Founders Backwoods Bastard

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

Thick red tinted brown pour with a thin white head. Creamy oak bourbon aroma with hints of licorice. Tastes pretty much like smooth light bourbon. Malty with a hoppy finish. But mostly a bourbon sans the burning. I like bourbon but I’m basically a pussy when it comes to the burning sensation it induces, so this stuff is perfect for me and I really enjoyed it.

Trade with noncaloric. Moderate head. Red amber beer. Alcohol (bourbon?) and molasses in the aroma. First sip is alcohol body, used chewing tobacco, molasses, an alcohol shiver and long caramel-molasses-toffee notes. An entire pint of flavour in each sip. A rollercoaster for your palate. Second taste is brandy and chocolate. Another is sweet licorice toffee. A bottle full of surprises.

12 oz bottle. Pours a murky red with a thin cream colored head. Aroma is bourbon withwith molasses and sweet barbeque sauce. Bourbon is definitely at the forefront, with subtle hints of cherry, vanilla, and pineapple, malt is the foundation. Its a thick and tingly beer, very interesting, not for everyone but worth a try a least.

Aroma is sweet, bourbon, caramel. Deep red body, thin ring of head around the edges, it looks a little hazy. Rich and intense flavors of boubon, vanilla, chocolate, caramel, citrusy hops. Prior batch was 9.2%, this bottle (2008) says 10.2% - either way, this is not one for your beer bong.

20090121 12oz bottle Muddy brown with small, fleeting beige head. Aroma is rich with dates, old wood, cellar stairs, tobacco, and last nights red wine residue crusted in the bottom of a glass. Fairly light bodied and quite bitter, more than expected, with a woody astringency that is both anticipated and not very welcome. Lingering metallic notes, quartz, and strong vinous notes throughout meld smoothly with the theme but do not thrill.

Draft at Capones Nov ’08: Poured a dark dark red color with not much head. The aroma was a strong bourbon. The flavor was over powered by the bourbon with some oak and vanilla present An Interesting beer.

Ruby red with a tan head. Very bourbon forward aroma overwhelms caramelized scotch ale notes. Taste has the same balance with serious oak tannins with a lot of vanillin and a slightly tangy, rather bitter finish. I very much enjoyed it, but feel like it could have a bit less oak for my liking. $6/13oz RERATE from 3.6 total score. Much more civil bourbon character in the bottle this time with incredible coconut notes. Reminds me a bit of Weyerbacher Insanity.

Bottle. Very strong bourbon aroma. Opaque reddish brown body, almost no head. Flavor is overwhelmingly bourbon whiskey, very foreign to my conception of beer. Certainly tasty, but MUCH too far in the direction of bourbon in my opinion.