100 Beers, 100 Days: Day #4
Sir James Douglas, aka Black Douglas, was one of the heroes of the Braveheart wars, bff of Robert the Bruce and all around a Scotsman that you wouldn’t want to mess with, unless you’re looking for an ass-kicking. He died attempting to fulfill the Bruce’s dying wish, that Douglas should carry the Bruce’s heart to the holy land to be buried. This final quest didn’t go very well on account of the holy land being under pretty solid Moorish control at the time. Since the fight for Scottish independence didn’t go too great either, Black Douglas is something of an underdog, a man who had courage and fire in his heart but could never quite come out on top, making him a perfect figure for praise in the songs and legends of the Scots, or really any group of people that had to deal with the English. None of this has anything to do with the beer.
The beer came in a half-liter bottle (though not labeled in metric for whatever reason), and I poured it into a Guinness branded sort-of-pint glass I picked up somewhere since it happens to be the right size. While the namesake might lead one to expect a deep, black stout, it’s a Scottish ale, and more red in color, somewhere between the pomegranite shades of an Irish red and the murky, reddish-brown of a porter. It poured with a thin head that disappeared quickly, but it kept a strong aroma of malt and berries throughout. The distinction of Scottish ales among the beers that use similarly heavily-roasted malts is that the malts, after being roasted, are cooked to the point of carmelization, leaving a lot of unfermented sugars in the final product. The beer had some of the roasty characteristics of a porter, but a sweetness that offset the heavy taste of the roasted malt. It hit the tongue sharply but quickly faded into a rich, murky, sweet flavor that stuck to my mouth for a little while.
There isn’t a lot of complexity to this ale, but it has a solid flavor and feel, something to revive worn spirits and warm weary bones. It’s simple, but it’s enjoyable. The extra sugars offset the darker, charred flavors, and while the alcohol is certainly noticable, it’s not overpowering. In all I think this is a pretty well put together beer. I like it.