Silly Scotch (8%)
It is a rare occurrence that I review two beers from a single producer so closely together, but a pair of circumstances has inspired me to add a review of Silly Scotch to my earlier commentary on Silly la Divine:
a) Silly Scotch just won a gold medal at the recent Brussels Beer Challenge, acing the category of Speciality Beer Higher than 7% ABV. (As in many previous editions, I judged at this year’s BBC, although did not adjudicate this particular category.)
b) November is well upon us and its cold and often damp dreariness makes the month, in my view, tailor-made for the strong and malty beer styles of Belgium.
“But ‘of Belgium’?,” you ask, “Isn’t this a style with Scottish roots?”
Well, yes. But also, no.
As Brasserie de Silly co-owner Lionel Van der Haegen tells it, his great-grandfather was approached by British troops stationed near Silly at the end of the First World War and asked to produce a version of the intensely malty Scottish style of ale they missed. Although he at first demurred, citing a lack of raw materials and recipe knowledge, with the help of a soldier named Jack Payne – who eventually married a local lass, settled in Silly, and worked for the brewery for many years – the beer was ultimately brewed and has remained a staple of the Silly portfolio ever since.
Further, as reported by the beer writing pioneer and legend, Michael Jackson, in his 1977 World Guide to Beer, “(the Belgians) have Scotch ales…which are unknown in Scotland.” So were it not for the love of Belgians for strong and malty dark ales, the style commonly known in beer circles as Scotch ale might have been consigned to the annals of history.
While the Silly version may or may not have been the Belgian original, it is most certainly one of the longest lasting and, in the view of both myself and the Brussels Beer Challenge, one of the best.
Ruby brown in colour with a solid collar of off-white foam, the nose of this offers malt for days, clear evidence that malty aromas can be just as enticing as can hoppy ones. Behind the rich caramel and toffee notes are wafts of milk chocolate and hints of raisin, plum, nutmeg, and a faint note of allspice.
The palate entry is sweet with brown sugar and toffee notes, leading to a more complex mid-palate filled with cooked caramel, dark raisins, date and prune, molasses, gentle notes of dark, high cocoa content chocolate, and an appealing spiciness that puts me in the mind of the dark Christmas cake my mother used to make. (I know that Christmas cake can be problematic for some, but this one was really good.) The finish dries impressively, considering the initial sweetness, and leaves lingering warmth and a touch of bitterness.
This is a Scotch ale crafted in the tradition of McEwan’s and Gordon’s, so denser and richer that something akin to the revivalist classic, Traquair House Ale. Having said that, however, and noting my profound admiration of the Traquair beer, it must be said that the Silly interpretation is equally a classic, and a malt-expressive ale to win the heart of even the most ardent hop head.
92 ($4 - $5/330 ml)