Founders Backwoods Bastard

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

Bottle, shared by papsoe. Pours a nice, clear reddish dark golden body with a small creamy beige head. Beefstock, malty sweetness, some alcohol and spirits in the aroma. Some bourbon, sugary maltyness and a pleasant fruity hoppyness and bitterness in the mouth. Warming, full-bodied and slightly sticky. Lasting finish with a pleasant warmth and sweetness. A quite challenging beer, maybe too focused on the bourbon, but it is really pleasant and gets better as you drink it. (080822)

Pours a burnt caramel color with no head. The nose and flavor are rich with vanilla, oak, bourbon and a touch of coconut. Creamy on the palate.

12 fl oz bottle. Pours cloudy golden amber with a lacing tan head. Wineous and barley dense aroma. Flavour is sweet and dense malty. Smooth chocolate and vanilla flavours nicely balance the dense barley and alcohol notes. Lingering chocolate and vanilla finish.

12-oz. bottle provided graciously by Secret Santa July 2008. Pours hazy brown with an average, rocky, light brown head, somewhat lasting with good lacing. Aroma is heavy malt (nutty, cookie, caramel, toffee), light hops (herbs), average yeast (leather, dough) with notes of alcohol, wood, and apples. Full bodied, alcoholic texture, average carbonation, and a bitter finish. Long duration, moderate sweetness, acidity, and bitterness.

On tap at the brewery: Pours brown with almost no head. Strong aroma of sugar, bourbon and caramel. Flavor of same. Very good.

Pours a rich mahogony from the bottle with a trim straw-colored head. Permeates brown sugar and bourbon that carry into the flavor along with notes of toasted coconut, caramel, vanilla, and apple. Medium-bodied with a hot alcohol finish. It’s kind of like a liquid apple cobbler--amazing!

On tap at brewery. Aroma of caramel, bourbon, dark dried fruits, and a little alcohol. Very deep ruby almost black hue with a little off-white head that almost completely diminished and left little lace. Flavor is caramel, bourbon, and sherry tones with a little nutty vanilla. Palate is full bodied and oily flat. Much better than the regular bastard and the bourbon was fantastic. A very good sipper.

12oz bottle thanks to my Secret Santa. Pours a translucent copper color with a thin, beige head, a hazy cloud and some tight, small bubbles. Aroma is fairly mild, grain, grass, earthy with some biscuit. Flavor is really delicious, buttery, nutty, sweet with caramel, butterscotch, toast, buttery biscuits, vanilla and a little scotch whisky. Finish is sweet and slightly thick with almost no heat from the alcohol. Looks like a standard brown or scotch ale, but the flavor backs a wicked punch. Almost too drinkable, smooth enough to be a session beer even at 9% abv.