Scotland Beer Guide

Scottish beer has been around for over 5,000 years! It's history in brewing is intriguing and rather interesting, as you can read about in The History of Beer in Scotland & the True Origins of Scottish Ale.

There are so many good Scotland beverages, but the following guide contains a few of my favorites.

Black & Tan - Black & Tan is a Houston Brewing Company porter beverage. It is 4.2% alcohol by volume. The Black & Tan pours a dark brown color and smells roasty. It has a mildly bitter taste of chocolate and coffee, with a sweet malt finish. It is a very nice, subtle drink, great to be enjoyed socially, in my opinion.

Arran Blonde - The Arran Brewery is located on the Isle of Arran and is a 3-star visitor attraction in Scotland. Their Arran Blonde is a pale beer with 5% alcohol by volume. It holds to its marketed description of having a sweet smell of malt, grassy and floral hops. The Arran Blonde tastes like hops and citrus and finishes with only a very slight hop taste in my mouth. This beer is light and enjoyable with dinner.

Auld Rock - Valhalla Brewery's Auld Rock is a dark ale of 4.5% alcohol by volume. Auld Rock was the first beer brewed by Valhalla and got its name from expatriate Shetlanders (expatriates titled Shetland "Auld Rock"). It's raspberry, roast aroma leads to a smokey, chocolate, malt taste with a bit of fruitiness. The malt flavor lasts quite a remarkable length of time.

Dark Island - Orkney Brewery produces Dark Island, a Scottish Ale of 4.6% alcohol by volume. This is a rather dark ale with a hit of dark red. Dark Island has rich malt, chocolate, and coffee aromas with a fruity aftertaste. It's a bit sweet and has a long flavor as well. Dark Island is a beverage I like to sip in place of red wine some times. It goes down really well and, in my opinion, makes a great after dinner drink.

Skullsplitter - You have to love the name of this beer! Skullsplitter is also from the Orkney Brewery in Scotland. It's a Scotch ale with an awesome 8.5% alcohol by volume. Skullsplitter has a dark red color and smells strongly of toffee and caramel. The taste is bitter, light and sweet, as well as fruity, almost a taste of raisins and figs. A caramel flavor is left in my mouth. The alcohol level is definitely noticeable too. Skullsplitter makes a good winter or fall afternoon drink because of its bold, heavy feeling.

Scottish Ale - Belhaven Brewing Company's Scottish Ale is a dark amber drink with a 5.20% alcohol by volume. It smells malty and sweet. The taste is the same, sweet, malt, caramel. There's only a tiny hint of fruit. It finishes a little earthy, but has a lingering malt, hops taste. This Scottish Ale is easy to drink, enjoyable without being too strong, too sweet, or too rich.

Sources:

"The History of Beer in Scotland & the True Origins of Scottish Ale," RateBeer. Feb 23 2006.

"Beer in Scotland," Wikipedia.