Founders Dirty Bastard Scotch Ale

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

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.

12 oz bottle at Quenchers, Chicago. Dark ruby color with beige head. Aroma is very doughy malt. Flacor is caramel, brown sugar, alc, very nice. Medium body and creamy. Very nice overall.

Poured an attractive dark ruby color that was very inviting. Had a good head that lasted a while. Aroma was very malty and sweet. Flavor was of malt, caramel, peat and brown sugar. Nicely balanced with a bit of a bitter hop finish. Lacing was really good and the mouthfeel was pleasant. Hid the 8.3% abv very well. Good stuff.

Bottle: Pours a reddish brown. Has some visible floaties, and is topped by a creamy tan head. The aroma is creamy chocolate, dark caramel, toasted bread, along with a slight alcohol touch. When it’s first opened and sipped it has an almost minty character upfront, maybe from the hops. As it breathes it evens out to a nice roasted earthiness from the malt profile. It’s not too sweet at all. There’s some chocolate, peat along with a consistent bitterness (almost piney earthiness) throughout the flavor scale. The finish continues the earthy undertones displaying a hint of smoke and tobacco in the late palate. Nice and earthy, which is what I look for in Scotch Ales. It’s also pretty dry overall, which I enjoyed. A pretty good Scotch Ale.

Too sweet for me. It has a bittery-raisin finish that reminds me of Belgians. Alcohol is hidden, but I really didn’t find this one enjoyable.

Deep red color with a tan head. Scottish malts, maple, and caramel in the aroma. Strong alcoholic taste with a sweet malt and caramel in the finish.

Received this beer in a trade from someone, but it’s been awhile (and 20 trades later) so I forgot who sent it to me. While Founders seems to have a huge repetoire of beers, I’ve only had a smattering of them, and they seem garner either a really good or average reviews. Since I’ve always really had a soft spot for Scotch ales, I was pretty excited to finally pop the top on this one. So the beer pours out a dark brown color, mostly opaque but it started to clear on the end, with red highlights on the edges. A huge 4 finger thick khaki head erputed from my glass. It had some serious staying power and the head kept true thru the entire beer. Aroma was semi-sweet, malty, caramel, subtle run and smoke notes run along side a peaty note. Flavor is more sweetness, caramel covered raisins with a slightly over-carbonated finish. Would have received a bit higher scores from me if it was a little smoother. Still, a very nice beer.