Beer of the Week – Kelburn Dark Moor
It’s Friday once again so that can only mean one thing – the push towards #beeroclock and the start of another weekend. But it also means that it’s time for another in my series of the unsung heroes of Scottish beer. At the end of each working week this year I’ll be taking a look at a single beer that deserves a place in your immediate future, and for the thirteenth instalment of my Beers of the Week the item on the agenda is a dark ale from the west of the country.
This particular beer is one that questions the adjective ‘unsung’ slightly, as it was awarded Champion Beer of Scotland as recently as 2014. But I’m approaching this from the point of view of beers that may not be automatic inclusions in your beery shopping trip, whether they have certificates in their past or not. It is a very specific beer style that we do so well north of the border – the dark, fruity but session-strength old ale. A more vibrant take on bitter, these beers are shining lights of the Scottish brewing scene, and Kelburn Dark Moor is a fantastic example.
13. Dark Moor (4.5%)
Kelburn Brewing Co, Barrhead, East Renfrewshire
Style: Old Ale
500 ml bottle
Few beers look as immediately inviting as Dark Moor, sitting there with a deep ruby sheen in the glass. For a beer that arrives under 5% ABV it has a similarly impressive depth of flavour with a couple of competing elements present right from the off. The roasty bitterness joins forces with dark stone fruit and both lead into a dry, slightly chocolately ashy finish. Dark Moor has a supreme balance about it, one that keeps you coming back for more. Germany, Belgium and England may make truly impressive dark beers but here in Scotland we can put the very best out there as well.
Pick it up here:
At Kelburn’s online shop (as 5L minicask or 10L/20L polypins)
At Scottish Real Ales (as individual 500ml bottles)
Beer of the Week Series:
1. Fyne Ales Highlander
2. Swannay Old Norway
3. Broughton Old Jock
4. Traquair House Ale
5. Tempest Easy Livin Pils
6. Cromarty Brewed Awakening
7. Fallen Chew Chew
8. Black Isle Hibernator
9. Isle of Skye Red
10. Harviestoun Old Engine Oil Engineer’s Reserve
11. Orkney Skull Splitter
12. Windswept Wolf
