Cigar City Brewing- Big Sound Scotch Ale: TGBOAT Tasting (Part 2)
Saturday, September 24, 2011 at 12:29PM | by Jason 
Aside from the gathering of the TGBOAT crew and good friends for some Craft Beer sampling, I fired up my first batch of chili of the season. Nothing too crazy or spicy but I have to say that for the first batch, it turned out just right. In addition to the chili, we also busted out some cheesecake from Steve Buresh’s Cheesecake Store…his Espresso Cheesecake is heavenly and pairs well with the darker brews. Ok, so back to the beer. I had made sure that I had a pitcher of water and glasses to have between each beer and because I am uber picky I made sure that I rinsed the tasting glasses between each beer as well. After thoroughly enjoying Cigar City’s Humidor IPA, I decided next to pull out their Big Sound Scotch Ale. To be honest, I am not a fan of Scotch Ales but I knew that Rafael, Steve and Melissa enjoy them so I decided it would be next. Plus I’m always told to broaden my Craft Beer horizons, which I try to do but I just seem to gravitate to either super hoppy beers or roasty porters and stouts. I’m going to give this one an honest try and see what happens.
Cigar City Brewing classifies this brew as a Scotch Ale and their website describes Big Sound Scotch Ale as, “Big Sound Scotch Ale is dedicated to our good buddy Gino, the most Punk Rock Bagpiper you will ever meet, and the rest of the men and women of the Tampa Bay Pipes and Drums. Brown in color, Big Sound has huge notes of dark sweet toffee with underlying mild notes of coffee in the aroma. The flavor starts with a slight note of cherry and then opens into a goliath of malt character with notes of dark sweet toffee, coffee and mild notes of toasted bread in the finish. Big Sound Scotch Ale pairs well with Haggis, Highland Games, Huge Heads, Enormous pillows and of course Bagpipe Music.”
Big Sound Scotch Ale pours a cherry coke color with a beige head. The aroma smelled like black cherry jam on toast with hints of dark fruit (prune/plumb) and faint scents of toffee.
While Big Sound Scotch Ale is not bad, it’s just not my cup of tea. It’s just too malty sweet for my taste. The flavor was malty, tastes of brown sugar, black cherry and dark fruit. The body was heavier than I am use to but I have to say that the 8.5% ABV was well hidden in the flavor. The carbonation was also on the lower side but from what I understand, it’s a characteristic of the style. Big Sound Scotch Ale is a solid brew but just not one that I would seek out again. That being said, if you are a fan of the more malty brews I am sure that this one might just blow your mind.
ABV: 8.5%
Glass: Midwest Brewers Fest Sampler Glass
Verdict: Buy A Six Pack
