Scotch Ale

Carrying on from last week's post about Scottish Ale, here are some Scotch Ales plucked from Whitbread's gravity book.



You'll notice that most don't have a price, which is is usually a sign of the beer not being on sale in the UK. In some entries it specifically says "purchased in Belgium". The only example that was definitely bought in Britain is McEwan's Double Scotch Ale. With an OG of only 1057, it's considerably weaker than all the others.

It's a shame that it doesn't state clearly in all cases where the sample was bought. As it is, we can't tell if the stronger version was sold in Britain. That was certainly the case more recently. Beers such as Gordon's Scotch Ale were brewed in Scotland, but only available in Belgium.

I was susprised at the high degree of attenauation of some examples - over 80% in some cases. Though having looked at the analyses in Scottish Ale Brewer of Scotch Ales brewed in the 1830's, this doesn't seem to be a modern development. If I have time to transcribe them, I'll try to post details if the beers from the 1830's tomorrow.