Founders Dirty Bastard Scotch Ale

Pours a dark ruby brown with a brighter white head. The aroma is very malt heavy with notes of toffee/caramel and honey. The flavor is rich and sweet with a tangy smokiness to it that gives it a nice balance. Overall, there isn’t anything wrong with this beer, but it’s far from the most interesting thing that I have had recently.

On tap at Map Room, Chicago. A nice tasting scotch ale. I personally thought it tasted a bit thin in the body-- wouldn’t mind it a little more chewy. Found the roast/smoke flavors as well as the hops to be very subdued. Nicely balanced, but wouldn’t mind tasting a little more aggressive version of this beer. Let’s take the gloves off this guy!

Bottle. Poured a very dark brown with garnet highlights when held to the light. Good head with decent lacing. Wonderful aroma of the malts with a hint of smoke and coffee. Great flavor of the dark malt with coffee, smoke and the taste of earth. Good mouthfeel and very smooth. You would never guess it is over 8% alcohol. Very, very tasty.

Poured a dark copper color with a thin white head that receded quickly. The aroma was of sweet dark malts and caramel. It had the typical smell of a scotch ale. The taste is really nice with the sweet malts really coming through. It had a nice sweet flavor of candy sugar to go with the malts and caramel. The finish was nice and sweet with some hops in the background to balance things out. I didn’t get any of the smoke in there like the description says, but it was very enjoyable anyway.

pours a hazy dark, nearly opaque, reddish brown, with a thin light tan head that quickly gets out of the way. big fruity estery and malty smell with spicy apricot and pear notes dominating hints of strawberries and plum, and maybe a bit of anise on the finish. great complex smell. taste is of fresh floral hops, with a dark fruity malt backing it up. lots of bitter on the finish, which is well-backed by a decent malt sweetness. good astringent mouthfeel and quite bubbly, emphasizing the tongue tingle, making for a great finish. this beer is quite different from what i usually drink, and i like it quite a bit.

Bottle. Reddish body, small tan head, caramel nose with portish notes. Sweet, caramel, raisins, vinous, yum.

On tap at the Great Lakes Brewfest. Pours a reddish orange brown color with a beige head. Aroma of licorice, malts, chocolate, and caramel. Caramel, burnt malts, licorice, earthy and peaty flavors. Nicely bitter with licorice in the finish.

Bottle. Pours a reddish brown color with a small off white head. Aroma of malt, hops and spices. Has a bit of fermented fruit as well. Taste is bitter and a bit odd like prunes. I can’t say I enjoyed it at all. Bitter, stale finish.