KOTBR #38 - I love scotch. Scotchy, scotch, scotch. Here it goes down, down into my belly...

For #38, the Knights arrived at Locals Only last Thursday not to drink Ron Burgundy's favorite, scotch whiskey, but rather Founder's Dirty Bastard Scotch Ale.

This wasn't the first Scotch Ale to be reviewed by the Knights and likely won't be the last as many us found this style to be pretty agreeable. Other Scotch Ales that have been up for review are Broad Ripple Brewpub's Wee Alec Heavy, and Three Floyds Robert the Bruce.

Here are the reviews...

Jim -

Dear Dirty Bastard:

Are you a Belgian in disguise?

You're a hard beer to pin down, Dirty Bastard. Your label says you're a Scotch Ale, so I expected all roasted maltiness from you. And you are indeed malty, but you're still mysteriously different from other Scotch Ales. Your nose should give me coffee and caramel. Instead, I smell dark fruit, brown sugar, and raisins. Your mouthfeel should be thick and chewy. Instead, it's silky, sliding across my tongue in a unique way. Your flavor should give me coffee and chocolate. Instead, I taste a swirl of nuttiness, dark fruit, and a little bit of cherry.

You are an exquisite, 4.40 mug beer, which is a lofty position to hold among the many ales and lagers I have consumed in my time. Yet I'm still puzzled about you, Dirty Bastard, since you seem to have abandoned the land of scotch whiskey and haggis for the land of chocolate and of beers made by monks. So I ask you again--

Are you a Belgian in disguise?

Your admirer,

Jim


Jason -

When we decided to review Founder's Dirty Bastard Scotch Style Ale, I had a feeling of deja vu. Didn't we review this once already? My fellow Knights insisted that no, we haven't, that I'm thinking of the Kentucky Breakfast Stout.

After some research, I understand why I thought that I had reviewed this beer before: because I had!

Back when the Knights were still in their infancy, at review number 4, Kelly, Chris, and I went to Spencer's Stadium Tavern where we reviewed Spaten's Oktoberfest. But I was the only one at that review to submit a review, so I also rated Dirty Bastard, which was my warm up.

Since it was my warm up, it was never "officially" reviewed. But my thoughts then reflect many of my thoughts now: "great malty beer with a bite of hops... very dark to reddish brown in color with a nice foam head that gives way to some great lace... caramel and toffee... bit of spice in the aroma... easy to drink... not much of an aftertaste."

I will add that the nose smelled of raisin, the hops bite came in the back of the throat, and the mouthfeel was very creamy.

I'll sum it up in two words: Apple butter. This beer makes me think of apple butter in beer form. Back then, I was wanting to rate it between 4 and 4.5 mugs. I think it holds true.

And when we review it again for the first time 18 months from now, I'll still probably give it a 4.375 mug rating. Maybe instead we'll review the Founder's Red's Rye, which I had after and was very tasty.

But I won't review it now, in order to prevent future confusion.

Mike -

This wasn't the first time Hoosier Beer Geek has visited Locals Only - back in January of 2007 a couple Knights stopped in and had kind words for the establishment. What they failed to mention is that Locals Only is a dive bar.

Consider the following:

Non-descript exterior? Check.
Dingy couch? Check.
Stage and partial dance floor? Check.
Pool table? Check.
Ashtrays? Check.
Extensive use of Christmas Lighting? Check.
Vinyl BudMillerCoors advertising on the walls? Check.
Fantastic beer menu? Way friendly staff? Check... Wait a minute... Fantastic beer menu? Way friendly staff?

Calling Locals Only a dive bar isn't meant as a slight - because as far as dive bars go you won't find better, or friendlier. Instead of the expected Bud/Bud Light/Miller/Miller Light beer menu you'd expect, Locals Only has a cooler-full of the finest in craft beer, with enough variety to keep any beer geek happy. Not to mention the fact that when you make that craft beer choice, the bartender will congratulate you on your fine selection.

After warming up with a Stone Ruination IPA, I settled into our feature beer - Founder's Dirty Bastard Scotch Ale. It's a fitting beer for Locals Only - a beer that has the look you'd expect, but reveals itself to be something completely different. The beer pours with a deep red color and no lacing. A hard-to-pin-down nose leads to a full, smooth mouthfeel, full of... something... caramel? butter? It's the sort of beer that has you scratching your head to describe.

Looking at our past scores, the "would I buy this again" breaking point for scores seems to lie at 3.00 mugs - beers at that score or higher are beers I would buy again. Keeping that in mind, I'll give Dirty Bastard a score of 3.5 mugs - this is a beer I'm anxious to revisit.

