Beer Style: English and Scottish Strong Ale
All Together Ale
This is the classic method for brewing barleywines — of an extended three-hour boil to reach the extremely high-gravity wort that will go into the fermenter. Note that the final beer will reduce from 6 gallons (23 L) at the start of the boil to 3.3 gallons (12.5 L) going into the fermenter (and around 3 gallons/11 L to be packaged).
Old Ale
Old ale is a style that is difficult to define given how many variations there are. Gordon Strong does his best to offer some guidelines around what it is and how to brew an old ale worthy of aging.
Gordon Strong’s Old Ale
This old ale recipe can be drank young, but may be best if cellared for 6+ months.
Gale’s Prize Old Ale clone
A clone recipe for the famed Gale’s Prize Old Ale brewed in 2022 at Dark Star Brewing Co.
Old Cthulhiar (a.k.a. Very Old And Very Peculiar)
(5 gallons/19 L, all-grain)OG = 1.078 FG = 1.017IBU = 41 SRM = 32 ABV = 7.8% Ingredients13 lbs. (5.9 kg) British pale ale malt8.0 oz. (0.23 kg) crystal malt (60 °L)2.0
Greg Noonan Memorial Wee Heavy
(5 gallons/19 L, all-grain)OG = 1.083 FG = 1.019IBU = 29 SRM = 20 ABV = 8.3% Ingredients13.75 lbs. (6.2 kg) Maris Otter malt0.75 lbs. (0.34 kg) Carapils® malt0.25 lbs. (0.11) roast
Dogfish Head Craft Brewery’s Burton Baton clone
Mark Sarfarik, Dogfish Head’s Brewmaster, provided us with all the juicy details about this beer. “Burton Baton is a 10% ABV imperial IPA that is a blend of 90 Minute IPA with an English old ale that is aged in our 10,000-gallon (380-hL) oak foeders. Since most people don’t have the ability to wood-age beers at home, this recipe is more of a composite of the two threads.”
Drop-In Brewing Co.’s Heart of Lothian clone
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.”
Strong Scotch Ale
Strong Scotch Ale (5 gallons/19 L, all-grain)OG = 1.074 FG = 1.020IBU = 27 SRM = 19 ABV = 7.1% Ingredients15 lbs. (6.8 kg) Golden Promise malt5 oz. (142 g) debittered black
Cromarty Brewing Co.’s Pibroch Wee Heavy clone
Cromarty Brewing Co.’s Pibroch Wee Heavy clone (5 gallons/19 L, all-grain)OG = 1.072 FG = 1.018IBU = 20 SRM = 20 ABV = 7.2% This wee heavy showcases a complex malt backbone
Dead End Brew Machine’s Curtis the Destroyer clone
Dead End Brew Machine’s Curtis the Destroyer clone (5 gallons/19 L, all-grain)OG = 1.106 FG = 1.033IBU = 55 SRM = 14 ABV = 9.6% This big barleywine is boiled for two and
Big Ben Barleywine
Big Ben Barleywine (3.3 gallons/12.5 L, all-grain)OG = 1.109 FG = 1.030IBU = 80+ SRM = 10 ABV = 10.5% Ingredients15 lbs. (6.8 kg) Maris Otter pale malt29 AAU Target hops (90
