7/06/2010: Great Scot Organic Pale Ale... Aroma: Lightly grassy; light pale European maltiness; very slight oxidation possible. Appearance: Hazy golden color with an off-white crown; ample carbonation. Flavor: Stale, dusty maltiness; hint of clover honey; weak grassy hoppiness and soft bitterness. Palate: Medium-light; average carbonation. Overall: Clean and crisp, but too light (not enough hop character) and undistiguished; orgnaic is a bonus though.

1 pint, 0.9 fluid ounce bottle (5% Alc/Vol) from Trader Joe’s. Rating #63 for this beer.

Bottle:   I remember buying this at a Trader Joes years ago.   Vibrant amber, fairly clear, thing frothy white head, spotty lacing, light carbonation.   Musty barnish aged hop aroma... very dusty, with hints of overcooked vegetable.   Flavorwise its not much of a Pale Ale... site says a Golden which I could see.   Has some chicken coup like flavors that are off putting.   This one has faded a bit.   Not real bad, but the malt aspect of this seems a little earthy.   I see that parts of this, or all, are organic.   Hmmm.. I think I waited too long on this one.   The nose is a little more wonky then the flavor.   The backside is smooth, and actually fairly clean.   I can see this being much better had it I had it earlier.   Meh...

Great Scot is this mediocre! Look, I knew it would be, but I wanted to try something new when I was at Trader Joe’s--who carries this for some reason. Exactly what I thought it would be: piss pale, some decent hops, terrible aroma, but sort of drinkable and not too offensive.

Like most/all I grabbed this at Trader Joes because it was cheap and looked decent. I was relatively pleased though. A decent pale ale, the malt is quite different than normal and is oddly present when it shouldn’t be. The hops are overly muted even for a pale. It was 2 bucks for a decent beer and everyone got Scotland checked off their geo-stats. I don’t see what the problem is.

500ml bottle from Trader Joes
Appearance: Pours clear yellow/gold with a nice foamy white head and nice lacing in the glass
Aroma: Honey, pale malts and some citrus
Taste: Stale malts and hops, skunky flavors
Not very good.

fader joes. smelled like a heineken a little bit when i opened it. heineken is better. This stuff is watery. I guess it doesn’t really taste bad but not very satisfying. Watery and not even refreshing... ? Had to try it tho for the price.

500 ml bottle from Trader Joe’s. Pours pale yellow with a nice thick head that doesn’t last. Aroma is hay, bread, slight lemon. This beer is quite mediocre all around. The flavor is one step above a US macro, a little on the sweet side and good hop balance, but nothing really jumps out at you. Light body with a thin texture, lively carbonation, finish is unremarkable and watery. No wonder it was only $1.99 a bottle. It is organic and vegan, but I imagine most beers are vegan unless they use animal products as a fining agent.

Pretty good beer. It has a good balance of caramel malt and mineral hops. It’s not too fancy, but it’s a solid pale ale. The feel is really nice at first but gets watery towards the finish. There are some metallic notes, but they don’t overwhelm. The beer also tends to be a little on the sweet side. There isn’t a lot of dryness, which I also don’t love. Otherwise, it’s a good example of its style, given the price.

Interesting bottle found at Trader Joes. Glass is clear golden amber with head that left before I could look back at the glass. Nose is malty with a bit of light high sour/tartness. Yeast and sourdough bread. Taste is kinda bitter, with a bit of sweet. After taste is tobacco. Not the fresh leave tobacco. I quit smoking 6 months ago. The after is the flavor of my mouth after the first two hits off a cigarette. Weird. The flavor up front is light, and not too awful. The after is bad.

500 ml bottle from Trader Joe’s. Pours hazy golden with foamy white head. Aroma is of apple juice with hints of hops. Medium, somewhat syrupy body. Flavor of apples, biscuit malt and buckwheat grain with some hints of earthy hops. Finish is light and dry. I will skip this one next time.