This is one of the first things I learned from Ray Daniels. He kept pushing this fact for years, but it seems (like putting smoke malt in Scottish ales) this one will never die out.
Aorry for digging up a slumbering thread. I was looking to see if there was a Lagunitas recipe on here and ended up here...
Regarding the smoke in the Scottish ales (I am assuming meant peat smoked malt)....
My take on this, as one who puts a little peat in his Scottish ale, is that back before steel and better kilning processes, all beer probably tasted smokey. The heat source for the kiln would lend some flavor to the barley.
Scottish maltsters (from what I read) used peat for their heat source, Germans used beechwood. I'm sure there were others.
Anyway, peat is a very unique flavor. I can imagine people wanting that "like they did in the old days" flavor in their ales, which would result in peat smoked malt being added to the now cleaner-kilned malts in Scotland. You get a German parallel with Rauchbier.
I think the use of the peat makes for apossibly more authentic "historical" Scottish ale.
Not to mention that I wanted to use peat-smoked malt as an expierment, and couldn't begin to think of something to trown it in other than a Scottish Ale.
