskey makers. As stated, this beer pours to a bright, deep golden color, with a nice white head, and a moderate carbonation. This nose on this beer is malty, with aromas of pale malt, and light hints of peat. The palate is firm with good sweet and pale malt flavor, on a clean, polished body. This beer finishes with more pale malt sweetness up front, then ends a touch smokey and dry. A nice beer, but I remember it being much more interesting in the past. The peat smoke aroma and flavor in this beer is subtle, and I think it would have been more interesting if more peat smoked malt character came out in this beer. Still, a tasty beer worth trying every now and then.

From the bottle.

Pours a sort of insipid red-blonde with a short-lived white head. The aroma is mostly sour-ish dusty grass, bits of skunk, and some sweet malt. The flavor is dominated by sweet caramel of the highland malts, lots of honey, with plenty of alcohol in the blend and some metallic hops on the finish. I never would have guess that this was smoked.

I’m not particularly impressed here at all, though I suppose the malts have a somewhat appealing sweet-whiskey taste to them once one drops all other expectations.

Pours an irridescent amber color w/ a full sized, semi creamy froth. Aromas of malted bread. Medium nectar w/ creamy residual effers. This brew is very malty and yeasty. Big caramel malts and a loaf of bread. What do they call beer, liquid bread ? This is all that. The finish is bittered mildly. I don’t detect any smoke at all. Maybe some malted cigarette butts.

From a slender 11.2oz. embossed long neck brown bottle, no bottled/freshness date. Made an average appearance, poured a clear golden hued orange with a small, more fizzy than foamy white head that settled into a fine lacing, moderate carbonation. Had a sweet apple malt nose with a little spice in the background. A crisp, slick and smooth medium bodied mouth feel, average drinkability. Made with Highland malts, like whiskey, but without the peat or smoke qualities, crisp, sweet and apple juice-like, also a little cakeness, mildly spicy and a dry-ish, sweet malty finish with a lingering alcohol warmth in the palate. This could have used a little smoke and peat flavor to balance out the taste, or give it a taste, overall, not one of Eggenberg’s better beers, try it only if you want to.

33 cl bottle. No yeast at the bottom. Amber colour with a weak head. Aroma of malt, hops and hints of whisky, not the smoke ones. Malty flavour with a lot of sweetness, someway dull and not what I expected of a whisky malt red beer.