Nectar of the Gods in a Can

Jim Lundstrom

Old Chub Scotch Ale is a delicious beer. Old Chub Nitro Scotch Ale in the widgeted tallboy can is transformative, so creamy, smooth and very deep with sweet, dark malty flavors that the first sip took my breath away.

So many lovely flavors are tucked deep in the velvety darkness – luxurious chocolate tones, both dark chocolate and milk chocolate, maybe a little liquid devil’s food cake, a medium-roast coffee, a hint of smoky peat, and something like caramel, but, no, ah, there it is, butterscotch. …and, uhm, my glass is completely empty. Looks like I’ll have to grab another tallboy to continue.

There is a warning on the side of the can:  “Charged nitro widget may cause unchilled cans to overflow.” I can confirm that phenomenon. The first one I opened was grocery shelf temperature because I had just brought the four-pack home and was eager to dive in. A dollop spilled out when I cracked the top open. You can see the dollop from opening the room temperature first can in the accompanying photo. Not bad.

The remaining three tallboys went into the fridge close to two hours ago, and I’m about to open one of those now…yikes, this one exploded worse than the first. Not cold enough? I don’t know. But I do recall seeing old Westerns and crime movies where nitro was used, and it was always volatile, explosive.

Dark tones continue their parade across my palate with this slightly chilled Old Chub Nitro, but they seem a tad sharper and not as lingering as the room temperature Chubbie.

Both temperatures are full of powerful liquid juju, but I would not go much colder than an hour or two in the fridge.

Kudos to Oskar Blues Brewing of Longmont, Colo., for this sticky-lipped treat. My only complaint is that it comes in four-packs, and four never seems enough.