UNITED KINGDOM – Back home in Washington state, one of my favorite beers has been “Scotch Ale” from Bellingham’s Boundary Bay Brewery. Another favorite (which seems to be no longer available) was Jenny’s Scotch Ale from the Skagit River Brewery in Mount Vernon. Both are quite sweet, with just enough hops to add body, but not so much that they cross over into “bitter beer” territory.
So when Melanie and I set out to visit Scotland, I looked forward to drinking a lot of similar brews. After all, where else would one expect to find real Scotch ale?
We’ve tasted quite a few different beers during our 10 weeks in the U.K., including a handful of “cask-conditioned” “real ales.” But we have yet to find any “Scotch ale” that tastes like the stuff back home.
On Orkney Island I was talking with a barmaid one night and told her when we get “Scotch ale” back home, it’s really sweet-tasting, but that I hadn’t found a sweet one yet in Scotland. She said they had several Scotch ales on tap, but she didn’t know of any that were sweet.
Another barmaid, in Inverness, told me the same thing. “No. Sorry, none of our ales are sweet.”
“Is Boundary Bay’s Scotch Ale a myth?”
Now I’m thinking maybe Boundary Bay Brewing has created a new mythology. I really love their “Scotch Ale,” but from my research so far, it seems to have no basis in reality.
In my quest for tasty beer, my fallback brand throughout our journey has been Guinness Stout. It always has that same dense, creamy head and beautiful ebony color, with just the right amount of hops and a citrus-y finish that lingers after each sip. And every pub on every corner has Guinness on tap – Every Single One!
As we were preparing to leave Inverness, our B&B host told us, “The Guinness gets better the closer you get to Dublin.”
Upon arriving in Belfast, Northern Ireland, I discovered a couple of Guinness varieties I’ve never seen in the U.S. (nor in Scotland). They were bottled, rather than draft, but I decided to take a flyer and try them out (strictly for research purposes of course).
The two beers were Guinness Dublin Porter and Guinness West Indies Porter. They were priced at 2.50 pounds each or two for 4 pounds (about $5.50). Not outrageous for a half-liter bottle of premium beer, and certainly less than I’d pay for a pint in an Irish pub. Both were very tasty, a bit sweet (which I like in a porter), and not overly hoppy.
So apparently, the Scotch ale I’ve been looking for all along is not an Ale at all; it’s a Porter. And it’s not Scottish; it’s Irish.
Our Inverness host got it right. Closer to its source in Dublin, the Guinness does indeed get better.
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