Name
Scottish Heavy
Category
Scottish Ale
BJCP Style Code
14 B
Appearance
Pale copper to very dark brown. Clear. Low to moderate, creamy off-white.
Aroma
Low to medium maltiness, often with flavors of toasted breadcrumbs, lady fingers, and English biscuits. Low to medium caramel and low butterscotch is allowable. Light pome fruitiness in best examples. May have low traditional English hop aroma (earthy, floral, orange-citrus, spicy, etc.). Peat smoke is inappropriate.
Flavour
Entirely malt-focused, with flavors ranging from pale, bready malt with caramel overtones to rich-toasty malt with roasted accents (but never roasty) or a combination thereof. Fruity esters are not required but add depth yet are never high. Hop bitterness to balance the malt. No to low hop flavor is also allowed and should of traditional English character (earthy, floral, orange-citrus, spicy, etc.). Finish ranges from rich and malty to dry and grainy. A subtle butterscotch character is acceptable; however, burnt sugars are not. The malt-hop balance tilts toward malt. Peat smoke is inappropriate.
Mouthfeel
Medium-low to medium body. Low to moderate carbonation. Can be relatively rich and creamy to dry and grainy.
Overall Impression
A malt-focused, generally caramelly beer with perhaps a few esters and occasionally a butterscotch aftertaste. Hops only to balance and support the malt. The malt character can range from dry and grainy to rich, toasty, and caramelly, but is never roasty and especially never has a peat smoke character.
Typical Ingredients
Originally used Scottish pale malt, grits or flaked maize, and brewers caramel for color. Later adapted to use additional ingredients, such as amber and brown malts, crystal and wheat malts, and roasted grains or dark sugars for color but not for the roasty flavor. Sugar adjuncts are traditional. Clean or slightly fruity yeast. Peat-smoked malt is inauthentic and inappropriate.
Comments
Malt-focused ales that gain the vast majority of their character from specialty malts, never the process. Burning malt or wort sugars via kettle caramelization is not traditional nor is any blatantly butterscotch character. Most frequently a draught product. Smoke character is inappropriate as any found traditionally would have come from the peat in the source water. Scottish ales with smoke character should be entered as a Classic Style Smoked Beer.
Commercial Examples
Broughton Greenmantle Ale, Caledonia Smooth, McEwan’s 70, Orkney Raven Ale, Tennents Special Ale
Original Gravity
1.035 - 1.040 SG
Final Gravity
1.010 - 1.015 SG
Color
13 - 22 SRM
Alcohol
3.0 - 3.0 %vol
Bitterness
10 - 20 IBU