Hermitage Maltopia

Aroma: 5 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 6

A dark mahogany colored beer with a disappointingly small. Just a finger high, sudsy textured light tan colored head. Hang time on the head is short lived. A thin, incomplete ringlet is left. Malt and caramel notes in the nose. More of the same with a earthy and nutty notes. Light bodied, though smooth.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 6

Sampled on 5/28/2011. This scotch ale pours a dark reddish amber color from a 22oz bottle. Small to medium sized white foamy head. The aroma is caramel, fruity and sweet. A medium bodied Scotch ale. The malts are fruity and sweet, there is a touch of tartness/sourness that I an assuming is NOT supposed to be there. The hops are earthy and herbal. Decent to mild carbonation. I am going to assume that this beer is somewhat less than normal. It has a whole lot of malt sweetness and the tartness/sourness and there is something else going on here. It does not taste like a scotch ale. Its kind of interesting, but I am assuming not what the brewer intended. At least this bottle opened without shattering and cutting me, like the wheatopia botlle did early this evening. Mouthfeel is full. Finish is clean and smooth. Aftertaste is sweet and tart.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

22oz bottle -

BevMo is pushing the hell outta these beers. Either they aren’t selling well, or they know someone because they plunked these right on every aisle and at the checkout. So I bit and bought on for $4, not bad and actually money well spent. Pretty nice drop of suds. It didn’t really strike me a a scotch ale, let alone a "double" scotch ale...more like a Strong Ale. Aroma of chewy caramel, nougat, and some prune juice. Some peaty/smoke notes do show up in the flavor, light molasses, some Tootsie Rolls and caramel. Medium sweetness helps the beer. Personal opinion is, with a few more tweaks, this can be a great beer.