Yet another beer from my Texan brother, and this one is a style I would certainly not have expected to come from the second-biggest state in the US. Scotch ales are a prickly style that require a lot of finesse and balance to get right. If big brother send it to me, it must mean that he has tried it and thought that it was worthy of a feature post on this blog and all the prestige that surrounds that kind of free advertising and ability to quote a person who is clearly a beer expert. After all, I have a blog.
First sip is pretty delicious and kind of smooth. The raisin and fig flavors are sweet with brown sugar as the weight of alcohol doesn't pull down the beer, but it adds interest where there may otherwise not be any. Honestly, this reminds me more of a Belgian ale than it does of a Scotch ale with its flavor. There might be a bit of peat sneaking its way in to make a vague reference to the Highlands as opposed to something in Belgium, but a sip is probably not enough to differentiate.
Tip-in is gentle carbonation with raisin sweetness and light plums. The middle heightens the carbonation significantly, but it moves to the roof of the mouth to allow a relatively smooth body filled with raisins, figs, slight bitterness, smoke, and solid bread. The finish retards the sweetness in favor of a dry bowl that used to contain fruit.
Bottom Line: That's pretty snazzy.
3.75/5
