Monday, December 9, 2013

December 9 - Devils Backbone Kilt Flasher Wee Heavy Scotch Ale




About Devils Backbone Kilt Flasher Wee Heavy Scotch AleThis Scottish-style wee heavy ale is deep ruby in color, full in body with a sweet, malty finish. A great beer for late Fall or early Winter. If it ain’t Scottish it’s...! 

It uses dark crystal malt, amber malt, pale malt, and roasted barley to create the backbone of this malt forward beer.  A long boil caramelizes the malt sugars and adds to the richness. 

Deep ruby in color. Toffee and caramel on the nose. Flavors of caramel, toffee, nuts, molasses and a lightly hopped finish, with notes of faint peat-like smoke. Smooth.

*It was hard to find very much information on this beer, it's not on their website right now.  I think this is a special release beer. 

Beer Advocate Score: 84 points

Alcohol by Volume: 8.0%

Cost$11 a 6-pack  

*website: http://www.dbbrewingcompany.com

28 comments:

  1. Pleasantly suprised with this one! I had low expectations because I hav. en't had a good wee heavy ale yet, but this one came thru. Compared to the description I got a strong vanilla like flavor instead of the caramel and molasses. It also had little spice compared to the last few beers and a tad bit of smoke for the finish. It vaguely reminds me of Crown Royal but not really scotch. I would probably pick this up again. B+

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  2. Not a fan. Tastes like someone added a cup of sugar to a Yuengling and left it on the counter for a couple of hours. I agree it does smell like vanilla but not getting that with the taste. Not sure I'm getting anything with the taste. I'm surprised it's 8% alcohol, but I am getting an odd little feeling in the back of my throat after taking a few sips so I think that's the booze talking. I'll pass on this one. C-.

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  3. Ro says it has a bit of a burn that reminds her of scotch. She did not say whether that was a good thing or a bad thing.

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    1. She just expressed disgust that I only gave it a C-. I think she's drunk from the shot I gave her.

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  4. Nothing to write home about. The first sip left me with a metallic taste after about a minute. Subsequent sips proved a little better. No head; no lacing. It's not bad and it's not destined for the kitchen drain; I just would not go out of my way to find it.

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  5. Well DJ or better known as Dave Johnson drank this one by mistake so I have no clue. So far I'm glad I missed out. It looks great though!

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    1. unacceptable Joe...unacceptable.

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    2. Unacceptable especially since DJ isn't participating this year.

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    3. Can you get Dave to post a writeup?

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  6. I hate to say this, being Scottish and all, but YUK! Smells like metal, tastes like lager with some bad sweet flavor added. I'll stop short of pouring it down the drain because a) I'm not Dave and b) my mum taught me not to waste, but I'm having to eat some snacks with it to stop from gagging. Wow. I've not often met a beer I didn't like, but this is one of them. There's a reason why Scotland is not known for it's beer, and it's the same reason why my step-dad (in Scotland) drinks imported Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. I was not looking forward to these next 2 "Scottish" styles of beer, but I didn't expect this one to be this nasty. The only thing it has going for it is the 8% ABV (and of course the name and the picture on the label). Now, just to be clear, this beer was of course brewed in America so please don't blame Scotland completely. And don't be dissing the old country - my mum is reading this blog. (Hiya mum!)

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    1. I had planned on wearing a kilt to work tomorrow if you liked this one, but I guess it's not meant to be. Maybe next time we have a Scottish ale with a kilt name. :)

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  7. I don't hate it, but I don't love it either. Another beer from a Virginia brewery that is not all that great. I liked their Vienna lager better. Their is a lot of aftertaste with this one for me. I do get some of the metallic taste. The good thing is it's 8% ABV and...well maybe that's it. At $11 a sixer I will not be looking for this one in the stores. I'm wondering if pairing this with the right food would make it better? I give this a 6 out of 10, C-

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  8. Not a big fan of this one, but I don't know if it's because I don't like the style or if this just isn't the greatest representative of it (I haven't tried that many). Sticky sweetness + dirt + alcohol fumes. On the plus side, a beautiful color.

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  9. No head on this one...just me? Reminds me of a mild Bourbon Stout. I'm off to buy me a kilt.

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  10. I enjoyed this a lot. I haven't been a big fan of the devils backbone beers in the past but this one hit the spot. I could definatly taste the carmel and not sure if it was because I was drinking this while waiting for supper but I could also feel the 8% ABV. Would enjoy drinking a few more but not sure the wife would appreciate it especially since she can't drink. B+

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  11. Love me some scotch ale! It is usually a go to beer for me at thanksgiving time. This one is pretty true to style...big, rich, malty sweetness, lite on the hops, and a big ABV. Not the best expression of the style, but still pretty damn tasty.
    I have already crushed a 12 pack of this in the last few weeks.

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  12. I found this one rather pleasant. It went down smoothly. Malty and vanilla sweetness, but I didn't find it as overly sweet as others did. Mind you, I followed it with a caramel porter that it obnoxious... It may have gained some points just by comparison.

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  13. I love scotch and I love beer, but I hate Scotch Ale.... but I was surprised that this was drinkable for me. I have had the other scotch ale in the case "old chub" and hated it, so expectations were low. C+

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  14. The first thing I smelled was apples. That's bad. Then it tasted sweet and like apples. Very bad. Kind of watery too. No head. I'm not a huge fan of Scottish and Scotch ales, but I don't even think this was a good example of one. Grade of D.

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  15. I thought this was a good beer. Not a big Scottish Ale drinker, so it was something different. When I sipped it, it was nothing great, but when I let it sit in the back of the mouth and breath the tastes came out. You could taste the alcohol. I would give it a B

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  16. I had high expectations when I cracked it open but found it hard to drink and it just for not have the complex flavor I was expecting.

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  17. Meh. Wanted it to be better, but didn't pan out.

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  18. Great warm up for when we get to the Old Chub!

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  19. Definitely not as good as Old Chub, but it is true to the Wee Heavy style. I enjoy most the Devil's Backbone's offerings, but this one is lower on my list. I do like the high ABV and sweetness of this one though.

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