CS3 Revileds Scottish 60/-

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Permalink Reply by JoKing on July 20, 2009 at 6:05pm

I'm in 2 minds about this one. On one hand I am pleased with the cleanliness of this brew: it is crisp, refreshing - the malt flavours are well defined. I'm picking up on some buscittyness, some definate dry malt notes - like some astringency and some smokyness. The aroma is clean and quite malty. I think that it is a reasonalble example of the style, in that it is light malty earthy and refreshing.

On the other hand, it's not something that I'd want to brew personally. And it's not something that I like drinking either: it's probably a bit too watery for my tastes... and thats about all really. I know you were disappointed with your attenuation... so I'm not going to string you up for that. I think the idea was good, and the excecution was almost there too. I think you would have been after a finish of 1.010 - 1.012 which may well have added some more fermentation character to the beer.

Take what you will from my comments, however I don't intend these to be negative... because the fermentation and your entire process was very clean in the end.

Cheers.

Permalink Reply by Alasdair on July 22, 2009 at 9:56pm

Thought I'd bust this one out since I'm hoping to brew a scottish ale this weekend.

Another lesson in serving temp...seems to be an obsession for me at the moment.

Straight from the fridge (set to about 8 degrees) - low aroma of peat smoke with a hint of toffee. Very thin mouthfeel - watery basically. As for flavour, touch of caramel/crystal up-front, not much through the middle, and a very more-ish, single-malt whisky finish. Clean fermentation, great colour and clarity.

With some more body, flavour through the middle, and a touch more sweetness in the finish, this would be excellent.

After an hour in the glass - I figured warming it up would help it out - it filled out a bit and had some nice hop notes and gentle bitterness in the finish to give some more complexity.

Nice job Rev - I rfeally enjoyed the peat notes - I just wish I'd had the whole bottle at room temp rather than just the last few mouthfuls!

Permalink Reply by Reviled on July 23, 2009 at 8:39am

Im seeing a trend here and its with the mouthfeel, should have just taken the whole keg round to martins and drunk it through his hand pump, that would have sorted it out ;o) Its older brother doesnt have the same problem, but finished at 1030???

Al im surprised you picked up on the hop notes as there is very little in there, guess its just more evidence that bittering hops do contribute flavour! Cheers for the comments :o)

Permalink Reply by James P on July 25, 2009 at 11:00pm

Okay last one for the night....

Pours ruby red / amber, little head minimal lacing. Nose is understated, there is not much to play with in there. What aroma there is seems to be like bourbon or oak chips, like bourbon and dry, the bourbon being hidden. (Could that be the peated malt?) (ACDC on C4... fucken oi!)

Mouth is pretty thin compared to the other beers I have had tonight. Malt character forms but doesn't provide much depth. Have to agree as above on the watery comment.

Not my cup of tea sorry Rev, need more body and aroma (but that would probably make it a draught!).

Cheers.

Permalink Reply by studio1 on July 29, 2009 at 9:43am

I quite enjoyed this. By my calcs it sits at 2.6% abv, which is a bit on the light side. Nice and clear and some lovely malty, choco-caramel flavours that would be enhanced by a little bit more body. I'd be keen to try the bigger brother!

Permalink Reply by Martin Bridges on July 29, 2009 at 10:32pm

Forgive me, I've had several beers tonight so the typing and coherence may not be up to standard.

Pours nice and clear, the red side of brown. A little white head that fades. Overall the carbonation was a fraction high for my English tastes, and all improved with a bit of swirling.

Some malt and a little iodine on the nose. Body is thin with some malt, but the lingering impression is smoke/peat. Overall pretty clean and drinkable.

A well-executed beer, but I would have preferred to sacrifice the smokiness for a little more body.

Thanks mate.

Permalink Reply by Barry on August 3, 2009 at 10:02pm

#1 of the swap for me, yahoo!
Pours a beautiful rich red, bright as a button. Good tan head
Smoky malt dominates the nose with all that entails, hints of bacon, beef jerky etc. Tangy.
Smooth silky mouthfeel, tiny bit of malt sweetness but a hint of darker roasty malt and again that smoke. Beer finishes clean and pretty dry, a little thin for me.

