Several years ago, I walked Scotland’s famous West Highland Way, a 96-mile route connecting Glasgow to Fort William. The path takes walkers from Scotland’s largest city to the base of Scotland’s highest peak, hugging the shores of Scotland’s largest lake, Loch Lomond, en route. It’s literally a walk of superlatives.
The Way also happens to pass within a quarter mile of the Glengoyne distillery, which offers an award-winning line of single malt Scotch whiskies produced from barley that has been dried with warm air rather than peat smoke. Believe me when I say that there few finer things in life than to find oneself entering a distillery a mere two hours into a week’s hike.
Whisky rides shotgun in the Scottish conscience, but the ales of Scotland are equally deserving of our attention and deserve better than the back seat. And of all the Scottish ales, perhaps the one most commonly brewed and enjoyed on this side of the pond is the strong Scotch ale, or wee heavy.
Wee heavy is to malt as imperial IPA is to hops. Fans of Belgian dark strong ales will find a new best friend in strong Scotch ale with its rich dark fruit character and warm alcoholic finish. The best examples are a touch sweet, but not so much that finishing a thistle glass or snifter of the malty ale challenges the drinker. A well-made wee heavy goes down smoothly—dangerously so.
Accomplished brewer Jamil Zainasheff famously warns homebrewers against including peat-smoked malt in wee heavy, and he has a point. Apart from our own romantic images of Highland clans drying barley inside thatch-roofed hovels, there’s not much evidence to suggest that the Scots held onto their direct-fired kilns any longer than anyone else did. After all, Glengoyne prides itself on its smoke-free single malts.
Historically accurate or not, though, I just can’t resist adding a touch of smoked malt to my wee heavy grist from time to time. If you enjoy smoky Scotch whiskies such as Talisker, Lagavulin, and Ardbeg, then I suspect you probably can’t either. You might not win many competition points, but it’s your beer. Brew what you like!
Here’s my recipe for a 120/– (120 Shilling) wee heavy. Age it for at least a couple of months to give it time to mellow out or (even better!) age it with some bourbon-soaked oak cubes for three months or more, and prepare to have your insides warmed when the leaves fall this autumn. It’s tempting to use Scotch whisky instead of bourbon, but in my side-by-side tests, bourbon’s somewhat rougher edges stood up better to the intense malt character than did Scotch whisky.
120/– (120 Schilling) Wee Heavy Recipe
ALL-GRAIN
Batch size: 5.25 gal (20 l) into fermentor
OG: 1.089
FG: 1.025
ABV: 8.5%
IBUs: 32
MALT/GRAIN BILL
16 lb (7.3 kg) Simpsons Golden Promise (1.8°L)
12 oz (340 g) Simpsons Medium Crystal Malt (55°L)
6 oz (170 g) Briess Victory Malt (28°L)
2 oz (57 g) Simpsons Extra Dark Crystal Malt (160°L)
2 oz (57 g) Crisp Roasted Barley (550°L)
2–4 oz (57–114 g) Simpsons Peated Malt (HIGHLY OPTIONAL)
EXTRACT OPTION
Replace the Golden Promise with 13 lb (5.9 kg) pale or Maris Otter liquid malt extract and use the crystal and roasted malts as specialty steeping grains.
HOPS SCHEDULE
1.75 oz (50 g) East Kent Goldings (4.7% AA) at 60 minutes
0.25 oz (7 g) East Kent Goldings (4.7 % AA) at 30 minutes
DIRECTIONS
Mash for 60 minutes at 152°F (67°). Boil for 1 to 2 hours, depending upon the degree of kettle caramelization you like. Ferment at 64°F (18°C) for 7–10 days and leave in the primary fermentor for up to a month before transferring to secondary. Allow to condition for three months or more.
Conditioning option: After primary fermentation, add 2 ounces (57 grams) of bourbon-soaked medium toast oak cubes to secondary and allow to condition for three months or more before packaging.
YEAST
White Labs WLP028 Edinburgh Ale or Wyeast 1728 Scottish Ale