Good beer for adding scotch?

[ShanellandMorgan]

My boyfriend is a huge fan of scotch and I wanted to brew a next batch to try and incorporate some. I've done a porter/bourbon mix that came out yummy :cross:. Since scotch is pretty smoky, I'd assume it'd be a darker or a maltier beer, but I'm open for whatever if it's good.

Also, I'm on partial mashes (still kind of new.) Any suggestions???

 

[rockfish42]

Maybe a scotched Rauchbier?

 

[Golddiggie]

Old ale, wee heavy, and barleywine could all be candidates...

 

[Calder]

Smoked Porter. Use 4 ozs of peat smoked malt in 5 gallons. Make sure it's peat smoked, not Cherry, Rauch, or Alderwood. The peat malt is more intense, and you would not notice the others at that concentration.

You can use other smoked malts, just need to know how much to use.

Add half a bottle of scotch at bottling time.

 

[surferdrew]

Old ale, wee heavy, and barleywine could all be candidates...

All great candidates...whatever you choose, here's a method that has worked well for me:

Soak some toasted oak chips in Scotch for a few weeks. Then put those chips in secondary for 1-2 weeks...longer if you want more of the scotch flavor and smokiness to be imparted. I personally love Laphroaig for it's smokey/peaty flavor/aroma.

 

[ericd]

+1 for Wee Heavy.

 

[Golddiggie]

I used 3/4oz medium toast French oak chips in my old ale (for 5.5 weeks) and it added a great oak character to the brew. A bit of smoke flavor too.

I have my wee heavy sitting on 1.5oz of medium toast Hungarian oak cubes now. Added the oak on Friday, and plan on tasting in about 3-4 weeks.

I'm liking the medium toast, since it has more of the characteristics I wanted. You have plenty of options to pick from with oak... You could even mix up some different toast levels if you wanted to. I would just use them one toast level at a time, so that you have better control over the contribution.