Bevel Craft Brewing Company’s Max Weight.

Among the indigenous beer styles of Scotland, none have captured American brewers’ imaginations more than the wee heavy. Also referred to as “Scotch ale,” it’s the strongest style originating from the country, often evoking imagery of strong, warming drinks to stave off the chill of Scottish winters.

Wee heavies are characterized by rich, caramel-sweet maltiness in both aroma and flavor, with low to no hop character except to balance the sweetness. The style traces its roots to the strong British ale tradition of the 1700s and 1800s, and it can be considered the Scottish version of an English barleywine.

Some American interpretations incorporate a smoked or peat-like character, though this is not authentic. Early American craft brewers, perhaps inspired by the peat-smoked malt whiskies of the Scottish Highlands, developed strong smoky Scotch ales that persist today. Examples of this style include Pike Kilt Lifter from Seattle’s Pike Brewing Company, and Old Chub from Oskar Blues Brewery of Colorado.

Bevel Craft Brewing Company recently released Max Weight, its own version of a wee heavy, albeit without the smoke. Bevel is largely known for its hop-forward beers, so I was curious to find out more about how this brew came about.

“This beer is certainly out of our wheelhouse but due to an interesting series of events it was born,” said Bevel’s owner and head brewer Nate Doss via email. “To start a great friend of ours had visited late summer and while visiting Bevel could not stop talking about his new favorite beer style, Scotch Ale. A few weeks later we really needed to decide on a beer for the 2020 Oregon Winter Take-Home Beer Festival run by Silver Moon.”

Doss suggested a Scotch Ale and “after some quick research we settled on the wee heavy.”

He gives much of the brewing credit to Mitch Girard, the brewery’s first employee and a former brewer from Redwood Curtain Brewing Company in Arcata, California. “(He) has been a great addition with all of his knowledge of many different types of beer. He really had great insights into the Wee Heavy and I can confidently say he made it better.”

I purchased a four-pack of Max Weight to review, and it struck me as an excellent and relatively authentic example of the style, presenting a deep amber color full of complex malty aroma notes. I found hints of dates, dried figs, rummy raisins, toffee, brown sugar, caramel, and graham cracker. There’s an element that reminded me of stroopwafel, the Dutch caramel-filled wafer cookie.

The flavor is full of rich and dark caramel character that’s lightly roasty, on the edge of burnt sugar. Leather, caramelized dates, and deeply toasted nuts, with a touch of molasses and an impression of caramel sticky buns round out the flavor. It’s hearty, richly sweet without being cloying, with a moderately warming alcohol note.

Since Bevel usually emphasizes hops, I asked if any accommodations were necessary to brew Max Weight. “Lucky the beer did not require us to change anything on the process side,” Doss said. “Beside the lack of large hop additions this beer made its way through our brewery without issue. It’s been a really fun project!”

Max Weight is 8% alcohol by volume, a moderate strength suitable for sipping and sharing over the holidays. In addition to being included in the Oregon Winter Take-Home Brewfest mixed cases available for pickup this weekend, it’s available to-go in cans, crowlers and growlers directly from Bevel.

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