Strong Scottish Ale may have been one of the first high gravity beers to garner an international reputation. When the Scots aligned themselves with France in 1295 to aid in their fight against subjugation by King Edward I (yes, that King Edward from Braveheart), part of that treaty, eventually called the Auld Alliance, dealt with trade between the two countries. The French, contributing little to the military side of things (leaving Mel Gibs….William Wallace to pick up the slack) still developed a taste for strong Scotch Ale, which would have mirrored the wines they were used to in more ways than most other ales. Even before that, Niall of the Nine Hostages, then Kind of Ireland, was said to have embarked on his violent fourth-century campaign to rid Scotland of the Picts at least in part to learn the secrets of their Heather Ale. (That style is no longer brewed in any appreciable quantity, but after reading about it we really want to try one, so it’ll eventually find its way onto our tap list).

Strong Scotch Ale remained popular well into the nineteenth century, even bucking the trend and gaining in popularity as porter took the world over during the 1700s. As Greg Noonan points out in the introduction to his book on the style, the production of smaller beer made in Scotland remained nearly level from 1787 to 1830, while production of stronger beer grew four-fold. The hold-out didn’t last forever…as India Pale Ale stormed the colonial marketplace, Scottish brewers wanted a piece of the action. Scottish brewers continued producing IPA, porter, and even pale lagers into the late nineteenth century when two factors that readers of this blog will be familiar with (read: tired of reading about) by now: temperance and war.

Though prohibition never took hold of Scotland as it did here in the states, it scared the hell out of Scottish brewers, who shifted toward producing more light beer that could pass as nutritional and less scandalous. The rationing of ingredients during the first world war–in addition to the stationed American troops’ preference for highly carbonated light lager–put salt in that wound, and brewers have had trouble recovering in the twentieth century.  By 1991, only six breweries remained in Scotland, offering a total of only 20 different brands (!!!).

Luckily for Scotch Ale, it’s irresistible. Brewers in the US and abroad, partially sparked by the Noonan book mentioned earlier, have revived this style in the last few decades. Though it enjoys a mere fraction of the popularity it once did, brewers are revisiting it for good reason. One of those is its interesting similarities to lager. As we mentioned in our post on Scottish Export, fermentation temperatures in Scottish breweries would naturally have been lower than those in more southern areas. Their practices, including cool fermentation, extended cold storage, and reserved hop usage, mirror lager practice more than they do ale practice. The result is a warming, rich, and inviting malt showcase that can often make you think you’ve got dessert in your thistle glass.