Style: Scottish Light

All Styles

Style Profile based on 135 recipes

BU:GU

0.29

Hops

2.8 g/L

Mash pH

5.51

Style Guidelines BJCP 2015 Beer

1.03 1.035

1.05

1.01 1.013

1.013

IBU

10 20

ABV

2.5% 3.2%

4.9%

SRM

17 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. Traditionally the darkest of the Scottish ales, sometimes nearly black but lacking any burnt, overtly roasted character. Style Comparison: Similar character to a Wee Heavy, but much smaller. Similar in color to a Dark Mild, but a little weaker in strength.

Examples: McEwan's 60

Typical Grain Bill

78% Pale
8% Toast
6% Pilsner
5% Crystal

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

Common Additions

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

Hop Usage by Addition Type

g/L · median with IQR range

Bittering

0.38 g/L 1.37 g/L

0.9 g/L

Flavour

0.22 g/L 0.69 g/L

0.34 g/L

Aroma

0.25 g/L 1.37 g/L

0.45 g/L

Whirlpool

0.31 g/L 0.74 g/L

0.6 g/L

Common Hops

% of Scottish Light recipes using each hop

Common Fermentables

Colour = malt category · bar = % of recipes

Common Yeasts

% of Scottish Light recipes using each strain

Typical Water Profile

Ca²⁺ 80 ppm

Mg²⁺ 5 ppm

Na⁺ 20 ppm

Cl⁻ 52 ppm

SO₄²⁻ 80 ppm

HCO₃⁻ 100 ppm

median across recipes with a declared water profile

Similar Styles

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

Irish Red Ale

British Brown Ale

English Porter

Scottish Export

Sweet Stout

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