A beer is only as good as it’s name Angry Scotsman Brewing

A few years ago a Scotsman named Ross Harper made his way to Miami Florida for Grad school. As one does in College, sometimes you get a little drunk from time to time. One morning after such a night, Ross mentioned to his roommates that he had gotten a little pissed last night. For the uninitiated, in Scottish vernacular pissed means drunk. However, his roommates didn’t know this, so they just assumed he was an angry drunk, which couldn’t be further from the truth. Nonetheless, a nickname was born that led to a brand and the legend of the Angry Scotsman was created.

If a Scotsman says they are pissed, it means they are drunk, not angry.

To be clear there is nothing angry about Angry Scotsman Brewing unless you can’t handle strong beers. A trip to Angry Scotsman Brewing is a treat, with one of the best patios in OKC and a taproom with a Scottish Pub feel. It draws you in, gets you comfortable, and begs ya for just one more beer. This was the dream of Ross when he moved to Oklahoma and realized that there was a lack of two necessities. Good beer and pub culture. “Pubs back home, back in Scotland is all about that community space a little more.

comradery a little more socializing,” said Harper, “It was very important to me that when we designed this space and built this space out that we wanted it to feel comfortable so you could feel like a regular you could always be welcome whether it was your first visit ever or your first this week.”

Angry Scotsman makes the special releases and interesting ingredient beers, but really has a love for the old traditional styles that beer culture was built around. You will find European lagers and ales, old-school west coast IPAs, Belgian specialties, and other underrepresented styles. Angry Scotsman got its start as a homebrewer and doing collaborations with some of the biggest names in the Oklahoma beer scene like Pat Lively, now with his own brand, but then with Coop Ale Works. Ross also collaborated with Roughtail Brewing. In 2016 at the Oklahoma Craft Beer Festival, Angry Scotsman made its debut with a big banner saying coming in 2017. They did just that and launched into the Brewers Union with a couple of other legendary brewery brands, Elk Valley and Vanessa House. Finally, a year later opened their own taproom 704 W. Reno Ave. in OKC.

Angry Scotsman’s flagship Ale is a Scottish Ale named Rusty Kiltpin. This beer is a light beer for dark beer drinkers and a dark beer for light beer drinkers. It’s malty and rich without being too heavy sitting at 5.2%. This beer is packed with biscuity caramel and complex vanilla malt notes but finishes super clean. I could drink this beer any time of the year.

For those IPA fans out there, they have taken it old-school with a West Coast-style IPA called the Scotsman IPA. This IPA features Simcoe, Chinook, and Amarillo hops with pale and Vienna malts. You get aromas of pine and citrus that create a fantastic bitterness and clean finish. If you are feeling adventurous, you can always go for the Impulse IPA, this one is a Rotating series that changes from batch to batch and allows Angry Scotsman to play a little with different ingredients in order to create the perfect IPA.

In the beer world, few styles can match the history of the Belgian style. This happens to be one of my absolute favorite styles of beer and Angry Scotsman has nailed it with their Belgian Tripel rightfully named Fortitude. This beer is 9.8% so it’s not for the faint of heart or light beer fans. Fortitude is bold and combines the traditional fruity, yeast-derived esters with it’s distinctive warming alcohol presence. Beware, however, this beer is incredibly drinkable. If you aren’t careful, you will find yourself on a flight to Belgium because someone suggested you should learn to brew from Monks, and you thought it would be a good idea, because… beer.

If these aren’t calling your name, you will probably dig one of their other amazing beers. They really do have something for everyone and taking a tour de beer is always a great idea. Speaking of tours, have a flight or two and ask one of their awesome pub tenders to make some recommendations for you based on your preferences. As the weather warms, it’s a great opportunity to bring the pups and drink some amazing beer on this awesome patio.

What are Saturdays for if not for drinking?