Old Dirty Bastard -- The Beer, That Is.

This blog has moved to a new domain: HurraBier.com. Please take a moment to update your bookmarks.

New URL for this post: http://hurrabier.com/old-dirty-bastard-the-beer-that-is

Now, I’m no coal miner, but my bar job is pretty physically taxing work. My feet usually hate me at the end of the day, and my knees are about to go on strike. However, this particular kind of employment also has its perks. After a shift, each bar employee is rewarded with a “shift beer” - just one, and usually it is something from a surplus stock. Regardless, every shift beer is usually a treat and a great opportunity to learn more about varieties one might not otherwise immediately try.

Last night, I tried a Dirty Bastard Scotch Style Ale from Founders Brewing Company (Grand Rapids, Michigan). Founders Brewing started as the dream of two college friends, Mike Stevens and Dave Engbers, and twelve years later it has grown in to a successful brewery with over a dozen tasty varieties and the belief that they will not brew for the masses, but for people like themselves. It seems to be working. Several of their tasty batches are readily available at my local Whole Foods store, including the Breakfast Stout and Red’s Rye PA, though I’m embarrassed to admit that I haven’t purchased them yet, because their bottle caps are pretty lackluster!

But back to the beer tasting. Closing time at the bar means that all of the glasses are being washed, so we always drink from the bottle. I’m not sure if the tastes might unfold further if it was sipped from a glass, but I suspect they would. Nevertheless, this beer was delicious and not what I typically think of when imagining the taste of a Scotch Ale. Pretty hop forward, but the hops aren’t what stayed with me. Rather, it was the abundance of malt. Reminiscent of fresh-made biscuits just from the oven and drizzled with honey, this ale is subtly sweet, with all kinds of toasty, biscuity goodness on the palate - no surprise, then, to learn that it is brewed with seven varieties of imported malts. Maybe even some hints of vanilla. At 8.5% ABV, it also relaxes and warms the body with every sip. This could easily be a session beer on a cold fall day.


Founders has me hooked with this Scotch Style Ale, and lame bottlecaps or not, I’ll be tasting some more of their brews in the future.  Just that maltocious, graintastic taste is enough to keep this beerslinger from feeling like a withered and worn ODB at the end of each shift.