More than just Beer?

So, this is a disturbing trend. I've always felt that scotch was scotch - aged and classy $50 scotch tasted just like plastic jug $10 scotch. And I was okay with this - I'm already a snob about beer, and I'm nursing a slight snobbery about cigars - do I need something else too?

Apparently so. Being here in Scotland, I've been offered the opportunity to try many more scotches than I ever have before. Now, I'm not to the point of differentiating flavors in a big way, or being able to tell you the regions. But I can tell young from an old, cheap from pricey, and generally pick out the overarching taste. Lucky for me, scotch is an *extremely* expensive habit, so I don't see this one continuing. Fingers crossed!

In the meantime, I've had a chance to try two more local beers! Apparently they're both classified as Scotch ales, although they have very different qualities. First is Isle of Skye Brewing Co's Cuillin Black, followed by Orkney Brewing Co's The Red MacGregor.

The Cuillin Black is a bit of an enigma - dark like a stout, with similar flavors, it's much lighter, like a black ale. However, it lacks the classic roasted malts that you expect from black ales or stout - it's flavored with heather honey and oatmeal, both of which really stick out. There are also some nice sweet malts to round it out. It satisfied my craving for dark beer, but was surprisingly light and sweet. Already craving another of these. Also got try a sip of the Cuillin Red, which was full bodied and delicious, but I didn't get a full glass sadly.

The Red MacGregor was similarly impressive. Not a red ale, not by my reckoning anyway, the flavors come out with bready malts matched with an aggressive and grassy hop note. There's also some caramel there, although it gets a little muddled. The hops were a little distracting, but the picture on the bottle of a giant Scotsman swinging a sword more than made up for that. Not my favorite beer, but well worth a try.