Personal Tasting - Brooklyn Brewery

It's the end of the year and my friends and I were bored so we are gonna have an interesting night. We're having pizza, chips, and brewskis. And what better to have than Brooklyn Brewery. We just went on a tour of the brewery and had a great time there so we thought we should revisit the beer itself. I'm gonna try to total through 3 beers each of Pennant Ale, Brown Ale, and Lager. Let's hope I can give each a decent review and then finish them.

Founders Dirty Bastard Scotch Ale

This was a beer that I was a little apprehensive to try. It's a Founders brew - win. But, it is infused with scotch, a derivative of whiskey. If you've read my AFA entry, you know whiskey and I do not get along. Let's see how it goes.

This Bastard pours very opaque with some visible sediment. It has a nice brown scotch color with no head to speak of. It has a hint of scotch whiskey in the bouquet (ugh). It also has some fruity bits with roasted barley and hops. The taste was very minimal to start that flowed into an alcoholic bite. There was a slight hint of whiskey and then the rush of flavors came in with caramel and sugar - prime ingredients in whiskey. The texture was the same as whiskey with a bite at the end. No carbonation, as expected.

Basically, whiskey and I don't get along. But, this was actually a very pleasant experience. I think I enjoy the smell and taste of it, but once that alcohol kicks in, forget it. Good thing this is around 10%. Great brew, make no mistake.

Appearance - 4
Smell - 4.1
Taste - 3.6
Texture - 3.7
Overall - 3.85/5

Founders Dirty Bastard Scotch Ale

The first from hopefully a long line of brews from Founders. The dirty bastard scotch ale is pretty much just a brown ale that has its ABV bumped up a bit, this one sits at around 8%. It pours dark brown with a good amount of sediment at the bottom of the glass and no head at all. The smell is quite nice and consists of caramel malts, molasses, hops, and a bready note that I can't quite figure out. The taste is initial alcohol with a strong earthly and molasses finish. It tastes a little like scotch but not as strong as I would have thought, overall it is very good an interesting, and once you get used to the flavor you'll enjoy it more and more.

Appearance - 3.6

Smell - 3.7

Taste - 3.8

Texture - 3.8

Overall - 3.73/5

Brew Tasting the Twenty-first

We're consistently unable to find the Founders Breakfast Stout. So, we're kind of settling for less by taking any other Founders brew we can find. The one tonight is an interesting category of brew that infuses beer with hard liquor. List after the break.

1) Founders Dirty Bastard Scotch Ale

Unibroue La Terrible

This is an interesting one made by Unibroue, a bit of a change of things when compared to other Belgian strong ales. It pours dark brown with a slight amount of light shining through and an off-white head that actually lasts quite a long time. The smell is quite normal for a strong ale and consists of caramel and dark malts, licorice, and bitter dark chocolate. I was hoping for the same type of taste as I found with the smell but it was somewhat lacking. It was much more watery and alcohol tasting than I would have liked, although it went down relatively smooth. The Chimay Blue is much better choice in my opinion.

Appearance - 3.8

Smell - 4.0

Taste - 3.6

Texture - 3.6

Overall - 3.75/5