Sappy Slappy Bastard
Founders Brewing Company

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Enjoyed on tap at The magnificent Crane Alley in Urbana,

One lush finger of tan froth tops a deep muddy brown body. Light appears incapable of penetrating Sappy Slappy. Dense rings of lacing on the pint glass leave me highly impressed. The nose is rife with vanilla bean and maple syrup, while the bourbon cask permeates the beer with a dense oak, whiskey smell. Magnificent.

As good as the smell is, the flavor is even better. The bourbon cask loads the beer with a hearty complexity, while the hop flavor and texture provide a resiny, gritty flavor. This is so robust and complex, it is easy to mistake this for an American Barleywine, given the dense hops and rich malt. Vanilla bean and dark chocolate provide a sweeter finish after the bourbon-dominated first half. Extremely well balanced mouthfeel.

Overall, this was nothing short of outstanding, and I knew nothing of Founders making this. I cannot recommend this highly enough should it be available either on tap or in bottles. First rate.

Reviewed from notes. On tap at Smokin' Joe's in Pittsburgh. Had in April of 2010. Served in those weird glasses at SJ's that I'm still unsure of what they are...

A - Pours a dark amber, brown, almost mahogany color. No head to speak of, but a tan collar and some slight tan bubbles here and there.

S - Lots of woody notes here along with bourbon, maple and vanilla. Caramel and some malt come out as well. Really nice.

T - Follows the nose quite well but more buttery caramel flavors come out along with the maple and bourbon. Brown sugar and oak make themselves known as well.

M - Medium to heavy bodied beer that was smooth and creamy on the tongue. Low carbonation.

O - Really surpsied to find this one as I had never heard of it. Really nice offering from Founders!

Wow I had no idea this was like the dirty bastard with a higher ABV.
A - Well it poured pitch black with very minimal head. As drunk the lacing came into play but really no carbonation
S - Mostly maple and bourbon but very faint. I bet nitro would have shaken it up a bit and given it more smelll.
T - Damn bourbon (or scotch?) was very present. A very slight maple or nut flavor followed but the bourbon wasn't as strong (tasting) as expected. Pretty well rounded.
M - Well it was extremely heavy but I got it down with little trouble.
D - Well as a limited experiment by founders I have mixed feelings. Obviously those complaining its too sweet must be alcoholics because I was mostly tasting straight up scotch but on the flip side it wasn't worth the rarity charge (5.85 with the dollar off happy hour charge! Goddamn!) Overall it was a learning experience since it had flavor and substance but very slight bourbon flavor for the ABV. Cool.

This is a realy crazy beer, at times I thought it was a wine than abeer than a burbon. A realy fun and beer that over loads the scences.

A- clear ruby red with very little head. when I recieved it it was just around the edges.

S- hints of burbon wood and spices.

T- Each sip was a cocktail of flavors.

M- was medium not lite but not to heavy every thing I could wish for.

On tap at Smokin' Joe's in Pittsburgh...very surprised to find this one.

A - pours a dark amber brown color without a hint of head, only a thin partial collar of tan bubbles.

S - lots of wood, nice vanilla notes, bourbon, some caramel and a tiny hint of butter.

T - taste matches the aroma pretty well. Bourbon, vanilla, caramel, sweet in a sugary way, oak, alcohol...pretty smooth overall, but a bit hot on the finish.

M - full bodied, sweet with snooth creamy carbonation. Some alcohol warmth and tingle on the tongue and sides of the mouth.

D - not completely, but tending towards being a sipper. Some warmth from the alcohol, alcohol is pretty high too. Definitely one to take slowly, but since I'm here and will probably never see this again, I will probably have another.

On-tap at Smokin' Joe's Saloon, East Carson, Pittsburgh's South Side.

It looked great. I found some nice scents of toasted malts, nuts and hops florals but not enough to rescue the overall enjoyment or lack thereof. There were 3 of us beer-fanatics and no one liked it at all.

It has a nice boldness to it as something in the nut-brown category, fairly decent as a Scotch Ale category but the maple syrupy effect was truly nauseating. I just couldn't get myself to finish even the 8-ounce sampler glass. It was truly nauseating, for all of us.

Slightly smoky malty notes and some hops bitters and florals were nice but buried somewhere in there under maple syrup.

It's still a much better offering in the maple category than Tommyknocker's Maple Nut Brown Ale which is probably the only other maple beer that I've had to compare.