Drop-In Brewing Co.
Dear Replicator,
When I tried Drop-In Brewing’s Heart of Lothian for the first time, I found exactly what I have been looking for in a malty beer. The Middlebury, Vermont brewery has created the perfectly balanced Scottish ale. The hops are definitely there but they marry the malt exquisitely and with the right amount of sweetness. The 5.6% ABV is the ideal place for this beer to land.
Drinking this beer definitely gave me some brewing goals. This is the beer that I’ve spent years trying to brew. My malty beers tend to be unbalanced; I can’t seem to get hoppiness, sweetness, and ABV to land at the right place. I would love to get some insight on how Drop-In does it.
Michael Burdick
Burlington, Vermont
Thanks for the request Michael! Although I’m sorry that your previous attempts have been less successful than you would’ve hoped. As you’ve found out, Scottish ales appear simple on the surface but are finely-tuned beers with multiple aspects in perfect harmony. Here’s to hoping this column sheds a wee bit of light on your and other’s endeavors.
One can’t mention Drop-In Brewing without uttering the name of Steve Parkes. That said, Drop-In is the culmination of Steve’s dreams. After graduating with a BSc in Brewing Science from the prestigious Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland, Steve became responsible for brewing, selling, and delivering cask-conditioned ale at Berrow Brewery in Somerset, England. He later honed his skills as a Head Brewer at several other breweries (Berrow, Tisbury, and Wiltshire) in Great Britain all the while crafting delicious cask ales. From this success, individuals noticed his proclivity for quality and he was subsequently pulled away to the United States in 1988. There, he partnered with two others to found the British Brewing Company in Baltimore, Maryland; the first microbrewery in Maryland since Prohibition. Steve remained Head Brewer there until 1992 when he departed for California.
Over the next 20 years, a common theme weaved its way through Steve’s career: An application of innovative techniques with a just-do-it attitude — systematize, but don’t cut quality. This resulted in the growth of the next several breweries where Steve took the helm such as Humboldt Brewing Company and Otter Creek Brewery. This earned him multiple Great American Beer Festival (GABF) awards and additional opportunities.
His knowledge and willingness to teach about brewing and its practices including molecular biology, biochemistry, chemical engineering, off-flavors, and food pairings is what really shines. After a single semester teaching at the American Brewers Guild in California, Steve was offered a full-time teaching position at this prestigious institute. He went on to become a lead instructor until 1999 at which point he was offered the chance to purchase the rights to the Guild. He did and has been the owner for 20 years now.
But why mention the American Brewers Guild in the first place? Simply put, its home location is now Drop-In Brewing Co. There, you can take classes such as “Beer Appreciation,” “Grain to Glass,” or “Lab Practices for the Small Brewery,” and even more importantly for many reading this, “Brewing Science for Advanced Homebrewers.” It is a 2-day, intensive course that incorporates “the nation’s only full-scale brewing facility dedicated to brewing education,” Drop-In Brewing Company.
Just like a phoenix, Drop-In Brewing did indeed rise from the proverbial ashes of an old plumbing supply company in Middlebury, Vermont. With Steve’s extensive knowledge, the task of rehabilitating the area into a brewhouse was as fluid as anyone can get with a remodeling project. The result was a Newlands 15-BBL brewhouse that turns out straight forward, approachable beers that still are innovative. They shipped their first beer in June 2012. Many of the beer names also use pop culture as inspiration like Red Dwarf (an American amber with the twist of a British sci-fi comedy), 6 Holes in My Freezer (a key lime pie beer that even Jimmy Buffett would approve of), and River Song (Doctor Who would do best to stay out of the shadows).
Drop-In Brewing brews several year-round offerings, one of which is the Heart of Lothian. It’s named for the city of Edinburgh, where Steve acquired his brewing degree and is also a song title from the band Marillion. In terms of style, the beer is considered a Scottish 90/- or wee heavy and uses, “Scottish Golden Promise barley malt, British floor-malted crystal, and chocolate malts, Fuggle and Kent Golding hops, and British yeast.” You’ll probably notice several unique attributes about the recipe included. First off, is the use of an English ale yeast, which at 68 °F (20 °C) will probably give you a bit of fruity esters. The other deviation from common practice for the series of modern Scottish ales is the hopping rate of 3 oz. per 5 gallons (85 g per 19 L) of beer. However, this provides a balancing counterpart to the malt and esters. And at 5.6% ABV, Heart of Lothian becomes very drinkable yet boasts loads of flavor and character.
