Through Brew
Tall Poppy Brewing Company in Kontich, Antwerp, Belgium 🇧🇪
Scotch Ale / Wee Heavy Regular Out of Production|
Score
6.77
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Appearance - 4 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5
29 April 2018, at Zythos Bierfestival. Deputy Taster: Anke.
From tap, and no whisky added, as far as I know. Hazy brown with a diminishing, frothy, off-white head. Aroma of caramel, herbs, tea bag, red apple, nuts, milk chocolate. It tastes medium malty & caramelly sweet and light to medium roasted bitter, hint of dark fruits & nuts. Light roasted, mostly caramelly finish with warming liqueur alcohol. Slightly infected somewhere (diacetyl). Medium body, oily texture, fizzy carbonation. Could use a bit more punch & body.
Kraddel (15844) reviewed Through Brew from Tall Poppy Brewing Company 8 years ago
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 8
Thnx to Jo ! Pours dark, very dark brown with a ruby shine. light proves the beer actually is quite clear. Foam is very small, fades to zero instantly. Smell is rather weak. Some toffee, as is typical for the style, but not very intense. Light caramel sidenote, for the true seeker of that less-straight forward scent. No hops, and a clean fermentation profile. Taste is Medium to medium high in intensity. Toffee, even some coffee, mild caramelly notes, medium-low to low carbonation, as is suitable for the style. mild diacetyl ( to the upper limit for the style, but still suitable for the style ) ends a bit sticky, by that diacetyl as well as the rather sweet set-up. Very well-made wee heavy, the whiskey doesn't really show, which is a good thing IMO .
Alengrin (11609) reviewed Through Brew from Tall Poppy Brewing Company 8 years ago
Appearance - 4 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 6
Tall Poppy's third beer, explicitly presented as a 'wee heavy' at Modeste Bierfestival in Antwerp and served with a drop of some Speyside whisky added to it - according to the brewer because the beer was still "too young" and is supposed to develop a whisky-like note after a year of aging - something I never saw happening spontaneously in any beer, I think he is confusing things a bit here; I guess the aim was also to emphasize its 'Scottishness' in a rather naieve way, as this beer is intended to recreate an originally Scottish-inspired style popular fifty (and more) years ago in this country. Very loose and bubbly, off-white, thin and rather unstable head (its stability hardly improved by that drop of whisky, obviously); translucent, near-clear mahogany brown robe with amber hue. Aroma contains that unnecessarily added whisky of course, hovering over a beer that breathes impressions of caramel sauce, butterscotch, raisins, figs, wet dog, rainwater, soggy toast, banana mush, brown sugar. Sweet onset, fig, banana, candied date, very soft carbo, slick and lean mouthfeel, a tad resiny; notably caramelly malt sweetness with residual brown sugar on top, nutty sides and softly toasty towards the end but not as much as a typical Scottish wee heavy would have, treacle- and brown sugar-like sweetness remaining dominant. Finish adds little more, feels a bit thin due to low hoppiness but since this style is traditionally very malt-forward and barely hopped, this should be no criticism - yet a higher dosage of toasted bitterness should have compensated for this. Lingering banana ester too, and then the subtle return of that added whisky drop, of course. A sweet dubbel rather than a true Scotch really, indeed a bit too young, too thin, too sweet and a tad undercarbonated even for this style. Adding a drop of whisky will not remedy that, but I see no reason not to revisit this after it has reached its one year age limit - see if there will indeed be a whisky touch present by then...