Schlafly Beer released Single Malt Scottish Ale (ABV: 10.2% IBU: 25) as part of the From The Ibex Cellar Series. This beer completes the premium series, over a year and a half in the making, that launched this year.
The collection features six bold hand-crafted beers from the Ibex Cellar, the exclusive room beneath the historic Tap Room in downtown St. Louis. Previous releases this year included: Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout, Imperial Coffee Stout, Local Oak, Gooseberry Gose and Barrel-Aged Pumpkin Ale. The Single Malt Scottish Style Ale will be available starting this week.
Schlafly first brewed the beer for its 21st anniversary in 2012, but this “From The Ibex Cellar” release allowed the current Schlafly brewers to further define the flavor profile.
Head Brewer Jared Williamson explains, “The first time that we brewed this beer, it was pretty much carbonated scotch. We wanted to approach the project a little differently this time. We conducted a series of blending tests which was a combination of different ratios of the barrel-aged versus non-barrel aged. We all settled on the right blend that gives tons of those same peaty, smoky, phenolic characters but is also pleasing to the palate.”
The team’s single sourced barrels are from Ardbeg Distillery in Scotland, well-known for their high quality, 10-year old Scotch whisky. Upon arrival, the golden ale was put in the barrels almost immediately to capture as many peaty, smoky nuances as possible. While the batches slumbered for four months in the barrels, the team brewed two more batches of the beer to blend with its barrel-aged counterpart.