Brew Brain Blog

For my first Scotch Ale review, I present Coast Range Brewing Co. Scotch Ale:

Ah, the ol’ wee heavy. I have not tasted a whole lot of this variety of brew, so my memory of them is pretty dated. They are an interesting combination of flavors, generally with one major flavor - hops - all but left out. Growing up on west coast beers, it’s a bit difficult not to be a hop head, but I also enjoy a big malty dark beer. The wee heavy isn’t terribly dark, but is generally plenty malty. How did the Coast Range do?

Appearance in the glass is a quite nice deep copper/amber color, crystal clear with a small dark tan head up top. The head dissipates fairly quickly.

The nose on this beer is pure malt. The scents are not all that big - rather subdued actually, but I definitely picked up on caramel notes as well as toasted grains, some biscuit and light fruits.

The taste really followed the smells, but ramped them up considerably. Front and center are the caramel, toasted grains, breads, some bits of mixed fruits - I think some apples and raisins mostly. Also, towards the back, some spicy hops come along to attempt (successfully) a balancing act. The finish, for me, tastes sort of like beer that’s picked up some bourbon along the way. Almost like it’s been soaking up leftovers from an old Jim Beam cask or something. It’s a bit much for this hard alcohol wimp, but I’d bet a lot of people would really like it. I don’t consider it a bad flavor, more something just not quite “my thing”.

The mouth feel is a light meduim with average carbonation, which really seems to work very well.  I think more carbonation would kill the flavors, while less would make them too harsh.

Overall, I quite enjoyed trying this one out. I doubt this is going to be my favorite style of beer, but this one makes me want to try others. I would suggest this one to people who like malty beers, can do without hops and who like a good stiff mixed drink on occasion.

Enjoy your beer,

Brew Brain