Sprecher Pipers Scotch Ale

Brewed by Sprecher Brewing Company
Style: Scotch Ale
Glendale, Wisconsin USA

Pours a murky brown red color with a very full tan head. Aroma has a very strong fruitiness to it, lots of caramel, apple, cherry and dark fruit, light smokiness, along with a bunch woody, toasted malt notes. Flavor starts off with a nice smooth smokey/peat flavor, the taste then does a 180 and provides a very caramel, light cherry, raisin/prune/dark fruit sweetness and finishes with a great woody malt presence. Balance on this beer is fantastic (perfect amount of smokey/peat flavor that isn’t overbearing), density is nice and heavy with sugary feel and the alcohol is pretty well hidden. This beer is fabulous and one I highly recommend you find while its around! One of my new favs that really represents this style well and one I would love to brew up myself sometime as a clone recipe.

16 ounce bottle. Pours a ruby red color with a very slight haze. Small head head decent head retention and lacing. Aroma is caramel, light toast and faint fruity notes. Taste is caramel, toffee, smoke. Fairly straightforward and tasty. Slightly warming alcohol. Medium bodied. Decent beer.

Dark brown colour with ruby notes, off-white creamy head. Malty nose with hints of smoke (wet birch-wood?) and dark fruit. Malty taste with dried fruit (raisins, prunes) and hints of smoke. Medium to full body, sweetish and warming. Nice balance. Would be lovely on a chilling winter afternoon.

Bottle courtesy of FlssmrBrewAlum. Pours a hazy brown with a nice light brown head. Aroma is caramel, malt, peat, wood and earthiness. Flavor is wood and peaty, caramel, biscuit, toffee, smoke, dark fruits and a touch of bitter hops. This beer is not sweet like most scotch ales i’ve had and the alcohol is very well hidden. The peat and smoke flavors really shine through as a result. Excellent Scotch Ale.

[2081-20090410] 1pt bottle. Sweet raisin malt aroma with heavy brandy and sweet currants. Hazy, dark red brown body with a medium-lasting creamy light tan head. Smoky mossy earth flavour has a lots of peat and a long dirt finish. Medium body is alcoholic throughout. Fine, though a little boozy.
(c/o GregClow, w/ him, jerc)

16 oz bottle courtesy of the brewery (Glendale, WI) on my trip there in February. Pours a reddish brown, dark and pretty, nearly transparent, decent offwhite tannish head that laces a bit, eventually dies down to a small layer. Aromas are heavy on peaty malts, caramel and vanilla swirl with biscuits and toffee, toasty malts with a nice creamy sweetness. A nice full Scotch Ale feel. Initial is a bit light on body, taking on a light smokiness even initially. Kind of a shocker to me. Caramel, toffee, and toasty malts mix with creamy sweetness, peat and some fainy whiskey notes, moving into an interesting smokiness on the backend of the palate. The sweetness does not take center stage, as the interesting smokiness does. Smoked meat even, with malty sweetness and ruggedness, light bittering hops are definitely there, putting some much needed balance into the fold. Overall, a little light on body but the flavors are interesting, enjoyable, and overall a good experience. Cheers.

This scotch ale isn’t my cup of tea. It isn’t as henious as Sam Adams Scotch ale which is a good thing. I will not be trying this one again. Had it at beerfest.

2009-04-10. Hazy red brown body, fluffy beige head. (3+) Aroma is fairly alcoholic, dry malt and caramel with a good dose of smokey peat. Flavour has a a lot of alcoholic overtones, dry caramel, mild peat is restrained but pervasive. (6+) Smooth average plus palate. Not bad but really not to my tastes, as I would like more sweet malt and a lot less smoke. Bottle shared by GregClow