Tartan Pants Scotch Ale

From Kanata, Ontario, a satellite community of Canada’s national capital, comes Tartan Pants Scotch Ale. This ale from Big Rig Brewery clocks in at a respectable 6.4%. It comes in garish 473mL cans that feature plaid-clad legs dancing a jig.

Tartan Pants is an extremely dark brown colour. It pours with little carbonation and a thin mist of creamy head. According to the copy on the can, hand smoked malt is used in the brewing process, which goes a long way toward explaining the rich, smoky scent that greets the nose. The flavour is malt-focused and full, with sticky toffee and Christmas pudding elements, assembled under a slightly smoky skyline. There aren’t a lot of overt hops characteristics to this ale, though there is a slight nod toward woodsy bitterness in there somewhere.

Scotch ales aren’t particularly commonplace in the Ontario craft marketplace, which is increasingly dominated by crisp pale ales. While I undoubtedly enjoy a good hoppy pale, I’m pleased when I see a bit of stylistic diversity in the brewing landscape. Big Rig’s take on a Caledonian ale was pretty well conceived and executed. The smokiness is big on the nose, but understated to the taste, which is a pretty neat trick as far as I’m concerned, as it lets the other flavour notes express themselves.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.