So, dear reader, you may already be asking yourself the following: Is it Scottish ale or Scotch ale? What's the difference? Good question... Scottish ale represents a range of top-fer-mented beers that has its origins in Scotland. These beers are primarily classified by their original gravity and alcohol concentration. From light to strong, they possess original gravities roughly corresponding to 8°P, 10°P, 12 °P and 20 °P. The highest gravity beers, which were simply known as strong ale, or more colloquially by the wry moniker wee heavy, came to be known as Scotch ale in England in the 18th century. The beer is obviously heavy with regard to its gravity, so that much of the name is clear. The "wee" seems to have been tacked on at the front, because bottled strong ale was available in nips, that is, in small bottles with a volume of one-third of an Imperial pint. The beer was rarely served from hand pull. Scotch ale reached its zenith in the late 19 th and early 20th centuries, and given the interest in bygone beer styles among craft brewers, some historical information - not necessarily reflected in the modern view of Scotch ale -has been included below.
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