Style: Scottish Heavy

All Styles

Style Profile based on 202 recipes

BU:GU

0.29

Hops

2.9 g/L

Mash pH

5.51

Style Guidelines BJCP 2015 Beer

1.035 1.04

1.066

1.01 1.015

1.017

IBU

10 20

ABV

3.2% 3.9%

6.5%

SRM

13 22

Description

A malt-focused, generally caramelly beer with perhaps a few esters and occasionally a butterscotch aftertaste. Hops only to balance and support the malt. The malt character can range from dry and grainy to rich, toasty, and caramelly, but is never roasty and especially never has a peat smoke character. Style Comparison: Similar character to a Wee Heavy, but much smaller.

Examples: Broughton Greenmantle Ale, Caledonia Smooth, McEwan's 70, Orkney Raven Ale, Tennent’s Special Ale

Typical Grain Bill

77% Pale
9% Crystal
6% Pilsner
6% Toast

% of total grain weight across all recipes · sums to ~100%

Common Additions

% of Scottish Heavy recipes using each malt category (addition % in brackets)

Hop Usage by Addition Type

g/L · median with IQR range

Bittering

0.69 g/L 2 g/L

1.37 g/L

Flavour

0.44 g/L 1.37 g/L

0.69 g/L

Aroma

0.29 g/L 1.22 g/L

0.63 g/L

Whirlpool

0.56 g/L 0.74 g/L

0.66 g/L

Common Hops

% of Scottish Heavy recipes using each hop

Dry-Hop Rate by Year

g/L · median with IQR range

2019

0.53 g/L 0.53 g/L

0.53 g/L

2020

0 g/L 0 g/L

0 g/L

2023

0 g/L 0 g/L

0 g/L

2024

0 g/L 0 g/L

0 g/L

dated Scottish Heavy recipes with at least one dry-hop addition

Common Fermentables

Colour = malt category · bar = % of recipes

Common Yeasts

% of Scottish Heavy recipes using each strain

Mash Profile

86% Single Infusion
14% Step Mash
0% Decoction

36 recipes with mash data

Typical Water Profile

100 ppm Ca²⁺
18 ppm Mg²⁺
20 ppm Na⁺
45 ppm Cl⁻
105 ppm SO₄²⁻
235 ppm HCO₃⁻

median across recipes with a declared water profile

Similar Styles

Ranked by similarity across OG, IBU, ABV, hop rate, and grist composition.

Scottish Export

Autumn Seasonal Beer

British Brown Ale

English Porter

Winter Seasonal Beer

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