On September 1, Innis & Gunn, Scotland’s second biggest craft brewer behind BrewDog will be releasing a beer that promises to be worth the wait…

Here’s the deal…

Founded in Edinburgh by Dougal Gunn Sharp in 2003, Innis & Gunn is most famous for a beer named The Original, a whiskey cask-aged beer like no other at the time. That breakthrough beer led to numerous successes, which explains why the brewery has become one of the most-awarded breweries in the world.

In 2019 the brand which was being contract brewed at Tennent’s Brewery in Glasgow since 2014, announced that it would be returning its production to the city where it all started and building a destination brewery in Edinburgh..

And now to celebrate its considerable history and return Edinburgh, the brewery is releasing a beer that was six years in the making – the oldest vintage ever released by the brewer.

Innis & Gunn Vintage is a 9% ABV deep red Strong Ale that began its journey back in 2015, and spent its first 100 days in American Bourbon casks. After that, the beer was bottled with live yeast and left to mature and develop for another six years.

Vintage is a very, very, limited release. The brewery is releasing just 1,000 bottles of the aged Strong Ale and they’re going for £25 ($34 US) a pop. The brew comes in a specially designed gift tube – the perfect present for an avid collector. And we guarantee you, this beer is going to become VERY collectable especially in the US.

So how’s it taste?

Master Brewer and founder Dougal Gunn Sharp poetically explains his Vintage experience this way…

“It starts with a champagne like aroma, which carries into the taste, but this soon dissipates as the beer opens up to give aromas and flavors of Christmas cake, ginger and dark treacle with hints of cocoa.”

“Wait five minutes more and licorice and caramel start to emerge on the palate alongside more of the bourbon, malt and vanilla notes we are best known for. At some point it will pass through a phase of smelling just like a good white Burgundy. Towards the end of the glass, orange marmalade, toasted butter and smooth espresso”.

Okay, so yeah, we’re in.

Innis & Gunn should feel free to send us a promotional bottle. We’ll hype it, (we already have). And we can only hope that it’s worth the six year wait.