Inveralmond Blackfriar Scottish Ale

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

330 ml bottle from International Advent Calendar. Cloudy chestnut pour under a thin beige head. Malty aroma, some peaty notes as well. Mouthfeel could've been more robust. Malty flavour, along with dark fruit, and boozy, too. Sweetish finish. Not special, but okay.

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 9 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 9 | Overall: 9

If you want a good Scottish Ale, sometimes you just need to go to the highlands yourself. A brownish-red beer with no head. Lots of sweet fragrances in the aroma, nutty malt, roasted chocolate, and vanilla. The flavour was sweet with roasted malty hints and molasses.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 10 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 9

NICE.. first thought, nuts! roasting hazelnuts, almonds, macadamias, thyme, I dont want to say almonds because it is the name of the brewery... but they are definately there. Lets get more beer specific though.... peat, light smoke. The back of he bottle suggests Highlands, but I would peg the scotch in this as a Speyside, bit salty, bit more woody and not muc smoke. I still think someone dropped a whole bunch of roasting peanuts in my glass, its so wicked! Medium bodied, butt he flavours are full, round, cover the whole mouth. Raisins, dried apricot, plums. Touch spice, maybe star anise... Logic would argue with me, but I can see this going awesome with Kerela inspired indian food... the tastes would be so complentary, nuts, coconut, maybe a bit of lime... Stoked on this brew.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 5 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 4 | Overall: 5

500ml bottle -

Aroma - some subtle caramel/earthy malt aroma come creeping out, but seemed overshadowed by the wet cardboard that screemed oxidation. Not sure how old this was, but....meh.

Appearance - beautiful dark amber body, clear with a light tan head. The foam didn’t stick around for very long, but it did look nice.

Taste - very woody, with a bitter woody/walnut like finish, with noticeable tea-like tannins. Very little sweetness present.

Palate - light/medium bodied, medium-low carbonation, clean finish

Overall - It just didn’t do anything for me really. Perhaps age diluted the beer to this state, not sure as I didn’t see a BBD on the bottle. Pretty average stuff.

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

Bottle: Poured a light brown color ale with a nice foamy head with good retention and some lacing. Aroma consists of grain and cereal with some dry notes and limited sweetness. Taste is also dominated by dry cereal with lightly unrefined grain notes and minimal residual sugars. Body is about average with good carbonation and no apparent alcohol. A bit too dry and grainy for my taste.

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

Dark amber brown liquid decent lacing. The nose is sweet and a tad simple. It’s good, but it’s a fairly plain caramelized malt scent. The flavor is really nice. I’m not a big fan of Scottish ales, but this is an enjoyable beer. It’s not too sweet but still strong and rich. The flavor reminds of a doppelbock, which I mean as a compliment. The feel is smooth and fairly creamy with only prickling on the back of the tongue.

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

Cask. Amber colour, beige bubbly head. Aroma is caramel, fruits and wood. Flavour is wooden, fruity, mildly earthy hops as well as some nuts and nectar. Hides the alcohol totally.

Aroma: 5 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 5 | Flavor: 4 | Overall: 5

I sampled this one at the Bruce Williams beer tasting at the Brickskeller in Washington, DC on Tuesday, March 11th, 2008. Bruce brought over a bunch of brews, all of which were cask conditioned. This was one of them.

I'm shocked at some of the high reviews this beer received here. People seemed to really like this one. I left this one feeling "blah". I expected more in a Scottish ale that what I had here. This feeling might have something to do with me having this out of a cask though.

The beer looked OK when it came out. It was very flat (cask), clear, and had a dark amber color to it. There was a sweet smell emitting from the glass that reeked of maltiness. I like that aspect a lot. The flavor though just didn't do it for me. It had this weird mixture of maltiness and hoppy bitterness that really sit well. It was smooth to drink, but it was too smooth for my liking. I needed just a hint of carbonation and I didn't get it.

When I drink Scottish ales, I want something like the Middle Ages Kilt Tilter or Skullsplitter going down the hatch. Something harsh on the throat and super strong on the alcohol. Based on these reviews though, I'm going to have to find me a bottle of this stuff and try it out because obviously I'm missing something with this beer.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 9 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

500 ml bottle, at Blackfriars, Glasgow. ABV is 7.0%. Voted "Champion Beer of Scotland" - was it in 2004 or something? Beautiful dark amber colour, moderate head. Oaky sherry-like aroma with raisiny notes. Oaky / woody flavour where the alcohol is noticeable, but not too sweet. Bitter finish.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 9 | Overall: 8

This was a new discovery at the Sharp Edge Creekhouse, and I am happy to make this my first review of 2007. A nice 2 inch thick (an I mean thick) fully susdy tan head caps off a foggy copper liquid that looks like sewer water. The aromas are smoky like a Rauchbier, and have a sweet malt like waft from the pint glass. A dull bite sits on the taste buds that gives off a smoky, nougat/caramel/bubblegum/malty flavor. This was kind of like a Skull Splitter, only not a sweet and/or powerful.