Three Floyds Robert the Bruce

After a long day of working through editing a song I'm mixing at work, my ears are tired, my head is in a fog, and I've probably gone at least slightly insane from listening to the same musical phrases over and over again. I don't do editing this in-depth normally, but this project really calls for it. Needless to say, my reward for a particularly long and annoying day is treating myself to a rather special beer. This is one of the beers I received from a guy in Indiana as part of a Beer It Forward on Beer Advocate.

Not being much of a history buff, I know Robert the Bruce mostly as that slightly wimpy future king of Scotland from Braveheart. This offering from Three Floyds is expectedly a Scottish Ale, and promises to be malt-forward, sweet, and fairly easy to drink.

As one could imagine, the aroma is decidedly malty, with very present caramel and fruit scents. At first I believe I detected caramel, apple, raisin, bread, possibly fig, and a mix of other less distinguishable additions blending together to make a complex and fairly forward blend. It has a deep brown color with hints of ruby around the glass, and a thin off-white head of about one finger that dissipated to a dusting within minutes.

The flavors of the beer match the nose. A round sweetness is present up front, developing into a smooth caramel explosion. In the back of the mouth the fruit flavors become more pronounced, with a slightly apple-like finish. There's a decent amount of substance to the beer as well, with the flavors coming through strongly. The hops are mostly muted, with just a touch of bitterness in the back of the mouth that you almost have to concentrate on to detect. The malt flavors linger for minutes after swallowing as well, allowing you to continue enjoying the brew between sips.

The beer is well carbonated, with just a slightly forward prickling sensation, and a body that's on the heavier side of medium. It coats the mouth thoroughly, and leaves just a touch of warmth as it goes down.

This beer really hit the spot for me today, and allowed me to unwind as I drank it. Something about the blend of malty flavors and smoothness just made it easy to relax. As I continued through the glass, I felt like I was noticing a bit of an alcohol flavor right when swallowing that could have been hidden a bit better, but overall it was very easy to drink. I don't know that this is something I would want most days, but it was certainly worth having once.

- Adam