Matt -

This is indeed a dirty bastard. Its slick yet persistent texture brought to my mind the horrid image of the illegitimate spawn of an oyster and a lump of chocolate chip cookie dough. I can think of few combinations of things that I enjoy on their own, but would be this unappealing when combined in the real word, but in this rarified context I can certainly enjoy the juxtaposition. The pleasantly divergent characteristics don't stop there, however. Its color was a dark auburn, and had the malty character that one would expect from a Scottish style ale, but there was a smoky coffee-ish flavor to this bastard which leads me to believe that his old man must have been a one stout fellow indeed. I thoroughly enjoyed this particular Scottish ale, despite his questionable parentage.

4.25

Kelly -

I'm typically an agreeable soul when it comes to beer. Ales, stouts, dark, light, cold, warm -- there's a reason that I've been the Knight with the highest average mug rating given to our Roundtable selections. Alas, it's not to be this time around.

With my first sip of the Dirty Bastard, I ended up asking the other Knights if they tasted something akin to fertilizer -- an astringent, oily taste spreading out on the top of my tongue that I couldn't get past. I sampled some of the other Knights' pours, and while they seemed much more balanced, the phantom taste still hung in there for me. I wouldn't be opposed to trying another bottle at home in the future, but I just didn't get the enjoyment out of this beer like the rest of the group.

Note to the Dirty Bastard: if you were picking on me because I had a bad day... I'll get my vengeance.

2.25 mugs, open to re-evaluation.

**********************************
Founder's Dirty Bastard Scotch Ale
Kelly: 2.25 mugs
Matt: 4.25 mugs
Jim: 4.40 mugs
Gina: 3.75 mugs
Mike: 3.50 mugs
Jason: 4.375 mugs
KOTBR Average: 3.75 mugs

Locals Only...with a special guest star

For our latest review, which took place at Locals Only (as Jason has already noted), we were joined by Scot, who is the author of the excellent blog, 64th and Broadway, Barcelona. You might be familiar with Scot's blog because it was featured in last week's INtake article on local bloggers. Scot is an avid fan of independent films, so if you enjoy hanging out at Key Cinemas, then 64th and Broadway should be a daily stop for you because Scot often posts thoughtful and insightful reviews of the films that he sees.

I've known Scot for several years. We became acquainted through our mutual love for the Beautiful Game. We suffered together through the U.S.'s disappointing World Cup appearance this past summer and are fans of rival Major League Soccer teams. Despite our differing team loyalties, we do get along quite well. Before the review, I knew that Scot had a healthy appreciation for good beer, so it was no surprise that he joined us at Locals Only. He was a great guest. I think that I speak for the other Knights of the Beer Roundtable when I say that Scot has an open invitation to join us for future reviews.

On to the beers. Last Thursday, unfortunately, was a slightly disappointing beer night for me. This is not to say that the beers we reviewed were poor; rather, the beers simply didn't sit well with me. In fact, the best beer that I had was my warm-up beer, which was an Anheuser-Busch product, Bare Knuckle Stout. Bare Knuckle is a dry, Irish-style stout made in the mold of Guinness. I suppose that A-B decided to make a foray into the stout market based upon Guinness's burgeoning popularity here in the United States. I must say that the producer of the "King of Beers" has done a fairly good job with Bare Knuckle, which I found to be smooth with that classic milky finish that a good dry stout has. Bare Knuckle's flavor isn't as heavy as Guinness's, which has more coffee-like notes. But if you're looking to try a stout for the first time, Bare Knuckle would be a good stout with which to start.

From the Bare Knuckle, we stepped up to the high octane stuff. At Chris's behest, we went with Stone Brewing Company's Ruination IPA. I didn't protest at all because I love Stone's products. They release a Russian Imperial Stout every year that is heavenly, and they have just released their yearly batch of Old Guardian Barley Wine, which never disappoints. But up until Thursday, I had not tried the Ruination IPA.

So we broke out the snifters (actually, I think they were wine glasses) and poured. Like any good IPA, the Ruination was sort of a coppery-gold hue. The nose on this beer was phenomenal--very, very fruity, with a bit of grapefruit. On second whiff, however, I got a big old dose of...bubble gum. I loved it. The flavor, however, belied the nose. I was expecting a bit of sweetness, but the Ruination is extremely dry. Like other IPA's, it's heavy on the hops, with an almost pine-like taste. The first half of the glass was very pleasant, but as I drank more, the beer became overpowering. It almost got to the point of making me nauseated. Perhaps this happened because, next to Renee, I am probably the biggest lightweight of the group (about which I get constant grief from the other Knights). Ultimately, I wimped out and turned the rest of my beer over to Jason. So I'll give a dual rating here. If I could do nothing but smell the beer, I'd give it 5 mugs. But the flavor knocks it down to 3 mugs for me.

