beer's done!

i tried the beer. it's supposed to be "smoked scottish ale" but compared to the other smoked beer i had once upon a time, it's not very smokey.

for that matter, it's not very scottish either: it tasted to me much more like belgian than scottish.

it was well carbonated but didn't hold much of a head. no disgusting off-flavors or freaky aftertastes. it was deep and malty and not hoppy at all. i'd say that compared to a good belgian trappist ale it was a little bland, but compared to a boring pyramid hefe (for example) it was pretty good.

we weren't able to take final gravity readings and our OG readings were probably off anyhow. so i don't know the ABV but I'd guess it's in the range of 5-8%, according to the st-toad-o-meter.

all in all, a rather pleasant first experience: it worked out despite some minor glitches, and left plenty of room for improvement.

neat.