Totally disagree. This is an accepted way of brewing a wee heavy, whether it is historically accurate or not. It represents a way of brewing that many have adopted. This is not about history. It is about a recent approach to brewing. Different things.
i dont think theres anything to disagree about. the facts are there in history. there were basically strong ales and pale ales brewed in scotland historically.
of course contemporary BJCP guidelines are the issue in question. "strong scotch ales" aka wee heavies are a recent development. traquair house began its contemporary brewing in 1965 apparently. fascinating and great the stuff they came up with. it is scottish, but i wonder how they developed their recipes. mcewans strong ale comes to mind, though i havent tracked down exactly when it came about as the brown it is.
heres a mcewans advert and you can see a yellow/goldy liquid being drained
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2f/McEwan%27s_Beer_advert_1906.JPG/1024px-McEwan%27s_Beer_advert_1906.JPGthe scottish shilling ales are probably mostly accurate except when they have roasted barley especially (never used for certain) though dark malts are still questionable. pattinson did remark that there were lower gravities fermented into beer than anywhere else in england ie. the really low number shilling ales that are ~2.5% or so.
peat is right out, as the scottish lowlands where beer was being brewed, between edinburgh and glasgow is one massive coal deposit. so there would be no need or desire to burn stinky peat while kilning malt.
just like the fact that irish red ale was historically non-existent.