Trip In the Woods: Maple Scotch
Sierra Nevada Brewing Company in Chico, California, United States 🇺🇸
Scotch Ale / Wee Heavy Series|
Score
7.63
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Balanced and rich, this classic Scotch Ale was brewed with maple syrup and aged in bourbon barrels. Flavors and aromas of oak, maple, and caramel round out this delicious and complex beer.
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Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8
Deep dark amber color, tan head. Nice aroma of maple syrup drizzled over plums, raisins, dates. Taste has burnt caramel, vanilla, dark fruit. Delicious.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8.5
Poured from a 750 ml bottle. Aroma is sweet with a medium light maple note, lots of caramel and toffee. Soem brunt sugar and light treacle. A touch of toasted bread. Medium light oak notes with some lighter bourbon. A light herbal hop note with some alcohol. More maple as it warms. Pours a fairly clear, brown with burnt amber hues and a medium sized, thick, tan head that recedes slowly to the edges where it lingers. Medium light lacing and long legs. Flavor is fairly sweet with a lot of malt character. Lots of caramel and toffee with lighter toasted bread, burnt sugar, and treacle. A hint of a roast note. Medium maple notes with hints of coconut and vanilla. Light bourbon and oak notes. Medium bitterness with faint hop notes. Light alcohol spice in the finish. Lingering maple, caramel and bourbon. Mouthfeel is medium full bodied with medium carbonation. Low astringency and medium low alcohol warmth. Overall, a really nice beer. I’m fairly impressed with these limited run beers that Sierra Nevada keeps putting out. Great maple notes, balanced with good bourbon barrel characteristics. Nice malt characteristics.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8.5
Bottle shared by Marcus. Pours darkly ruddy with a tan head. Aroma of wood, maple, maybe brown sugar, a little vanilla. Med body or so. Flavor is wood, maple, maybe brown sugar, a little bourbon. It has something a bit like spice - but maybe it’s wood. Or maple. It’s a bit sweet, and the bourbon comes up a bit after awhile.
Appearance - 10 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7
750mL bottle from the brewery, bottled 3/31/16 and shared by AdamC on 5/21/16.
Good clarity in this deep mahogany-chestnut beer. Light beige head atop shows moderate to moderately strong retention.
At first smell I get visions of the awfully over-barreled Ride That Bear, but as it slowly breathes and warms, the heavy barrel character subsides somewhat, leaving more maple, light woodsmoke and very little hop notes behind it. Big brown sugar and dark fruit notes definitely show off a true scotch ale with the bourbon definitely intensifying the overall character and contributing moderate coconut-like character. Vanilla, toffee and oak linger with a touch of alcohol apparent and no flaw.
Rich, nearly sticky, but well-attenuated texture has plentiful vanilla, toffee and light roast with strong oak dryness. Maple sweetness perks up on the end and is quite enjoyable. Dark fruits, heavy oak and toffee lingering with a hint of earthy smoke.
The fact that this thing is 2% stronger and 4 months younger than Ride That Bear and already tastes much more mellow speaks volumes to Sierra Nevada’s quality (and less to the Bruery’s). Still way too intense of a beer for my tastes and I wish I’d tried it with another 3-6 months of age on it. But no doubt it should continue to mellow out and develop very nicely. Lots of potential, so a bit of leniency on my score.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5
750 ml Bottle shared by Adam, picked up at the NC, facility. Aroma is coconut, toasted oak, bourbon, maple... Holy shit!
Dark fruit base with a blast of maple syrup. The bourbon helps cut the dark grains and dark fruit. Maple syrup is also cut by the bourbon. Wow. The flavor is deep and layered here. The ABV is mostly hidden. Awesome.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7.5
75CL. Picked this ale up at the brewery in NC. This is dark brown, 1 finger tan head. This smells REALLY good. Maple is present along with whiskey, coconut. Taste, this is a total maple bomb. Maple. like that’s all I taste at the start and long in the finish. Coconut, vanilla, brown sugar. this is straight up dessert decadent.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 8.5
On tap at the Torpedo Room. It pours a dark amber color with a light tan/orange head. The aroma has heavy caramel, oak, vanilla and lighter notes of maple syrup. Sweet barrel-aged goodness on the nose. The flavor is the same. A little more fruity plum/raisin notes with heavy sweet vanilla, oak, caramel, maple and coconut. Not too syrupy, but very sweet. No harsh solvents in this one. Good balance of dark fruit-like Scotch ale qualities and barrel aged character.