Drop-In Brewing Co.’s Heart of Lothian clone
(5 gallons/19 L, all-grain)
OG = 1.055 FG = 1.012
IBU = 23 SRM = 22 ABV = 5.6%
Ingredients
9 lbs. (4.08 kg) Golden Promise malt
0.75 lb. (0.34 kg) crystal malt (70 °L)
0.75 lb. (0.34 kg) Simpsons DRC™ malt (110 °L)
0.75 lb. (0.34 kg) Weyermann Carafoam® malt
0.2 lb. (0.09 kg) English chocolate malt (450 °L)
3.7 AAU Fuggle hops (60 min.) (0.75 oz./21 g at 4.9% alpha acids)
3.5 AAU East Kent Golding hops (30 min.) (0.75 oz./21 g at 4.6% alpha acids)
6.9 AAU East Kent Golding hops (0 min.) (1.5 oz./43 g at 4.6% alpha acids)
Wyeast 1968 (London ESB Ale) or White Labs WLP002 (English Ale) or SafAle S-04 yeast
¾ cup corn sugar (if priming)
Step by Step
Mill the grains, then mix with 3.6 gallons (13.5 L) of 164 °F (73 °C) strike water to achieve a single infusion rest temperature of 149 °F (65 °C). Hold at this temperature for 60 minutes. Mashout to 170 °F (77 °C) if desired.
Vorlauf until your runnings are clear before directing them to your boil kettle. Batch or fly sparge the mash and run-off to obtain 6.5 gallons (25 L) of wort. Sparging for this beer takes 2 hours on scale but may be quicker at home. Boil for 60 minutes, adding hops at the times indicated above left in the boil. At 15 minutes left in boil, you may want to add either Irish moss or Whirlfloc as fining agents.
After the boil, add the whirlpool hops indicated and whirlpool for 15 minutes before rapidly chilling the wort to 66 °F (19 °C). Pitch yeast and aerate the wort. Maintain fermentation temperature of 68 °F (20 °C) for this beer.
Once primary fermentation is complete, and the beer has settled, bottle or keg the beer and carbonate to approximately 2.5 volumes.
Drop-In Brewing Co.’s Heart of Lothian clone
(5 gallons/19 L, extract with grains)
OG = 1.055 FG = 1.012
IBU = 23 SRM = 22 ABV = 5.6%
Ingredients
5 lbs. (2.27 kg) light dried malt extract
0.75 lb. (0.34 kg) crystal malt (70 °L)
0.75 lb. (0.34 kg) Simpsons DRC™ malt (110 °L)
0.75 lb. (0.34 kg) Weyermann Carafoam® malt
0.2 lb. (0.09 kg) English chocolate malt (450 °L)
3.7 AAU Fuggle hops (60 min.) (0.75 oz./21 g at 4.9% alpha acids)
3.5 AAU East Kent Golding hops (30 min.) (0.75 oz./21 g at 4.6% alpha acids)
6.9 AAU East Kent Golding hops (0 min.) (1.5 oz./43 g at 4.6% alpha acids)
Wyeast 1968 (London ESB Ale) or White Labs WLP002 (English Ale) or SafAle S-04 yeast
¾ cup corn sugar (if priming)
Step by Step
Bring 6.5 gallons (25 L) of water to roughly 150 °F (66 °C). Steep all the specialty malts 15 minutes before removing and draining. Add the extract, while stirring, before heating to a boil. Boil for 60 minutes, adding hops at the indicated times left in the boil. At 15 minutes left in boil, you may want to add either Irish moss or Whirlfloc as fining agents.
After the boil, add the whirlpool hops indicated and whirlpool for 15 minutes before rapidly chilling the wort to 66 °F (19 °C). Pitch yeast and aerate the wort. Maintain fermentation temperature of 68 °F (20 °C) for this beer.
Once primary fermentation is complete, and the beer has settled, bottle or keg the beer and carbonate to approximately 2.5 volumes.
Tips for Success:
First off, use high-quality, fresh ingredients with an emphasis on UK-based malts and hops if possible. Consider Crisp, Thomas Fawcett, and/or Simpsons as your maltsters of choice.
Next, focus on your fermentation. Ensure your pitch is appropriately sized and healthy; the easiest way is to either repitch yeast from a previous batch of beer or create a starter in whatever way you’re most comfortable. This yeast strain has been known to struggle to attenuate to this extent, so be sure to provide an ideal environment with proper temperature control to ensure a strong fermentation.
Finally, focus on water chemistry for a malt-forward beer. To this end, ensure you have at least 40 ppm of calcium in the brewing water but more importantly your ratio of chloride-to-sulfate should be in the range of 1:1 to 2:1. With great base ingredients that are well-attenuated and flavored appropriately with the right amount of ions, you should have no trouble brewing an amazing Scottish 90/-.