For a beer that finished so high I would have expected a fuller mouthfeel, more residual dextrins - more sweetness. It's plainly not a bitter beer, but what hop bitterness was there cleaned away the malt just a bit too easily. I'll say it - it's missing some crystal. Cara this, cara that, bro chuck in some good old fashioned British crystal (well more than 69gm). 7% crystal wouldn't be too much in this beer.

That didn't mean to sound too negative, it was pretty fricking awesome all the same :)

Permalink Reply by Stu McKinlay on August 4, 2009 at 10:24am

Really nice first crack Reviled. I enjoyed this at 12c. It's the kind of beer that I just want to drink rather than get too analytical about but I did give it a going over and everything was in it's place. Well done.

Nothing negative to say about this - my only feedback would be that it needs a bunch more caramalt and crystal to take it to the next level. Without the alcohol to lift the mouthfeel it needs something to help integrate the toast and roast flavours of darker malts, without them it is a shade watery. The CaraRed and CaraAroma add more toasty notes and colour than mouthfeel and richness, I'd pull them out and add some caramalt and pale/medium crystal. If you can nail this beer you'll be in beer drinking heaven (at least I would be!).

Here's a good Scottish song to go with it. Excuse the sound quality. Wouldn't be nice to hear 10,000 fans singing at an All Black match? Unlikely, I think. Hibs winning the League Cup is a bit like Southland winning the Ranfurly Shield, so I reckon these guys enjoyed their day out.



On a style note: 60/- is very rare in Scotland so I've never tried one but I'd be surprised if it was this dark. The 70/-s and 80/-s that I drunk there were all red to dark red. not that you have to brew to style!

Permalink Reply by denimglen on August 4, 2009 at 5:01pm

Def picking up on all those cara malts in the aroma, sweet, a little roastiness too.

The smoke in the flavour has smoothed out a lot since I tasted it at your's that time, it's a little more subtle and fits in with the rest of the malts now I reckon, lingers nicely in the finish too. A touch thin through the middle but nothing a touch of lighter crystals wouldn't fix, or a few degrees warmer in serving temp.

Can't really fault you on anything, quite the clean beer.

Brew Strong!

Permalink Reply by MrC on August 8, 2009 at 12:04pm

Poured a deep copper colour with a small off white head. Low and low carbonation. I could swear it smells like there's Roasted Barley in there. It's quite a subtle beer with all flavours in the low range, but all there if you think about it hard enough.

Nice beer, seems well brewed but not really my thing. I'm not familiar with peated malt, glad to have it turn up in the case swap. Interesting beer.

Looks great and is a very easy drinker. I can understand people saying it's a bit watery but I found that it sort of fit in with the rest of the beers "low everything" character.

Something in there reminded me a tiny bit of Kid Chocolate, probably just the brown malt with low levels of crystal.

Cheers Rev.

Permalink Reply by Ally Mcg on August 12, 2009 at 11:15pm

Nice light beer to revitalise after five a side.

Aroma has hints of smokey bacon. Taste is slightly smokey, with some background sweetness. Finishes a little thin.
Now, appreciate all that sounds negative, but I'm really enjoying this beer right now. Its got a nice easy drinkability and the abv is nice and low so i know i can re-hydrate on it without waking up feeling parched tomorrow. Makes me realise how important context is with beer drinking.

Now, if you're after easy drinking I wouldn't change a thing - maybe try and dry it out would be my only comment. Nice beer, cheers for brewing it

Permalink Reply by Soren on August 17, 2009 at 5:27pm

Last bottle of the swap, makes me kinda sad, now I have to go back to drinking my own beers:(
Orange-reddy color, tiny tan head.
Massive bread in the aroma, the dark sturdy rye bread that you find in germany and scandinavia, and a tad of peat.
The flavor is suprising, light fresh and tangy, a little bit like applejuice with out the apple flavor, well that doesnt make much sense:) it also has some malty bread going on.
Well brewed mate, the big brother should be tasty very for sure!