Sacramento Sac-Squatch Scotch Ale

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

Thanks to slowrunner77 for this Sac-ramento Scotch Sac-squatch, masquerading as a chimp... Sparkling, cloudy brown body, thin fizzy tan head, soda-pop appearance. A rather unnatural fruity aroma. The thin spritely palate seems out of place. Decent tart lemon, light plum and toffee flavors but timid, uneven, and just plain wrong for the style. Intriguing enough that I WOULD like to try the draught, though. MUSIC: 'Furr' by Blitzen Trapper: "And now my fur has turned to skin, and I've been quickly ushered in to a world that, I confess, I do not know."

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

A medium to dark brown colored with a tan colored head that does not stay on the beer very long. A medium to full bodied ale that has a smoky and chocolate flavor and ends with a bit of bitterness from the hops. A pretty good tasting beer for all occasions....very highly recommended.

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

a touch thinner than i'd like. really good on tap, inconcistent in the bottle. sometimes lemony and astringent. when it's good, it's quite good, but I don't buy it much because you never know...rating is for the average batch. 8-09 too many bad batches lately. to get a really good one, gotta get it on tap unfortunately. 4+ on tap, 3+ bottled...

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

well it wasn't the best scotch ale that i have had, but it was pretty decent. i probably would not have this one again though, unless it was offered to me. sweet scotch ale smell, the taste is kind of bitter sweet, the way it is supposed to be. medium brown color, with a white head and a good smooth finish.

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 4 | Flavor: 3 | Overall: 4

This was pretty awful to be honest. Although the appearance and aroma had somethings cookin' for it, the flavor of the beers was just awful. A decent aroma of malts, some chocolate, petey and just a hint of smoke was present. Appearance was a deep brown color, the look of a Coke with a huge off-white colored head. Mouthfeel was harsh and slightly thick. Flavor was astringent, alcohol and some weird combo of roastiness and meat marinade. Pretty awful.

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

Well, certian things never change, it seems. Or, rather, I had a distinct feeling of deja vu with this particular beer, and the circumstances that I had it.

Flash back to Christmas 2003. At my sister's family's place in Nevada City CA. Picked up a 22oz bomber of Imperial Stout from the Sacramento Brewing Company. The result? A rather tame "Imperial Stout Lite".

Flash forward to Christmas 2004. At my sister's family's place in Nevada City CA. Picked up a 22oz bomber of SacSquash Scotch Ale from the Sacramento Brewing Company. The result? A rather tame "Scotch Ale Lite". Seem familar? ;^)

But seriously, while the Imperial Stout had no real show-stopping faults per se (except it's impotence) -- the same can not be said for the SacSquash Scotch Ale.

Poured rather lamely, with little real head formation, no head retention, and no lacing. This was served in one of my my sisters glasses, which may explain the rather unimpressive foaming etc.

But what I can't overlook as easily is the aroma and flavor of this beer. Yeah, I suppose you can say it's has some malt. And perhaps if you really try, you can find some peaty smokiness here and there. But really now..., for a beer of this style, it really needs a bit more girth and gumption.

Even worse, though, is when this beer got warmer. The ethel-alcohol notes became more and more obnoxious with each minute. What provided some basic warmth in the mouth at first quickly became quite tedious and annoying later on.

So, to come back to my feeling of deja vu, while the SacBrewCo Imperial Stout from exactly 365 days ago (er, 366, with Leap Year) could easily have been classified as "Imperial Stout Lite"..., the SacBrewCo SacSquash Scotch Ale is really nothing more than "60/- Schwill"....
//TB

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

Bottled and tasted as SacSquash Scotch ALe. Dark brown color. Small white head. Aroma is malty, sweet, peaty and smoky. A medium bodied scotch ale. Malts are rich. Peaty and smoky, Very nice round roasty malt flavors. Very smooth taste. Nicely balanced. The smokiness and peatyness sort of hang around in the background and pervade the malt flavors. Its kind of a nice effect. Mouthfeel is full and round. Finish is clean and smooth. Aftertaste is slightly bitter.