Behind the Bar: Åbro Skotten
Author: Barmacral Tigana
The colder season is arriving in the northern hemisphere and with it comes darker, warmer beers. November is commonly known as the grayest month of the year, so what better style of beer to review than a scotch ale with its origins in Scotland, the nation known for its gray weather. This month I’ll be taking a look at a Swedish interpretation of the style, Skotten by Åbro Brygg Mästarens.
Scotch ale being the strongest of the Scottish styles, this beer checks in at 7.5% and is very dark with a reddish tinge to it. The head was off-white and short lasting, leading to a malty aroma with some banana character in it. Scotland used very few hops historically due to the high price of having to import them from England. This lead to their beers being very malt driven and this beer is no exception. Full of caramel and toffee and dark fruit character along with some hints of chocolate, this beer has a medium to full mouthfeel and medium-low carbonation rounding it out.
Rating: 3.5 / 5 – A solid well brewed beer, the banana flavour doesn’t belong in this style, but otherwise it is enjoyable on a cold gray evening.
Beer Facts: Popular beer websites
When wanting to know what beers are the best to try or what to expect of the beer you are drinking and so on, there are a few popular websites to turn to. The biggest of these is Ratebeer, which is considered the premier source for finding the highest rated beers and bars around. Closely followed by that is BeerAdvocate, which does much the same thing. You can find the site’s ratings for many beers and the ratings from beer enthusiasts all over. The third source to look at is probably the easiest of all, Untappd. This one is used by many and can be downloaded as an app on your smartphone. It also allows you to keep track of the beers that you are drinking and makes it easy to rate them yourself.
There are of course many other excellent beer websites, but these are just a few of the most popular to check out.
