Black Douglas Ale

Well once again I'm going to my ancestral well for another great brew to write about. This is my personal favorite from the selection of Broughton Beers out of Broughton on the Scottish/English borderlands. Typically all their beers have some cultural and historical name, and illustration. A quick history note Black Douglas is a revered knight who fought in the Scottish Wars of independence(for historically challenged that thing Braveheart is all about). Anyways he was a great fighter and friend of King Robert Bruce I, and carried his heart into crusade as was wished on his deathbed. The beer label will actually give you that little cliff note. So how does this beer stack up against the image of such a badass historical firgure? Pretty well actually, your first hints are that this is going to be a full-bodied beer with a lot of heft. Visually it looks more like a stout or porter, which is what you may prepare yourself for. This would be a mistake, because this is actually lighter, and extremely drinkable in just about any circumstance. As with most beers out of the UK it has a wonderful frothy finish to it as well. The smell is actually a wonderful roasted aroma sticking out, when I smell it I kind of get a little hint of nut, floral, and malt smells from it as well. It's nothing like a Scotch ale though in terms of flavor, this beer is completely different beast as it is not the uber-malt those ales attempt to be. Like I said this beer is pretty much drinkable to the entire spectrum. It has a nice light roasted taste about it, with just the right amount of heft to it so that it's nothing like a stout or a porter. I've had other ruby ales before, but officially this one is slated as a dark ruby by Broughton Beers. I believe the difference in this beer though, is that this beer doesn't really let on any real hop sense to it. Other ruby ales I've had still have a faint hop taste, but this one just has the enjoyable roasted grain taste executed perfectly. Keeping in step the alcohol percentage isn't astronomical either stepping in at 5.6%. While the beer mostly applies to the historical badass in mostly just the name I imagine, Douglas seems like the hearty kind of fella that one mind kicking back a barrel or two of this. Well sit back an enjoy a highly drinkable beer that fits right in the middle of the spectrum, with a little history to boot, after all in the immortal words of NBC "The More You Know"