Style: Scottish Light

All Styles

Style Profile based on 139 recipes

BU:GU

0.30

Hops

2.7 g/L

Mash pH

5.51

Style Guidelines BJCP 2015 Beer
OG
1.03 1.035
1.05
FG
1.01 1.013
1.013
IBU
10 20
15
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

% 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
0.43 g/L 1.37 g/L
0.98 g/L
Flavour
0.28 g/L 0.69 g/L
0.45 g/L
Aroma
0.38 g/L 1.37 g/L
0.72 g/L
Whirlpool
0.4 g/L 0.69 g/L
0.6 g/L
Common Hops

% of Scottish Light recipes using each hop

Dry-Hop Rate by Year

g/L · median with IQR range

2020
0 g/L 0 g/L
0 g/L
2024
0 g/L 0 g/L
0 g/L

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

Mash Profile
  • 95% Single Infusion
  • 5% Step Mash
  • 0% Decoction

22 recipes with mash data

Typical Water Profile
  • 80 ppm Ca²⁺
  • 5 ppm Mg²⁺
  • 20 ppm Na⁺
  • 55 ppm Cl⁻
  • 80 ppm SO₄²⁻
  • 160 ppm HCO₃⁻

median across recipes with a declared water profile

Similar Styles

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