As for the Sterkens Hoogstraten Poorter, what would beer geeks like us do without a Belgian ale to review? Locals Only owner David generously furnished us a free bottle of the stuff (and it was a BIG bottle), which we split between us. I agree with Jason's assessment of this beer as being a virtual clone of Unibroue's Trois Pistoles, which, as I noted in an earlier review, was just not my thing. I did, however, have a good laugh at the vaguely homoerotic label for the beer. 3 mugs for the beer; 4 mugs for the label.

"We serve what I like"

These words from David Queisser make a worthy mantra for everyone when talking about your profession and your business. If you don't believe in the product, how can you expect to successfully sell it?

David and his girlfriend/business partner Michele Kofski own and operate Locals Only, a "music and art pub" at 56th Street and Keystone. It is an impressive, off the beaten path establishment that welcomes locals and not-so-locals from all walks of life. There's a stage in one corner of the bar, offering live music of all sorts. The work of local artists hang on the walls. There's a pinball machine and pool table for those that want activity. And a mix of booths, tables and chairs, bar stools, and couches so that you can find a comfortable place to sit, no matter your style. There is also a TV or two for your sports watching pleasure.

They have a nice menu of food items, but being a HBG, I wasn't there for the food. I was there for the beer. And they have one helluva beer menu. I believe I counted around 65 bottled beer varieties along with 11 taps and 13 domestic beers for your pleasure. Enough brew to keep any booze hound trying something different everyday for a couple of months.

What's also great about their beer menu is the number of beers and breweries on the menu that I had never heard of. The standards on many local beer menus (Bell's, Three Floyd's, Unibroue, etc.) were absent here. And that's okay. A good percentage of the 65 beers available seemed unique to Locals Only, at least as far as I've seen.

It was just us guys tonight. The ladies dumped us. I'm having flashbacks to high school. Everybody warmed up differently. I arrived late, so I only had one warm up beer before we headed into the featured presentation. Locals Only had some Mishawaka Brewing Company beers listed on their chalkboard, so I opted for the Seven Mules Kick-Ass Ale.

After pouring through the beer menu, we opted for the Stone Ruination IPA, a 22 ounce American Double IPA that goes for $10. The big, green bottle had a large gargoyle on the front and a very, very long description on the back. It was named Ruination "because of the immediate ruinous effect on your palate." This should be fun!

We poured our beers into snifters and I could immediately smell the abundance of hops. Not quite the punch in the nose that some other hops-centric beers provide, but very pleasant indeed. It poured with a white, foamy head and finished with a golden-red color and a cloudy consistency. It's not surprising that with a 7.7% ABV, the beer leaves a dry feeling in your mouth. There is a tartness to it and some bite, probably from both the large amount of hops and the alcohol. The flavor combination is hard to describe. There is some sweetness to it as well as an earthy component. Somewhere, I saw someone describe a beer as having a pine flavor, and I think you could use that to describe this beer. Having been on a hops and IPA kick recently, I thoroughly enjoyed this beer and would be happy to come back to it. I'm giving it a 4 mug rating.

After we finished the IPA, David treated us to a bottle of Hoogstraten Poorter from Brouwerij Sterkens. I say a bottle because it's easily big enough to be shared, coming in a 750mL ceramic bottle with a flip top. That's the size of a fifth of your favorite liquor. Big bottle. And it costs $21.50 at Locals Only.

Initially, we believed it to be of German decent but were surprised to learn that it was actually Belgian. Flipping open the bottle, we were immediately hit with fruit smells. I mean it's like Carmen Miranda shoved her hat up my nose. Based on the amount of fruit that my nose picked up, I wasn't looking forward to drinking this beer. I figured it would be too much fruit.

We poured the Poorter into tulip glasses. It is a dark beer with a light brown head. We took a drink. Much to our surprise, it was not as overwhelmingly fruity as we initially predicted. There was a nice maltiness to it, with just a hint of fruit, perhaps cherry or berry of sorts. But not annoyingly so. Together, the flavor components formed a simple but pleasing flavor. It reminds me a lot of La Fin du Monde or perhaps Trois Pistoles by Unibroue, though I prefer the Poorter over the Unibroues. A pleasant beer that gets better with time (and intoxication). I'm giving this beer a 3.5 mugs rating.