Beer Styles

What is a Wee Heavy? A strong Scottish ale, dark to copper-colored, sweet and malty, with caramel, toffee, and sometimes a whisper of smoke. The name roughly means "little heavy one" and comes from Scots dialect. Skye's Cuillin Beast, a Scotch Ale or Wee Heavy, was named CAMRA's Champion Beer of Scotland in 2011.

How does a Scottish Heavy differ? It's the slim sibling: low alcohol, low starting gravity, malty and gentle, with barely any hops. The robust Wee Heavys, by contrast, pack roughly double the alcohol. Both belong to the ale family and use top-fermenting yeast. The difference, then, isn't in the fermentation but in the strength of the wort: the more malt in the kettle, the more powerful the Wee Heavy becomes.

What separates both from English bitter is the hop quantity. A Best Bitter sits at 25 to 40 IBU, a Scottish Heavy at 10 to 20. The Scot therefore tastes sweeter, rounder, and more bread-like, while the Englishman comes across drier and earthier.

Heather beer, by contrast, resists being squeezed into any norm. The BJCP guidelines list no dedicated style for it, so Fraoch's profile carries no figures either. What's meant is an ale brewed with heather that carries a scent of blossoms and honey. Alongside it come Black Cuillin from Skye, a dark ale with oats and heather honey, and Kelpie with seaweed.

None of the region's styles is a lager, and none carries a protected name. The profiles given here reflect the competition guidelines, not the recipe of any single brewery.