Wee Heavy

WEE HEAVY

Scotland is a land of rolling hills and lush valleys. Industry and poetry. Warriors and folklore. Sea monsters run with fairies and kings in the tales created untold generations ago. These days the stories of yore are spread from one generation to the next over pints at pubs, or snorts of whiskey on the moors. Beer has been made in Scotland for 5000 years. Archaeological evidence from the barbarian era suggests that fermented grains, along with mead and herbal wine, were stored in clay vessels, and consumed from carved horns. 

Now, we all want to drink from a horn like a Pict warrior, but most of us will settle for a clean glass and a dim tavern. Luckily for us, our brewing standards and technologies have far surpassed the wildest dreams of those early clans, and as people started becoming more agrarian and less nomadic, taverns, brew houses, and distilleries popped up across Scotland. 

Early beers were made by Alewives, women brewers who controlled much of the non-Monastic brewing throughout Europe. They incorporated wild heather, myrtle, and herbal mixtures called gruit to flavor their beers, and much of the physical brewing was done in the home. Men were out hunting, warring, and building, leaving the women to hone their brewing skills. Hops were rarely used at the time, as they were not a native crop. If they were used, it was usually by a professional level brewer in an urban environment (or what they would consider urban at the time) who imported them from continental Europe where hops grew in abundance. 

As late as 1509, women ruled the Scottish brewing industry. Of the 150 registered brewers in Aberdeen at the time, every single one of them was a woman. It wasn't until later, the era called The Reformation, when the demographics of brewing changed forever. As urban centers became more condensed, religious and legal changes relegated women to the home, and almost every job, regardless of tradition or training, especially in industrial and commercial venues, became populated almost entirely by men. 

As the centuries progressed, Scotland became a great power in alcohol creation. Smoking peat in the kilning fires created a distinct flavor profile that made their whiskey renowned and uniquely Scottish. Distilleries overtook breweries as the most famous beverage from the region, and across the British Isles Whisky, Scotch, and Gin matched wine as the preferred libation of the upper classes. Beer was the drink of the workers, the people who made it enjoyed it, and eventually beer would regain some of the popularity it had lost to stronger spirits.

Scottish beer saw a boom in the early 18th century.There was no malt tax in Scotland as there was in England and Ireland at the time, so the breweries in Edinburgh, including Bellhaven, who is still in production to this day, became some of the biggest in the world. Edinburgh's hard water proved to be especially adept for brewing pale ales, and much of the beer made was exported to British colonies across the globe. The American colonies liked it because, as hops had since been introduced to Britain, the beers were more bitter than the American versions, an early signal of the hop fanaticism seen in the U.S. today. 

Scotland didn't label their beers with fancy names. They instead developed a Shilling System to distinguish between styles, with the stronger beers being more expensive. The prices was determined by how much each beer cost per hogshead brewed (a hogshead is equivalent to 54 gallons of beer in standard measurements). The smaller beers with lower alcohol content were called 60/. (/. is the symbolic representation of Shilling) and the number grew by 10 for every level of beer.

The strongest, or heaviest, was called Wee Heavy. Wee Heavy were generally over 6% ABV and could creep up towards 10% if a brewer had a good fermentation. It's obvious why they were called heavy, as the beers were bigger, darker, and bolder than their pale counterparts. The "Wee" comes from their serving vessel. Smaller beers were drank throughout the day instead of water in some cased because the water was too dangerous and beer was the safer choice. Wee Heavy being the strongest, they were sold in small bottles called nips, therefore the customer would only buy a wee amount at one time. Scotland is a wonderfully poetic country.

Wee Heavys are big, malty, and sweet. Often smoky, Wee Heavy is also called "Whiskey Beer:" in France due to the use of smoked malt. In modern times, American versions of the Wee Heavy are smokier than the traditional versions still made in Scotland. Wee Heavys are a medium caramel to dark brown in color, with sweet flavors of toffee, raisin, and plum to accent the malt backbone. Lightly hopped, the Wee Heavy is reminiscent of the German Dopplebock, and like its Bavarian cousin, the Wee Heavy is designed to be drank at warmer temperatures, ideally between 50-55℉. There is a noticeable alcohol presence in most heavy beers, and the Wee Heavy is no exception, and even though this boozy brew is strong, it is quite perfect for a cold Winter's night next to a fire.

OUR RECIPE

16 lbs 2-row Pale Ale Malt

1 lb Munich Malt

1/2 lb Smoked Malt

1/4 lb Roasted Barley

2 oz East Kent Goldings Hops

WLP-028 Edinburgh Ale Yeast with 1 liter starter

1 tsp Irish Moss

Malts We Use

2-Row Pale Ale Malt: A basic base malt, this won’t impart too much color and very little flavor. It is a pretty clean, crisp malt that works well with specialty grains and pretty much any style of beer. American varieties are generally less starchy and lighter than English breeds.

Munich Malt: Versatile and flavorful, Munich malt can be sued as a base or specialty addition to your grist. Typically used in German festbiers, Munich malt represents several sub-styles ranging from mild base malts to more kilned, aromatic malts that add rich colors and flavors to any beer.

Smoked Malt: A highly specialized malt style, any smoked malt, whether peat, cherry wood, oak, or beech wood, will add smoky aromatics and flavors to a beer. These should be used with caution as they can easily overpower a lighter beer and extract campfire characteristics that can be unwelcome in certain brews. 

Roasted Barley: A classic dark malt, roasted barley adds rich dark hues with highlights of magenta and red to stouts and porters. It is heavy on the roast flavor and gives a fresh coffee aromatic characteristic in beer. Roasted barley is among the only widely used specialty grains that are unmalted.

Hops we Use

East Kent Goldings: An English hop variety from the 18^th century, this traditionally aromatic British hop is widely used across all styles of homebrewed beer. Slightly sweet, earthy, and floral, East Kent Goldings are generally considered to be the quintessential English hops.

Yeast We Use

WLP-028 Edinburgh Ale Yeast: Specifically designed for Scottish style beers, WLP-028 highlights malt while minimizing esters. 

Irish Moss: We use Irish Moss as a clarifying agent. These negatively charged seaweed particles attract proteins and other free radicals in your boil kettle and drag them to the bottom once cooled, thereby removing haze from your final product. Whirlfloc tablets are another option for this process. Regardless of your preferred methods of clarity, it is important that beers of this style are clear. Lagering can do this as well, but most home brewers don't have that capability, so adding Irish Moss (or something similar) can work wonders for cleaning up the beer.