Anyone who has been to Scotland would agree that the country embodies an understated, self-confident mentality true to its agrarian roots and hardy inhabitants. Largely rural and natural, the ales of Scotland symbolize both the people and landscape, which can be at once rugged and pastoral. As Scotland lies in the UK, one would assume that its ales should reflect the characteristics of the historic brews of Great Britain. This would dismiss their diverse nurture, shaped by factors both native and foreign. Scottish ales are a hybrid of sorts, with largely indigenous ingredients lending finesse to brews that otherwise owe their profile to the disparate brewing cultures of England and Germany. They are top-fermented (albeit patiently), and truly ales in that respect, but are cold-conditioned in the manner of lager brewers of Bavaria and Bohemia. The result is a deep, rich color, and a smooth, unassuming depth of character. Like many representative beer styles, they have taken a long, wending road to their destination, but in the end, are a product of those things that ultimately work best with medium and environment.
It should come as no surprise that Scottish ales are malty in their essence, a proud platform of both craft and art.
Seminal Scottish Ale
The cradle of brewing is generally attributed to Mesopotamia around 4000 BC. There is, however, archaeological confirmation of concomitant brewing in Scotland. The evidence comes from Fife, north of Edinburgh, and Kinloch, on the Isle of Rhum, and the tribal inhabitants that roamed Europe at the time. Though little is known about these early brews beyond the artifacts, there is some anecdotal evidence surrounding the brewing of heather ales and mead by the Picts a couple of millennia ago, prior to Roman influx.
Legend has it that the closely-guarded heather ale recipe went to the grave with a Pictish elder, in Braveheart fashion, who resisted divulging the recipe even in the face of death.
Tall tales aside, and like most of Medieval and Middle Age Europe, brewing in Scotland was the domain of monasteries up until the 15th century. Shortly thereafter, public sale of secular beer began to take hold, with the majority of the brewing being done at home by women. Eventually, brewing became less domestic and more the interest of entrepreneurs, whose business interests helped the burgeoning commercial brewing industry grow to unparalleled levels during the 18th century. Edinburgh was the Scottish epicenter, rivaling London and Munich in stature. Scottish beers were highly-regarded around Europe and points beyond, and were exported to faraway ports in Canada and South America.
The zenith of Scottish brewing ended during the 19th century. The first test to the Scottish markets came from England, whose unfettered production and export of porter challenged the Scots. Later, English-perfected pale ales usurped locally-brewed beers in popularity. Finally, Central European braumeisters refined their revolutionary pale lagers and took yet another bite out of the Scottish ale province. Each time, the Scots adapted and persevered, either by hiring foreign brewers to produce those same beers in Scotland, or by learning to make them themselves.
This resilience and versatility proved valuable from a survival, if not dominating, standpoint, in that Edinburgh became perhaps the most eclectic brewing center in the world. At one point they were producing porters, stouts, lagers, brown ales, and bitters, as well as their own unique Scottish ales. This was aided by the diversity of water hardness in Edinburgh, each well lending a helping hand to individual beer styles. Soon enough, things settled down, and regional pride endeared people to their country’s beers, with the Scots concentrating on their own version of ale.
