Steve Stewart's Firth of Forth Ale is the 22nd release of the 100 Barrel Series from Harpoon. Its described by Harpoon as "an American twist on a traditional Scottish Ale". The label itself reads "The Combination of Scottish malts and American hops give this dark scotch style ale a malty, roasted character with caramel notes and a hint of chocolate." Its definitely intriguing and seeing how Steve owns and runs his own microbrewery over in Scotland, he must know his away around a Scottish ale, right?
The Firth pours a dark amber with defined reddish tones as well. The head is coffee colored, fluffy and swiftly disappears. The smell is strong malt with a slight floral hop bouquet. Its also got a bit of a syrupy smell to it as well. Nothing is too powerful in the nose despite the strong, rich color of this beer.
Tastes sweet but without the big malt taste my tongue was expecting. The American hops don't shine through either, which was slightly disappointing. Actually it doesn't have any complexity to it of any sort. It is only 5.4% so maybe that has something to do with it. As it warms a bit of the hops come out more as well as some more sweetness. For some reason the pint I had on tap was a lot better than this bottle. I am left wondering why that is. I say, dump some more malt and some more hops in the boil, up the ABV a bit and give me more bang for my buck...but that is just my opinion.
Firth of Forth gets its name from "Firth", or mouth, of the Scottish River Forth. To see a picture of the actual Firth of Forth go HERE!
Harpoon has done some great 100 Barrel beers, I think the Smoked Porter was one of my all time favorites from that brewery. The next release will be Old Rusty Red Rye Ale. I am looking forward to that one for sure.
BEER FACTS
Style: Scottish Ale
Brewery: Harpoon Brewery
Location: Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Container: 22 oz. bottle
Malts: "Scottish" - ?
Hops: Willamette
ABV: 5.4%
IBUs: 28
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