Traquair Bear Ale

Brewed by Traquair
Style: Old Ale
Innerleithen, Borders, Scotland

Serve in English pint, Snifter

cask at Guildford Arms a couple months ago - Pours red with a lingering off white head and a caramel malt aroma. The flavor is sweet caramel malt dominated with a hint of fruit and nuts. It’s decent, but like so many ales I tried on this trip it strikes me as average.

Pours dark reddish amber with fluffy tanned head leaving lacing on the glass. Oatmeal, fresh bread, smokey malts and chocolate aroma. Some sweet smokey malty flavor. Good carbonation and crisp in mouth. Acidy fruity and slightly sweet on palate. Finish is lean and hoppy lasting long.

Bottle from Dobbies. Bronze leaning towards red with a diminishing off-white collar and lace frills. Mellow lactic aroma mingling roast chestnut, leaf matter and soft butteriness with oak. Creamy chestnut interleaved with oak; slate and vegetable water, swill of brine, fair bit of bittering hop at the back. Old ale of the adolescent variety sauntering by without incident.

In short: Plenty of cereals with some leafy/woody/peppery hops. Pleasant session ale.
How: Bottle 500ml. Consumed fresh a few weeks after receiving through private importation straight from the brewery
The look: Clear copper body topped by a medium beige head
In long: Pleasant malty nose with notes of leafy peppery hops. The slightly oily and foamy body is a bit on the light side. Taste of whole-wheat bread, a bit of caramel, a bit of honey, tobacco leafs, forest floor, biscuits, tree leafs, black pepper. The leafy/woody hops do not bring much bitterness but the beer is nonetheless well balanced. I cannot imagine someone not enjoying it this beer to some degree nor can I imagine someone being blown away by it. This is just a simple pleasant everyday beer. Nothing wild or crazy here. A beer for the “normal” beer lover. And I’m a down-to-earth beer lover with both feet firmly on the ground, although that gives me trouble putting on my pants.

500ml bottle, dark copper color, with a thick beige head, leaving some lacing, toasted, biscuity, caramelized malt nose, with a mild nutty accent, with some toffee, sultana raisin notes in the aroma follows thorugh on a medium-bodied palate with a yeasty, toasty, grainy, mild roasted, biscuity malt character, with a hint of nuttiness, and some fruity, dried raisin, toffee flavors with a light flowery hop citrusy, leafy accent, leading towards a malty, grainy, lingering hop grassy bitterness finish.

Bottle [500ml] at Smokeless Joes, shared with HogTownHarry & garthicus -- c/o HogTownHarry. Pours a clear ruby-brown with a small frothy off-white head. Mild aroma, slightly vinous, with very light hops and fruit. Flavour of sweet malt, some fruit and nuts along with a yeasty, spicy finish. Average bodied.Just good, an O.K. beer.

500ml bottle
5.0% ABV
I tried this beer on September 11, 2009 at "Smokeless Joe’s" in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The beer poured a dark reddish brown with a thin white head that quickly became a ring. The aroma was sweet malt, weak molasses, and some sweet spices. The mouthfeel was medium bodied with medium carbonation. The flavour was sweet caramel malt, some nutty hints, and a bitter finish. A very good beer.

Bottle ( 500ml ). At Smokeless Joe - shared with garthicus. Clear mahogany with an average frothy off-white head. Smelled like a fruity, vinous ESB - floral and sweet. The taste follows - the Traquair spicy/yeasty sweetness, but very muted and watery; fruity, dry, and slghtly burnt, somehow. Light-bodied and -carbonated, quick-finishing ... reminded me a bit of some of the lighter Samuel Smiths brews.