Founders Dirty Bastard Scotch Ale

Brewed by Founders Brewing Company
Style: Scotch Ale
Grand Rapids, Michigan USA

Nice rich red colour with a lingering cream coloured head. Aroma is malty, sweet, and boozy, you can already tell this beer is serious business by the smell of it. Thick and syrupy, lots of malt and lots of hops to balance it out. Great beer, very smooth and extremely easy to drink. My favourite beer to start a heavy drinking session as it goes down smoothly and packs an 8.5% punch.

355mL into thistle (yeah right). Pours a clear, deep, beautiful ruby with a two-finger yellow, rocky head with good retention. leaves good sheety lacing. Aroma is pears, strawberries, burnt sugar, tannins, leather, caramel, a bit of booze. Taste is metallic, fairly bitter with a plethora of balancing English hops. A bit astringent on the palate. Chewy mouthfeel with soft carbonation. Long, bitter aftertaste.

From a trade with coyotehunter. Poured somewhere between ruby and copper. Clear with a scant off-white head. The aroma is fruitier than I anticipated. Citrus and tropical fruits over a hefty dose of malt and some alcohol. The flavor also had what I thought was mango along with citrus hops, plenty of malt and some booze. A lighter mouthfeel than I anticipated. I’ve had the Backwoods Bastard and I think it’s miles ahead of this.

A good sloid Scotch Ale that is smooth and slightly sweet. A great beer one comes to expect from Founders.

Aroma of scotch, brown sugar, currant and roasted caramel. Appearance was cloudy brown with creamy tan head. Flavor is similar to the nose, with most of the scotch elements most prominent. Palate is creamy. Very solid, well made brew.

Bottle. Moderate aromas of roasted and caramel for the malt, herbs for the hops, with hints of date and brown sugar. Head is small, wispy, off-white with fair lacing and good legs, and is mostly diminishing. Color is dark brownish red. Flavor starts lightly to moderately sweet and acidic, then the long finish is lightly sweet and acidic, and moderately bitter. Palate is on the fuller side of medium, oily, with a lively carbonation and a moderately astringent and very dry finish. The flavor in this Scotch Ale leans towards dry and bitter unlike others I’ve had, which is why I like this so much. Thanks Hopscotch.

Bottle. Hazy amber body with a small off white head. Lovely malty aroma with some spice, lots of caramel and fruity barley notes. Powerful and deep malty flavour which contains lots of light burned caramel, light alcohol, dark ripe fruit, biscuits and light chocolate. Complex and smooth brew.

Poured from bottle into Imperial Pint. Cloudy orangish-brown with small head and minimal lacing. Turns lava red if held in the light just right. Great color but lack of head hurts slightly. Aroma of caramel, dark fruit, peat, slight English hops. Smell definitely improves as it warms. A malt bomb. Loads of caramel, dark fruit and toffee. However, some smokey peat and English hops keep the malt in-check. While sweet, the bitter finish prevents the beer from becoming cloying. Thick and full-bodied with low carbonation. Almost chewy but the beer is too drinkable for that. Seems lower than 8.5% abv. Very nice Wee Heavy overall. Just make sure to let this Bastard warm up some as I almost gave a couple lower scores because I was impatient to drink it right out of the fridge.