Forager Dad Bod Oak Fermented Imperial Scotch Ale

Dear friends and followers, I am going to unveil a little known and completely insignificant secret of the Bitter Nib. At some point in the not too distant past, I enacted a rule for this blog. That rule is that there shall be a distance put between posts about any brewery. If I write about two beers from Surly, for example, I must space them out, and put a certain number of other posts about other beers and breweries in between them. That number is six.

Why did I make this rule? Gee, I must have had a good reason. What was it? Maybe it was just for appearance sake, or I didn't want it to seem obvious if I were giving more attention to any one brewery at a time?

And I kept that up, until I almost broke the rule. Last Sunday, my pal Jason and I found ourselves in Rochester, MN, for the event of a free concert in Mayo Park by the Suburbs, and that meant, of course, that Forager was in the plans. And on this visit, an unprecedented number of beers were available in crowlers, and I nearly bought one of each. (I love Forager, but don't have the same collect-them-all mentality that I do with Oliphant.)


But, no, I  kept it to six, one that has appeared here before, but I couldn't pass it up, for I love it so, the Sherpa Survival Kit, and 5 new ones. I opened one Monday night and posted the review, as well as one of the four Wild Mind beers I bought last Saturday. That meant I'd need to post 5 more reviews from other breweries before I could get to another Forager crowler.

And so, that's what I did. On Thursday, July 19, I sat down to review 5 beers in order to get to another Forager. I almost convinced myself that there's no harm in breaking that rule so I can get to a Forager faster. Perhaps it won't be so easy next time. Maybe I won't have enough other beers to keep that distance. Or, perhaps it's best to pace it, hold back my passion. We don't know when I'll get another chance to visit them. (Looking back, 3 of the 8 beers I'd reviewed from them before this week were brought back by friends. I'm lucky to have such nice pals.)

So, without further ado, here we have Dad Bod, an Oak Fermented Imperial Scotch Ale, in collaboration with the owners of the soon-to-be Rochester brewery Little Thistle. 10.2% ABV. 25 IBU. Brewed and packaged by Forager Brewing, Rochester, MN.

Dark brown color, slim dark & swiftly depleted head.

In the nose: rich, dark malt, caramel and toffee, oaky. Sweet and lovely.

In the mouth: Boards the palate with sweetness, richness, but well-balanced, so far. Big malt, big flavors. Quite balanced. Hops are quiet in this, as they should be, but they're doing their job, keep everything orderly. Alcohol strength isn't especially apparent just yet. Terrifically smooth. Caramel, chocolate, and slight tinges of toffee are happily at play here. A little vanilla. And the sweetness ends on an even, dry note. Quite delicious.

Brewed in collaboration with Steve Finnie, our dear friend and head brewer of the forthcoming Little Thistle Brewery here in Rochester. Fermented entirely in used bourbon and rye whiskey barrels, Dad Bod is brewed for dads, by dads.

(P.S. All that stuff about my rule of six? I actually have broken it before, and in the service of the company I used as an example, Surly. What was I going to do, they sent me two samples in one week. )