Madison River Brewing Company Copper John Scotch Ale

Copper John Scotch Ale

 

Madison River Brewing Company in Belgrade, Montana, United States 🇺🇸

  Scotch Ale / Wee Heavy Regular
Score
6.44
ABV: 7.0% IBU: 19 Ticks: 30
This is a Scottish ale like no other. The brewers use the finest smoked malt for flavor complexity and then combine it with roasted barley, and caramel malts for a rich distinctive and smoky flavor. These ingredients give it a deep, dark color with a smooth, rich finish that is surprisingly drinkable.
 

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5.6
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 5.5

Deep dark brown coloured body with a thick, two to three centimetre tall tan head that stays afloat for a while. Aroma of toasted malt, caramelised sugars, light grain, a dash of vanilla, molasses and peated malt. Light-bodied; Sharp pungent toasted malt flavours dominate with a lot of caramelised sugars, toffee, earthy grain and some nuts, with a little of the vanilla and cream/lactose notes coming through at the very end. Aftertaste is fairly sweet with some of the caramel and toffee notes making it through the malts and perhaps a little bit of vanilla as well, with a creamy finish at the end that makes this taste more of a porter than a scotch. Overall, a decent beer at best, with less of a toasted grain and pungent nutty characteristic, and more of a creamy, milk, sweet bite that shows a porter seemingly. Not a horrible beer, but not really true to style, of course. I sampled this twelve ounce bottle, purchased from Bullwinkle's Liqour Store here in West Yellowstone, Montana on 30-July-2020 for US$1,67 sampled in my hotel room here in West Yellowstone, Montana a few hours later, on 30-July-2020.

Tried from Bottle on 31 Jul 2020 at 09:16


6.4
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5

Bottle picked up at MarCellars. Medium brown, beige fizzy head. Aroma comes in kind of sweet, more like a brown ale. Taste picks up a bit with some earthy, peaty notes, but is still sticky sweet, with an odd bitterness which lingers for a bit. Not bad, but slightly off target

Tried from Bottle on 10 Aug 2018 at 22:44


6.9
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5

12oz bottle pours out copper brown topped with a small head. Nose is sweet malts some spice and a little pit fruit notes. Tatse is more of the nice sweet malts some spice and fruit.

Tried from Bottle on 16 Apr 2018 at 00:06


5.9
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 5.5

Certainly better than their other two beers I had but a not so sure about this whole finest smoked malt idea. Pours mahogany with decent head and lacing. Tangy finish with some smoke. Bottle i didn't finish.

Tried from Bottle on 21 Sep 2017 at 00:08


7.3
Appearance - 10 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7

Bottle. Nutty toffee malt and fresh hay aroma. Dark brown with large tan head. Moderately sweet nutty toffee malt and moderately bitter astringent hay flavor. Body a bit light. Pretty good.

Tried from Bottle on 25 Nov 2016 at 17:56


6.4
Appearance - 4 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7.5

12 oz. bottle. Pours dark brown, with no head, just a small, tan ring. Earthy and savory aroma, with notes of chicory, cloves, toffee, cedar, and black pepper. Sweet and very malty, with a light bitterness and good, spicy finish. Medium body, grainy, hard, and a little thin. This is a fairly solid scotch ale, and wonderfully aromatic, but lacking in the appearance and palate.

Tried from Bottle on 12 Oct 2016 at 22:26


7.1
Appearance - 10 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 6.5

Bottle: Dark brown/copper with a small beige head. Toffee, lightly smoky malt aroma. Baked bread, toffee malt, chocolate malt taste. More along the lines of a porter or brown ale, really, but quite nice..... Good flavour....lighter bodied than expected.

Tried from Bottle on 16 Sep 2016 at 17:07


7.1
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 6.5

From a 12 oz bottle. Pours a Clear dark mahogany with an ecru head. Malty nose. Flavors of toffee. Smooth finish.

Tried from Bottle on 22 May 2016 at 21:16


4.1
Appearance - 4 | Aroma - 5 | Flavor - 4 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 3.5

Pours a dark nearly opaque brown. Aroma of chocolate, cola. Flavor of the same, very sweet I think, little bitterness. If tasted without a label I would have called it a porter, not a scotch ale. Meh.

Tried on 14 Oct 2015 at 17:27


5
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 4 | Flavor - 4 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 4

Tap. Clear chestnut, small of white head, decent lacing. Aroma is cardboard, faint smoke, caramel. Flavor is light plus sweet, light bitter, pretty bland, notes of cardboard, caramel. Some acidity. Medium body. Not good.

Tried from Draft on 30 Sep 2014 at 16:42