Originally published in BEER January 2006
ABV: 7.2 and 8 per cent
Origin: Traquair, Scottish Borders, Scotland
Buy from: Specialists
Website: www.traquair.co.uk
Traquair House Ale and Jacobite Ale
Scotland also offers a few filtered bottled beers of note: for example, Williams Brothers Heather Ale range, which includes the unhopped Alba Ale; the wood-matured Innis & Gunn; or Orkney Brewery’s barley wine, Skullsplitter. But outstanding among all of them are the beers of Traquair House, the country’s oldest established micro based in its oldest-inhabited castle.
The brewhouse at Traquair, so the romantic story goes, was rediscovered with equipment intact by the laird, Peter Maxwell Stuart, in 1965, and since his death in 1990 has been run by his daughter Catherine. The principal beer, simply called Traquair House Ale, is an acknowledged classic, made with malt from Hugh Baird in East Lothian and East Kent Goldings hops, filtered but unpasteurised and capable of developing with age.
A five-year-old bottle from my cellar poured a very dark ruby brown with a soft, fine and very persistent yellowish head. A potent amontillado sherry aroma with woody hints led to a generous and very complex palate with dark sherryish fruit, well-rounded sour roasty notes and a hint of artichoke.
A lightly warming and gently mouth-tingling finish had burnt raisins, chocolate milk, burry hops, spices and orange fruit. This is a complex and intoxicating beer that you’d be a fool to turn your back on since it doesn’t technically qualify as “real”.
At Traquair the family sympathies lay with the Jacobite cause: Charles Edward Stuart stayed at the castle in 1745, and having closed the distinctive Bear Gates behind him, the laird vowed not to open them again until a Stuart returned to the throne. The gates remain closed, but the link is now celebrated in the spiced Jacobite Ale, first produced in 1995 to commemorate 250 years since the rebellion.
Also a dark brown and with a very light sparkle, this beer has a blackcurrant pastille and herb aroma and a lacy off-white head. The richly malty palate is sweetish on the lips but well-balanced by a slight sourness and emerging herbs, especially coriander.
The dry finish still has a syrupy feel, and a long, subtle development with unwinding herbal flavours. Perhaps not as impressive as the regular Ale, this is still worth getting to know as one of Britain’s most successful spiced beers.
Read more about these beers at ratebeer.com:
http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/traquair-house-ale/2012/
http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/traquair-jacobite-ale/5711/
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