Brewed By: Traquair in Innerleithen, Borders, Scotland
Purchased: 500ml (1 pint, 0.9oz) bottle bought at Jewel-Osco in Chicago, IL; 2013
Style/ABV: Scotch Ale, 7.2%
I love those random beer purchases that turn out to probably be good investments. I was at Jewel, as I'm wont to do when I need stuff for dinner, and I decided to walk by their beer. I usually don't buy anything, favoring specialty shops, but they occasionally will hit a dinger (remember: I found Bourbon County and Madame Rose just chilling at Jewel). I saw tonight's beer, and thought: "Oh hey, a Scotch Ale aged in Oak Barrels...what could go wrong?" So here we are.
I guess Traquair is a house or farm or something; like Downton Abbey, with less banging. You can read up on the family history on their website. Traquair is a Celtic word meaning, "dwelling place or hamlet," and the original house was a hunting lodge and defensive tower. Between 1500 and 1700, the Traquair transitioned from a defensive tower to a home. Between 1700 and 1800, the house faced turbulent political times, and during the 1800s the house was on decline. The house was eventually inherited by Frank Maxwell Stuart, who opened the house to visitors in 1953. The current Traquair house is a tourist attraction, and hosts events like weddings, and receives guests for bed and breakfasts.
The aforementioned history is all dandy, but what really matters is the brewery. The Traquair House Brewery was founded in 1965 by Peter Maxwell Stuart (the 20th Laird of Traquair). The brewery has origins in the 18th century, when beer was produced for house and estate workers. The brewery currently produces around 600-700 barrels annually, with brewing taking place all year except August. The Traquair House Ale is made only from malted barley, hops, yeast, and spring water. The malt comes from Muntons in Suffolk, and the hops used are East Kent Goldings. The water is local to the underground springs on the Traquair Estate.
I love the organization and ease of finding information on the Traquair website. I mention that, because I always take the time to check out a brewery's website. And I do hate it when a brewery's website is shit. This is not that. If you check out the Traquair beer page, you can see that tonight's beer, the Traquair House Ale, dates back to 1964. This beer clocks in at 7.2%, features rich oakiness, and is described as a boozy, fruity, winter ale. Let's glass this up and see how it stacks up.
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| Traquair House Ale |
This one pours a dark ruby red/brown color, that is deceptively black/purple/raisin in low light. This one yielded two finger's of creamy, ivory/tan head, with a careful pour. Bright light tells the whole story, as it often does. This beer looks to be filtered, somewhat transparent, and bright ruby red. The head has settled into an impressive, creamy, centimeter of tan/sandy/ivory coating. There is some nice lacing, and just a touch of legs.
The aroma here is really nice and subtle for the style (America has sort of bastardized the extreme versions of this style...not that there's anything wrong with that). I'm getting really smooth malts, with big caramel, and tons of fruits. I'm getting cherries, plums, raisins, figs, and molasses. There's also a really nice English hop bitterness noticeable on the nose, with mild spice, earthiness, and mild floral aromas. I really have to search for the wood/vanilla/oak, and I barely get some elusive wood/vanilla. I would be hard-pressed to call out "oak/vanilla/wood" in a blind tasting.
This is just so refined in the taste...this beer graduates from amateur hour, and dresses up with fineness. I feel embarrassed drinking this in my shorts and hoodie. You get creamy smoothness, with chewy malt, and layers of complex malts, dark fruits, nuttiness, a hint of bread/toast, and some underlying alcohol complexity. I'm tasting velvety malts, caramel/toffee, bread/toast, cherries, plums, figs, dark fruits, mild alcohol bite, and a dash of wood and vanilla. This has a refined sensibility, and really nice palate depth.
At 7.2% ABV, this drinks remarkably well, and is very smooth. Nevertheless, the bottle says you can age this til June, 2018...that could be interesting. As I continue to sip this, I'm getting a ton of that caramel, nut, and toasted character trademark to the style. The whole thing is kept in check by really subtle hop spice/kick, and dark fruits are all over the place. I'm also pulling out a dash of peat, and as this grows on my palate, I'm picking up some wood/oak tannins, and a dash of vanilla. For the style, this is complex, drinkable, and has good palate depth. This is medium-full to full (especially as you drink it). Up front is bread, caramel, dark fruits, booze; this rolls into caramel, hop bitterness, more dark fruits, spice; the back end is toast, trailing caramel/toffee and toast. The finish is malty and dry, with a touch of peat/mineral/salt, and wood/vanilla that builds over the session. Slightly sticky on the lips.
Rating: Divine Brew
I'm going with a confident and strong Divine Brew on this. As if this wasn't multidimensional enough, I'm getting some butterscotch/buttery/diacetyl flavors lingering in my mouth, and some nice boozy warming in my tummy. This is a balanced, well-thought-out beer. It's a shame I just now discovered this, because I could see myself picking this up to pair with chocolaty desserts, strong cheeses, or even a nice smoked/barbecued meat. At around 6 or 7 bucks per 500ml bottle, this is relatively inexpensive. It also has the potential to age for around 5 years (according to the bottle). I don't need to recommend this, as the BJCP lists it as the first example for a Strong Scotch Ale. But I'm glad to know this beer exists.
Random Thought: It finally stopped snowing! This is the winter that just won't quit....7 inches later, and I'm seriously ready for Spring.
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