Beer of the Week Blog, Part 1
By Jonathan Fitzgerald • Jul 10th, 2009 • Category: Arts, Blog
I was in Edinburgh, Scotland for a little less than 12 hours, around this time seven years ago. I was with some friends that I had made while studying abroad in Nairobi, Kenya, and we decided to put off returning home by spending a week traveling around the United Kingdom. I’m not sure why we didn’t go to Ireland. That’s where I really wanted to be, to see where my people come from, as it were. Maybe it was too expensive, maybe we were feeling romantic about taking the train all over the United Kingdom. I’m not sure what it was really, but there we were, in Edinburgh for one day.
I only remember a few things about our short time there. I remember visiting some big castle, and riding around on one of those tour buses that you can “hop on, hop off,” both of which we did frequently. I remember there was a Star Wars exhibition at the museum that we were too cheap to go to. I remember we sang and hummed a lot of Belle and Sebastian songs, and finally — and most relevantly — I remember the ale.
Since that brief stay in Scotland I have always had a place in my heart for Scottish ales, most apparent in my affinity for Belhaven. But Scottish ales don’t necessarily have to come from Scotland. Long Trail, one of my favorite brands, makes a fine seasonal beer called “Hibernator,” which classifies as a Scottish ale. Brooklyn Brewery’s “Winter Ale” is also often described as a Scottish ale. Generally the term refers to pale ales with more malt flavor than hops. This typically manifests itself in a smooth taste, as opposed to the pleasantly bitter taste of many English ales or India Pale Ales.
It is with Scotland on the brain that I chose my first beer for this new “Beer of the Week Blog” series inspired by the opening of the Zeppelin Hall Restaurant and Biergarten. Tennent’s Scottish Ale is a true Scottish ale, both in taste and by heritage as it is brewed in Scotland by the famous (in the UK) Tennent Caledonian Breweries.
Tennent brews a number of beers, their lager being the most popular in Scotland and elsewhere. The Scottish Ale (in some places called “Scotch Ale”) is an export-only label with a 9.0 percent alcohol by volume ratio. It definitely met my expectation of a Scottish ale, on the lighter side, malty, but with the welcome addition of a hint of fruitiness. It was not heavy at all, meaning the half-liter mug that Zeppelin Hall offers went down quickly and easily, leaving plenty of time to help my wife finish hers.
I’m not sure I’d rush to order Tennent’s again — I prefer my ale a bit more hoppy — but it did satisfy that taste of Scotland I was looking for. Too bad Zeppelin Hall doesn’t serve haggis, but I guess with all the varieties of sausage they offer, I really shouldn’t complain.
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Jonathan Fitzgerald is a writer and educator living in Jersey City with his wife Stephanie, a painter. He teaches composition at New Jersey City University and works as a Writing Center Specialist at Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken. He is the managing editor of www.patrolmag.com.
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