Founders Backwoods Bastard

Beer: Founders Backwoods Bastard
Brewery Location: Grand Rapids, MI
Beer Style: Wee Heavy Scotch Ale
ABV: 10.2%




Founders is just relentless in the amount of new beer coming out from them right now, and it is hard to keep up with everything, and then in the next few months four or five more offerings are coming out as well. I know Kentucky Breakfast Stout will be coming out in February, and I am not sure on the exact dates, but they will be releasing their porter for the first time in a very long time, imperial stout, and I am sure there is something more that I am missing. This beer just hit Indiana a few weeks ago and I just have not had time to review it recently.

I also like that Founder has not gone to bombers, and they continue to make their beer in 12 oz bottles. Many brewers are putting all of their high gravity beer in nothing but bombers. The 12 oz bottle is just a little more convenient for me. That is more of an observation than anything else.

This beer pours a dark rustic hue with a thin tan head. The nose is loaded with vanilla, wood, bourbon, cherry, and a slight hint of peat. The flavor profile is pretty intense with initial flavors of vanilla, oak, and dark cherries. The alcohol burn from the bourbon though really took away from this beer for me. It does not meld with the beer and overtook from most of the flavors that I was tasting. I let the beer warm for about thirty minutes and the flavor profile did sweeten a little bit, but the alcohol burn was still quite harsh I think. I really enjoy dirty bastard (the non-barrel aged version) because of the rich caramel malt base, but I never found that in this beer. The mouthfeel is full bodied with plenty of alcohol on the mouthfeel. The drinkabilility wasn't really there for me. I hope with some age on this beer it will settle down a bit.

I was really looking forward to this beer, but the alcohol and vanilla was just overwhelming and made this beer a miss for me. I am going to age my remaining bottles for a while and see if the flavor backs off a bit. Has anyone aged one of these before?

Cheers!
Matt

Dark Horse Scotty Karate

Beer: Dark Horse Scotty Karate
Brewery Location: Marshall, MI
Beer Style: Scotch Ale
Serving Style: On-Tap
ABV: 9.25%


I was at MacNivens the other night for some dinner and a pint. They have had this on tap before, but I never tried it out. I've only had a few offerings from Dark Horse, and I honestly don't know that much about them. I am a big fan of scotch ales though, so I thought this would be a good choice for the meal.


It is served in a snifter and pours a deep chocolate hue with slight ruby highlights and a minimal off-white head. The nose is a combination of sweet malt, caramel, dark fruits, and more than a touch of alcohol with no hops to speak of. The flavor profile is very sweet, almost cloying, combining flavors of caramel, toffee, dark fruit, and toasted malt. The sweetness is really overdone for my liking here. It is medium bodied and almost a little chewy on the palate. The alcohol warmth on this is not well hidden and is what I would consider "boozy," but the alcohol is quite high on this beer.

I love scotch ales, but this just didn't live up to what I was after. The sweetness and the booziness of this beer just didn't sit well with me. Scotch ales are usually on the sweeter side, but this one just took it further than I wanted.

Cheers!
Matt

Bell's Scotch Ale

Beer: Bell's Scotch Ale
Brewery Location: Comstock, MI
Beer Style: Scotch Ale
Serving Style: On Tap
ABV: 7.4


My first beer from my Bell's trip was the scotch ale. I've never had this offering from Bell's, but I am a fan of scotch ales so I gave is a whirl.

It pours a mahogany brown hue with a very thin swirl of head that quickly dissipated. The nose is decent for a scotch ale. Malty bready notes make way for caramel and toffee scents and a slightly burnt/smoky scent as well. The flavor matches the nose fairly well. Toasted malt is the dominant flavor with the toffee coming into play as the beer warmed. The malted backbone is very nice and balanced on this beer with the other flavors on the palate. The carbination is low on this beer and very quaff able and satisfying. The alcohol is very well hidden and never really made itself known. Drinkablity is good and I would have another if Bell's were much closer to me.

Overall it is a good beer, but hovers around ordinary for the style. Worth a try if you see it out, but not worth going very far out of your way for.

Cheers!
Matt