A Year of Craft Beer, Vol. 115, Founders Dirty Bastard Scotch Ale

Hello everyone!

Sorry for missing last night but I was attending the semi-finals of the Philly Beer Geek competition as part of Philly Beer Week at the Manyunk brewery where I enjoyed 3 fine beers.  Question, what is the difference according to ancient usages of beer and ale.  A free t-shirt to the first to answer without using google.

At Manyunk Brewery I enjoyed their double IPA (a bit hoppier than the ones I really enjoy), a Polish Wheat beer brewed by Steve Mashington and the head brewer of Manyunk especially for the Beer Geek compo (pretty dang smokey, but not over the top and really enjoyable) and a low ABV scotch ale from Manyunk which was delicious and roasty!  Six participants out of the 19 move on to the final round to be held June 6.  There were trivia rounds, short answer rounds, replace beer words for movie quote rounds and flamboyancy displays.  It was pretty cool and inventive to say the least.  

Tonight for a belated Mother's Day, Keith and I took my Mom out to Pizzeria Uno's where I over ate on pizza, of course, and had a very large glass of a Wee Heavy called Dirty Bastard from Founders Brewery.

It poured a really dark but clear mahogany with a great lasting head and nice lacing.

The aromas were hard to make out as it was served waaay too cold probably at below 40 degrees F but I could make out some caramel malt sweetness, little hops and a wee bit o'bread.

Truthfully, the flavours were straightforward as well.  Malts.  Lots of malt sweetness, dark fruits, bread and finally mild bittering hops to finish it off.  Alcohol was faintly apparent and there was a bit of buttery to it as well.

The mouthfeel was fairly full in body and the sweetness was a little too much for me.  It wasn't as balanced as I would like, but I am not an expert on Scotch Ale.  They are supposed to be high in dextrins so that would account for the sweet.

Overall, it was most likely very befitting of the style I will have to score it pretty high because of so.  Personally, I thought it was too sweet.  But this isn't personal, it's BEER!  Solid 4 out of 5!

Get out there and try it.  Or try something else.  Just try!  Try again!

-Wiss