Broughton Brewery Pure Jock

Broughton Brewery is an independent Scottish brewer with over 40 years of experience in the magic involved in introducing yeasts to malt and hops. It was founded in 1979 by David Younger, of the famous Edinburgh brewing family, and James Collins, on the site of a former abattoir in Broughton on the Scottish Borders. Over the four decades of their existence they have churned out numerous ales, lagers, stouts and other beers, winning a number of awards at various International Brewing Awards, Tesco Beer Challenges, SIBA Scotland Annual Competitions and International Beer Challenges. They could be called one of Scotland’s first microbreweries, and still take pride in crafting their beers ‘by hand’, even utilising malt milling equipment dating back over 60 years.

In common with most brewers in the UK, 2020 brought problems for Broughton Ales which culminated in them having to set up a crowdfunder initiative in order to ‘Save the Brewery’. Thankfully this was successful, and enabled the brewer to keep on brewing new beers. Also during 2020 the brewer received requests for alcohol-free beers, especially a dark and malty ale, which were few and far between at the time. Researching the style and existing breweries that produce it throughout the world, they started liaising with a brewer in French Guiana who worked with them on recipes. In mid-2020 the result, Pure Jock, was finalised, and released just in time for Sober October. I’m usually a fan of dark ales, but not of overly malty ones. And as Pure Jock has been influenced by an French Guianan brewery I’m wondering if we’ll be getting something akin to the famous Mighty Malt or Supermalt.

Pouring out the beer we get a lovely dark mahogany coloured liquid with some fridge haze. A decent bone-white coloured frothy head is produced, sticking around with us for at least the first few sips. The nose is heavy with malt and roasted grains, giving a deep sweetness to the aroma. There are also notes of dark fruit such as raisin and plum, but malt dominates.

On tasting we get very sweet malt up front, which remains very much at the fore throughout the drinking experience. However, a range of flavours develop, grow and mellow as we drink. Dark raisins return from the beer’s aroma, joined with smooth date, topped off with more caramel sweetness. Broughton Ales have used both Vienna and Crystal malts here, which I don’t think I’ve seen used together before, but it seems to work well producing a fruity malt loaf base. However it’s still far too sweet. The carbonation level is quite mild, and the mouthfeel is quite syrupy. We get a sweet sticky finish to the beer.

Broughton Brewery Pure Jock is really not a beer you could drink more than one of, unless you have a severe sweet tooth. It would have been interesting to see how much sugar is actually in this AF ale, but the nutritional information labelling is somewhat lacking. From the initial mouthful of Pure Jock I though I would end up hating it, but as the flavours blossomed throughout the length of the drink it’s grown on me. But again, it’s far too sweet, and there is no way this could become a regular drink for me.

Buy Broughton Brewery Pure Jock

Broughton Brewery’s beers are available at a number of supermarkets throughout Scotland, and also many bars in Glasgow and Edinburgh. The best place to buy your Pure Jock would be direct from the brewer:

Nutritional Information (per 100ml, taken from the side of the bottle)
ABV	<0.05%
Additional nutritional information not given. Boo, hiss!
Ingredients
Water, Malted Barley, Rye, Hops
Additional Information
Country of Production	Scotland
Brewer	Broughton Brewery – https://broughtonales.co.uk/
Gluten Free?	No
Vegan Friendly?	No