Frugal Macs (Bourbon Barrel-Aged)
Cool Springs Brewery

Smells great. Tastes very artificial. Does not taste like it's been aged for a year, tastes like bourbon, probably cheap bourbon was added after the fact. It's incredibly syrupy, which does not make it rich it makes it difficult to swallow and makes it taste more like liquor than beer. It even looks quite more like an ingredient you'd add to something more than a beer. It's not even bitter, it's just too sweet but in all the wrong ways. The taste is so bourbon-y it's hard to avoid. Bought this at Frugal McDougal in Nashville after being recommended the best scotch ale. It's not hard to mess up a scotch ale, add a ton of grain and malt, mix it up and age it 3 to 6 months. They messed it up in such a way it's not a beer. The beer is priced at $20 a pint, I'd suggest it was much less, closer to $4 a pint because it's awful. It certainly gets you drunk, but it does not taste even interesting or complex like a high alcohol beer tends to at this price range. I'd rather just drink straight bourbon because at least cheap whiskey wouldn't force me to suffer through it. I know beeradvocate tells us not to rate beers poorly out of hate but this beer really needs to be fixed. A bourbon barrel scotch should be delicious, not awful. Fix it guys.

22 oz poured into snifter

A: murky brackish brown hinting towards black not much light getting through almost no head to speak of

S: lots of scotch earthy smokey

T: huge peat taste up front malty scotch and then a little oak barrel then a very tiny bit of vanilla and toffee

M: thin too a little bit medium

O: unimpressed I was hoping the Barrel would smooth out some of the rougher edges of a beer not this one. You better love scotch and peat because this beer has it in spades.