Beer – #587 – Renaissance – Stonecutter Scotch Ale – Tap

This was at the FYO station, so hear we have the Renaissance – Stonecutter Scotch Ale A beer I had a year ago in the bottle format.

In this post then; Revisiting tastes, revisiting bands, revisit the numbers and the after party visit.

And for those of you who want to know about where the name Stonecutter came from, you will need to know the secret handshake

This is around 210 calories a serve, it is a 7% ABV beer and the 1 litre is 5.52 standard drinks,

Stonecutter is brewed by Renaissance Brewing in the style of a Scotch Ale and they live in Blenheim, New Zealand

This is the big, hearty ’red wine’ of our range. Nine malts are blended to produce layers of caramel, coffee, liquorice, chocolate and roasty flavours and

Wee Heavy

these are balanced by a tart, raisiny fruitiness that gradually gives way to a lingering dry finish. Rich, full bodied. warming and moreish. Stonecutter pairs well with venison, roast beef or lamb, or the heartiest casseroles and stews. For dessert try with a creme brulee or, of course, Scottish shortbread.

We use nine malts blended together to produce layers of caramel, toffee, liquorice, chocolate and roasty flavours. These layers are balanced by a tart, raisiny fruitiness that gradually gives way to give this dark beer a lingering dry finish.

Rich, full bodied, warming and moreish.

Multi award winning Stonecutter Scotch Ale is the big, hearty, ‘red wine’ of our range. The Scotch Ale style is believed to have originated in Edinburgh in the 18th century and is colloquially known as “wee heavy” due to its higher strength than its paler siblings. We use nine malts blended together to produce layers of caramel, toffee, liquorice, chocolate and roasty flavours. These layers are balanced by a tart, raisiny fruitiness that gradually gives way to give this dark beer a lingering dry finish.!

What could possibly go wrong?

Has a real coffee / toffee aroma on opening.

Dark brown mahogany pour with a small and decently thick head. Aroma is still that burn toffee / coffee thing very malty.

Smoky to the taste, subtle smoky, complimentary smokey, deliciously smokey. Highly bitter at a really nice level too.

Has a surprisingly subtle and persistent linger too.

Whilst the smokiness is the most noticeable thing about the taste there is a decent amount of warmth and softness in the body of this, and the whole is a very decently balanced dark beer of some distinction.

I think last I drank this I had the sense of ‘raisins’ which I don’t get now, but I get a big bunch of smoke that I didn’t before. Odd things beers.

Don’t find the pre-nose aroma that tempting as a thing, but it’s not off-putting, though it’s a strangely welcoming thing, the sort of aroma you’d romanticise about a pub having perhaps.

A very very drinkable and thoroughly enjoyable wee heavy to get my mood straightened up and flying right. A beer of many things, I’ve sipped and enjoyed it, I quaffed and guzzled, it fits the moment you’re in. If the moment you’re in is of course for a dark smokey beer of slightly higher ABV than usual.

[inserts some poetry here]. ..[kidding]

Pdubyah-o-meter rating this is 9, making it quite remarkable, well ‘great’ on the random scale of things. Still ‘great’ is just worse than ‘awesome’ that’s how random the scale is. I can’t believe that the bottle and the tap version could differ so much. But then it’s me and how the thing is at that moment.

The double dip review

Am I enjoying it? This is rather a good beer.
Would I have another? I would and would again a few times.
Would I share with a friend on a porch and set the world to rights? I so would, you, me, the porch, (it’s cold so couple blankets), might light a fire-pit or something, this, the stars and a whole lot of blether.

I like this album, Status Quo, Stripped Bare the Acoustic versions. Listen Here

Status Quo are an English rock band whose music is characterized by their distinctive brand of boogie rock. This is “Caroline”

I had boogie around the lounge.

SCOTCH ALE

Scotch Ale was the name given to a strong pale ale from Edinburgh in the 19th century. This was typical of the strong pale ales brewed in Britain at that time – mainly pale barley malt and moderate hopping, and were not that stylistically different to English Strong Ales or Barley Wines. The name however became regionalised so that a strong pale ale from Scotland became known as a Scotch Ale or Wee Heavy. Beers using the designation Scotch Ale are popular in the USA where most examples are brewed locally. Examples of beers brewed in the USA under the name Wee Heavy tend to be 7% abv and higher, while Scottish brewed examples, such as Belhavens Wee Heavy, are typically between 5.5% and 6.5% abv.