Traquair House Ale and Jacobite Ale

[mickblueeyes]

Traquair house was an active brewhouse in the 1700’s making beer only for those living near the estates and it fell into disuse shortly into the 1800’s. It was rediscovered in 1965 by Peter Maxwell Stuart and is now run by his widow Flora Maxwell Stuart.

The house has significant history. Alexander I, the Scottish king, granted Traquair house a charter in 1107 and it assumed the role of “Royal Residence” throughout the Middle Ages. After the death of Alexander III in 1286, the English took up occupancy, despite the Scots attempts at fortification of Traquair house. With the ascension of Robert the Bruce to the throne in 1306, the house was restored to the Scottish Crown. Over the next many years, the home switched hands until it finally arrived in the hands of the second son of the Earl of Buchan for the price of a few pounds. It is from him, James Stuart, that the present family is descended.

They utilize a simple process and use no preservatives or enzyme stabilization for their beers. They use spring water from their estate, East Kent Goldings hops, and malted barley from Hugh Baird and Sons of East Lothian. The beer is barrel fermented for 7 days for the initial fermentation and then aged in cold storage barrels for several weeks prior to bottling and shipping.

This amazing beer has a nose of sherry, oak, chocolate and deep malty character. The palate continues the amazing nose with an overall bittersweet maltiness abounding with nuances of chocolate, coffee, grape-like fruit, and an overall nuttiness. The finish is one of the richest ever tasted and is full with big malty and chocolate/coffee flavors and slight hops.

Traquair Jacobite Ale

This beer was brewed to celebrate the anniversary of the 1745 Jacobite rebellion, but has been permanently added to the line. The color of this beer is black with ruby accents. On the nose there is a dark, chocolatey sweetness with rich, sweet malt and coriander. The palate echoes the nose with bittersweet chocolate, rich barley malt, clearly dark roast coffee and a subtle spiciness from the coriander. The finish is creamy, full, rich cocoa.

Overall, this and its little brother, Traquair house Ale are two of the richest and fullest, as well as most complex beers, I have ever tasted. They are both very port-like in character—sweet, heavy, chocolatey and coffeeish. They are perfect for an end of day beverage or as an aperitif or dessert beer.

[Joy]

Agreed, two of my favorite beers. What else do you like?

[AdamLawrence]

I am not wild about the Traquair beers, because they are predominantly malty, and my preference is for hoppy beers. But they are very well made, and if you like this style you can't complain.

Actually the whole Scottish ale renaissance is kind of passing me by because of this malty/hoppy dichotomy. For me, give me a really aggressively hoppy Yorkshire or Lancashire beer any day.

cheers

Adam

[Joy]

Yes our tastes are quite the opposite. I am all about the Scottish ale malty flavor. One more reason why I wish that I was Scottish.

Edited February 26, 2003 by Joy (log)