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Wednesday, January 11, 2012

A review of St. George Winter Scotch Ale

St. George seasonal beers all have weapons
on their labels, the Winter Scotch is a maul.
Today we continue to look at our January theme of winter warmers. This week's candidate is Winter Scotch Ale, a winter warmer brewed by the St. George Brewing Company of Hampton, Virginia. 

It poured a clear coppery / reddish color with a small light tan head. As you can see in the picture to the left I drank this out of my Hamm's chalice. 

The malt is ever present in this beer. It has a malty smell that first emerges on the pour and it stays with the ale throughout the entire process of the drink. There is a caramel taste, slightly sweet, but the malt leads the way, continually reasserting itself. It does drink smooth with little carbonation. 

This comes in at 6% ABV, on the low end for the scotch ale style, particularly those brewed in the United States. (Interestingly enough though this is reflected on the label - 85 Shilling beer, a Scottish ale was taxed 80 shillings [less alcohol], a wee heavy [more alcohol] at 90 shillings, this falls right in the middle and appropriately is quite correct) The alcohol is not very obvious in this beer. As stated before the malt drowns out any alcohol taste, but rest assured it is there. 

Let's take a look at the "propaganda."

Our Latest release, St George Winter Scotch Ale is a malty, full bodied ale with a delicate hop effect allowing wisps of peat smoked malt interwoven with a slight roastiness to come through. Dark copper in color and finishes with a lingering peat smoke effect. A perfect seasonal for enjoying in front of the fireplace.

All things considered, if you enjoy a malty beer and live in the mid-Atlantic region then this is one for you. I will be picking this one up again. Cheers!

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