Traquair House Ale Scotch Ale "Wee Heavy"

-- IBU 7.2% ABV
Beer Advocate  - 4.16/5
Untappd - 3.7/5

BJCP Category - 17C. Wee Heavy

Rich, malty, dextrinous, and usually caramel-sweet, these beers can give an impression that is suggestive of a dessert. Complex secondary malt and alcohol flavors prevent a one-dimensional quality. Strength and maltiness can vary, but should not be cloying or syrupy.

This weekend was all about friends, family and the opening weekend of football. It was a weekend of good talks, hanging with the nieces and nephew in from New York and, of course, watching football with my NY brother. On game-day (Saturday of course), I had the opportunity to take my older brother out to a Oregon Duck game. He hadn't been to a game since 2007, after watching Dennis Dixon going down with a torn ACL (I still say we would have won the title that year). But before the game, you have to eat, right? I decided to take him to a local brewery that I had not been to, Elk Horn Brewery. Boy was it a good decision. The Reuben was great and the Boggy Boon Hazelnut Stout was even better. My brother had the Windigo Chocolate Coconut Stout and it went down easy as well. I was tempted to do a review on an Elk Horn beer but, alas, they don't bottle their beer. Afterwards was a walk through the UofO campus and tailgating at Autzen Stadium. An acquaintance (Shelby and Kyle) from a premium college football recruiting website for the Oregon Ducks called Scoopduck ( I highly recommend), has an open invite to all fellow Scoopduckers. After many vodka jell-o shots, watching the Fuskies lose to Auburn and making new friends, it was time to find our seats and watch the game (which the Ducks won 58-24).

The next day, a buddy from work and his wife were coming down to hang and eat good food. My buddy and I left our significant others to do some artsy stuff (which, come to find out, didn't happen) and headed down to my favorite watering hole, The Coast Fork Brewstation. The Brewstation has a great variety of brews on tap, which always makes for a tough choice. So, we both decided to get a flight to go along with our food. I had a delicious Tuna Salad sandwich which went great with the all the tasty beers. My favorite ended up being the Crux Peach Farmhouse Saison...which I also had a pint of afterwards to wash down the huge sandwich (not pictured).  Before we made the short walk back to my home, I decided to check out the refrigerated case. Lo and behold, I found a delicious looking beer to do my brew review on. Then we were off for many hours of fun conversing and even more food cooked on the grill. I tell you what, I felt like I rolled to bed that night. Too much good eats to say no to. It's a problem that I always have. It's a damn good thing that I run, otherwise I wouldn't just have a beer gut, I would have a spare tire as well. I got to say, this was a nice and full weekend. On to the beer review!

Aroma: Roasted malts, caramel, toffee and a little raisin. A little bit of pleasant smoky peat.  8.25

Appearance: A rich, toffee color with clear appearance. Thin rim of lacing when the white head quickly recedes.  8.75

Flavor: A nice malty sweetness that could last for days. Tastes like burnt sugar/toffee on the forefront with hints of smoky peat and a little woodsy vanilla from the oak on the back end.  9.25  

Mouthfeel: Medium mouth feel, with low to medium carbonation.  8.25

Overall: The overall complexity of this beer is awesome. A nice example of the style. It's heaviness gets you in the mood for autumn, which is great since it is right around the corner.  I have always liked Scotch style Ales and in Scottish fashion, the smoky peat is a nice touch to the style. For the price ($6.99) it's not a bad option for some sipping in the colder days to come.  9

Matt's mark: 4.35/5 

I decided on this beer mainly because the label looked so enticing. At first, I had no idea what kind of beer it was, but the description alone was very intriguing. A handmade Ale Brewed in the ancient Brew House of the Oldest inhabited House of Scotland. What's not to like about that? It goes on to say that it is brewed in a 1738 copper kettle and fermented in oak vessels... I don't know how you could turn that down. So I didn't. And it was a great treat after a day of picking yet more blackberries to be turned into a yummy blackberry port. You have to take the Untappd score with a grain of salt. I mean, only six beer drinkers had rated it (possibly because it's not that easy to find) but Beer Advocate gave it a solid score. Of course, this type of beer is a gateway beer to the darker stuff and therefore I scored it accordingly.