Salty Scot Sea Salted Caramel Scotch Ale! Finally, I had found a bottle. Salty Scot is brewed and bottled in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada by the Parallel 49 Brewing Company. It is not, however, sold here in Georgia, or at least is not as far as I’ve seen. So, having heard really good things about it, I snapped a bottle off the shelf at Bruisin Ales in Asheville, North Carolina.
Salty Scot is actually brewed with caramel; add that to the malts used to make Scotch ales that are known to throw off notes of caramel and you can imagine the results. Cashing in one current salted caramel craze, real sea salt is added to the beer as well.
From the label:
We put the kettle on for a long boil and this Scottish wee heavy is what we got. Rich caramel is complemented by sea salt for a complex, intense flavor. Another? Aye.
The label also specifies that Salty Scot is made with pale, crystal, Munich, and chocolate malts as well as “aromatic” and Fuggles hops. The beer has an alcohol content of 7.5% by volume with 17 IBUs, and I paid $9.50 for a 650ML (roughly 22 ounce) bottle.
Salty Scot Sea Salted Caramel Scotch Ale pours to a bright caramel color with a thick foaming but very quick fading head formation and a sweet treacle and seawater salty nose. Taking a sip, the beer has a very rich and delicious caramel palate, with butterscotch and treacle sweetness up front followed by a rounding saltiness at the first and last of the sip. There’s dark raisin fruit here, too, and delicious malty sweetness, but the salt keeps it in check right on into the finish. Hops are gently herbal grassy and subdued here.
Salty Scot Sea Salted Caramel Scotch Ale is a tasty wee bit of a beer indeed, and extra credit for the originality of combining the saltiness of a Gose with the caramel maltiness of a wee heavy to get this tasty treat.
And remember, try a new beer today, and drink outside the box.
*Pricing data accurate at time of review or latest update. For reference only, based on actual price paid by reviewer.
(B)=Bottled
(D)=Draft