Cogstone Brewing's Wee Heavy: A Soldier in the Wee Heavy Revolution!

I couldn’t resist trying out the wee heavy at Cogstone, especially since I’ve reviewed the style at Lost Friend Brewery, and I'm a big fan of this type of Scottish ale. This wee heavy has a nice sweet taste, with very slight toastiness (very slight). I’m really liking the sweetness, however, so I can forgive the lack of smokey, toasty flavors that usually come with the wee heavy style. It’s boozy, that’s for sure. At 10% ABV it comes in a 10oz glass, but more than one (especially after my West Coast IPA) might not be a good idea…unless I want to stick around for karaoke.

This beer, although not staying strictly true to the wee heavy style, has a great taste of molasses. That might not be what the brewer was going for, but I think it’s a really good taste. It’s sticky sweet and it’ll warm you up on a cold February night, like tonight. To be honest, I’d drink this one on a warm summer’s day as well…I don’t really stick to the seasonal drinking rules, because I’m not insane.

Interestingly, as I was sitting at the bar, I overheard a costumer who had just ordered a wee heavy (yes, I evesdrop, so sue me). He came into Cogstone to specifically try out their wee heavy. He had tried one for the first time in a taproom downtown (Oskar Blues, I believe) and loved it. Apparently, he went up the road to Lost Friend which has a wee heavy on their flagship list (see my review of that one), but they were fresh out. This tells me something that I like to hear: Wee heavies are in demand! Let’s hope other breweries ditch the hazy IPAs and start putting something substantial on their menus—sorry, hazy lovers, me and my fellow wee heavy drinker at Cogstone could be the start of a new beer drinkers’ revolt! Once we’re done, hazy IPAs will join Zima in the annals of forgotten beverages. But I digress.

The wee heavy at Cogstone is a nice, somewhat sweet, treat of a beer. I’ll certainly return for one or two more.