Scottish ales (60,70,80/-) = good young or cellared?

I have what seems to be becoming a tasty scottish 80/- in my basement, and I am really looking forward to getting into it. I've heard it said that this style benefits from a period of cold aging, but at such low gravities I would think they'd be great young......so guys and gals, do you lager your scottish ales or drink them young?

I made an 80 schilling last fall, which I oaked pretty heavily. I have one bottle left and it tastes absolutely fantastic. You should drink it as young as you want but set aside a six pack to drink down the road, then you can know for yourself the difference time makes.

The higher the gravity, the more it needs to age.

I've got a Wee Heavy that's 3 weeks in the bucket and finishing up at 1.022. Very tasty, don't know how much longer i can wait for it....

Poobah58 said:

The higher the gravity, the more it needs to age.

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See, that's just dandy:cross:, but what is "higher gravity"? The scottish version of a high gravity ale is low gravity by american ale standards....my Scottish 'heavy' came in at 1.046. Most beers at that gravity I would drink young, so I guess that's my curiosity about the recommended aging period for the style.

that said, I am planning to brew my first Wee Heavy with some of the slurry from this batch and I will be aging that one for a long time before consumption.....

Most Scottish ales will benefit from a month or two of cold conditioning.

Tonedef131 said:

Most Scottish ales will benefit from a month or two of cold conditioning.

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Indeed! The cold conditioning makes for a very clean and wonderfully malty ale.

I fermented this ale at 57F ambient (with the scottish ale yeast). I've never used this yeast or had a scottish ale before, and I snuck a taste at 2 weeks and was kind of blown away by the unique flavor profile....."Clean" is one way I would describe it; there was a total absence of yeast character at all. I think I got a hint of the smoked character that people talk about, though I didn't use any peated malt. All told, it got me pretty excited for the finished product. can't wait!

It all depends on the gravity, but a couple of weeks never hurt any beer that I can recall.

I've had good results with the second generation of the Scottish/Edinburgh (both McEwan's I'm told). I used it to make a pale ale, washed it and used it later for a 60 Shilling ( .032 OG) with about a 58 degree fermentation. It had that wonderful clean ale taste and that odd "smokey" character really came through. Never quite had it with an original pitching. It is definitely something to try.