Beer of the Week – St Andrews Eighty Bob

Time to round out the week with another suggestion of one of Scotland’s great unsung beers that you should sample (if you haven’t already). Each and every Friday this year I’ll be taking a look at a specific bottled beer you can get hold of and yet has somehow flown under the radar. For the sixteenth in the series of fifty-two the spotlight swings towards St Andrews, and a brewery there taking a shot at one of Scotland’s classic styles.

2012 was a great year for Scottish brewing with a number of new facilities opening, and one of those popped up in Glenrothes but with an eye to parts east. The St Andrews Brewing Co arrived then and after things fell into place eventually relocated to the town that bore their name. Started by Bob Phaff the brewery has since gone from strength to strength despite remaining relatively small-scale; their brewery tap in the centre of St Andrews is a testament to that. All their beers are good, but their 80/- is one at the very top of the list.

16. Eighty Bob (4.8%)
St Andrews Brewing Company, St Andrews
Style: Eighty Shilling/Brown Ale
500 ml bottle

Pick it up here:
At St Andrews Brewing’s online shop (as individual 500ml bottles)

First thing’s first – this is their interpretation of a shilling beer (hence the brown ale designation) with Crystal and Munich Malts, Rye and other grains added into the mix. But these provide such a baseline to the beer – a sweet toffee, digestive biscuit and caramel edge that really work with the Target, Challenger and Chinook hops. It’s not often the last of these takes a back seat to a malt bill but that’s exactly the case here – a faint citrusy hum appears but this beer is a celebration of barley and is a near-perfect indication of its role in a balanced, hugely tasty beer. It is fantastic.

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
13. Kelburn Dark Moor
14. Alechemy 5ive Sisters
15. Loch Ness Light Ness