Founders Backwoods Bastard Barrel-aged Wee Heavy

Founders Backwoods Bastard Barrel-aged Wee Heavy.

11 % ABV. 55 IBU. Founders Brewing, Grand Rapids MI. 

I'm looking around the store where I work, and I'm thinking about what beers we have that I need to put in the Nib. My eyes fall upon a 4-pack of Backwoods Bastard, the barrel-aged version of Dirty Bastard, and I consult this very blog to see it nowhere inside. Brought the beers home, and checked BeerAdvocate. com, and lo and behold there are my notes from February of 2010, ten months before I got this thing up and running. 

In ten years I never bought any BB? Nope. According to Untappd, I checked into it once, at Bryant Lake Bowl in 2018. So, let's revisit it, and look at those old notes and see if they hold up. 

Hazed, deep dark crimson to brown, slimmed, dunnish head. 

Sweet, bourbon-y aromatics right off the bat. Cherry wood and leather. Spices and smoke. Rich and luxuriant. 

Taste: Very complex, too much going on to take it apart at first sip. You get the wood, the whiskey, and below the sweet Scotch ale at the base. Mmm, oaky...mmm, rich and bourbon-y. Starts sweet, gets dry and well-rounded, nicely balanced, and oozing over with wonderful flavor. You don't feel the 10% right away, but it gets in there, oh, yes...very nice. Not too much bourbon, which can be a detriment at times. If it weren't so strong or so expensive, I'd be at this quite a bit.

Expect lovely, warm smells of single malt scotch, oaky bourbon barrels, smoke, sweet caramel and roasted malts, a bit of earthy spice and a scintilla of dark fruit. It’s a kick-back sipper made to excite the palate.