Scottish Beer

The main thing to remember with Scottish beer (Ale) is that Scottland, having a cool climate, is not and ideal place for growing hops, the bittering/preserving agent of choice for beer. As a result of this, hops are limited so Scottish Ale is usually very malty (the taste of the unfermented sugars is more pronounced) and having poor head retention (picture in your mind something with the consisency of syrup trying to foam up). Bittering agents have been used, however, one of them being heather,a local plant. Scottish beers are usually strong, usually in the neighborhood of 5% by volume.

Scotch Ale is different and I don't know enough about it to write about it, so look somewhere else and edit my post.