Penobscot Bay Brewery: Old Factory Whistle Scottish Ale

So I know it's a little boring, but I'm reviewing beers from the same brewery in back to back weeks. In last weeks review, I gave their only other beer a simple 2. This week, well this week was better, but not ticker tape parade better.

Penobscot Bay Brewery's Old Factory Whistle Scottish Ale came in a 22oz bottle (as did it's brother beer, the blonde ale) and when poured into a Sam Adams glass produced a rather thick head. The beer itself poured cloudy, but quickly cleared up into a dark reddish brown color. I didn't immediately notice a whole lot of aroma to it though.

Normally, I'm a fan of a scottish ale, but this one was just kind of there. The first sip wasn't all that appealing to me, but after that the beer went down quite easily. Carmel seemed to be the predominant flavor, and I think it's abundance caught me off guard. After adjusting to that first sip, I rather enjoyed the rest of the beer. I'm going to give this one a middle of the road 2.5, but I'm reserving the right to review it again at a later date. It just wasn't what I was expecting and I think that threw me off a little. Methinks that next time I'm in Maine, I'll pick some up for my fellow Beer Crusaders to try, as I'd love to hear their opinions..

Old Chub, Oskar Blues Brewing Co., Lyons, Co

Yes, I know, another Oskar Blues beer. What can I say, I find good brewers and tend to go through as many of their beers as possible. The Old Chub, great name, is a creamy Scottish ale. The Chub has a high octane of 8% so you do get that alcoholly kick to it. You also can taste that this is a hopped up beer. The high alcohol flavor definitely detracts from what could possibly be a great beer. Unfortunately, I couldn't get past that kick. However, I do appreciate high hopped beers in cans, just in this case I was thrown off. The Old Chub gets a 2.5

Belhaven Scottish Ale, Belhaven Brewery, Dunbar, East Lothian, Scotland

I checked out the Belhaven Scottish Ale at dinner and I was not totally on board with it. It's never a good sign when you need someone else to taste the beer because you think it's flat and they tell you that's how it's supposed to taste. Giving the Ale a second chance I was able to detect light malt accents in this subdued creamy ale. The creaminess really overpowers the other beer elements. The beer was surprisingly refreshing, although it's relatively low 3.9% ABV is a detriment. I rate this a 2.5.