Beer of the Week! 10/26/21

Einstök Ölgerð Icelandic Wee Heavy Scottish Ale

Regularly $10.99 / Now on Sale for $9.96
Wee Heavy Style Ale

We’ll be honest, when we first saw that the Icelandic brewery Einstök Ölgerð had a Wee Heavy style ale, we were surprised. We didn’t know what Icelandic beer would be like, but we didn’t think it would be a Scottish syle. Now, we feel stupid, because anyone with a better sense of geography would have expected Scottish-Icelandic cultural interactions.

Iceland is about 750 miles from Scotland. That’s roughly the distance from Charlottesville to Bangor, ME. It’s just that for ancient Icelanders that was 750 miles of the northern Atlantic in long boats, whereas for us it’s just a drive up I-95. Fortunately, when the head brewer of Einstök studied brewing in Scotland, he did not have to rely on longboats to go and bring back the tasty beer knowledge that he would tweak.

The Einstök Wee Heavy is a rich, smooth, Scottish style ale with deep caramel notes and spicy hops on the base. All of that is well done but pretty standard. Einstök makes its Wee Heavy its own by using smoked barley and Icelandic angelica root. Don’t go looking for a vegetable rauchbier, though. Those flavors are deeply woven into the whole package, adding a subtle complexity to a lovely, full-bodied brew.

Bonus Beer of the Week (‘Cause a bonus is so us!)

Crystal Coast Can O’ Joe

Regularly $15.99 / Now on Sale for $14.96
French Vanilla Coffee Blonde Ale

We’re all familiar with coffee stouts and even coffee porters, but Crystal Coast Brewing Company from Atlantic Beach, North Carolina goes blonde with the bean. Their Can O’ Joe is a light-bodied, easy to drink blonde ale with a delicate addition of coffee, vanilla, and hazelnut. Either one of those flavors could easily overwhelm the base ale, but Crystal Coast keeps them in check. Drinking this beer is like sitting in a café with your demitasse of coffee with cream and light shavings of hazelnut.

Remember!

You can see our entire beer inventory on Untappd.com!