Bourbon Oaked Scotch Ale
Rohrbach Brewing Company (Brewpub)

This brew was served from the cask at The Old Toad in Rochester, NY. It arrived in a house pint glass glowing a golden brown-amber coloring. It held a two finger head of creamy tan bubbles, showing good retention. Thick haze was noted in the absence of sediment. Carbonation appeared light. The aroma had strong popcorn nuttiness to it right from the start. Malts were pale and caramel, both with a light toastiness to them. The oak was faint and also warming and toasted, with little else to suggest any barrel aging at all. To cut, finally, were white sugars, light leathers, and the light smokiness of burnt malts. Our first impression was that the flavoring was more similar to a “nutted” version of their Scotch Ale, and less like it had been oak or bourbon aged. As we sipped, sweeter lightly roasted malts hit first, with that popcorn flavoring from the nose, metallic adjuncts, and metallic yeast. The peak came with musk and woodiness, drying chalkiness of grain and yeast, and light black pepperiness of booze. Medicinal phenols, muddy caramel malts, gravel, and mineral marked the finish, with a final watery wash of caramel malts. The aftertaste breathed of soured oak, burnt popcorn smoke, phenolic bite, booze, warmed raw cinnamon, nutmeg, and grassy dryness. The body was medium, and the carbonation was light. Each sip afforded decent slurp and smack, but lighter froth to the lip. The mouth puckered downt he palate with big woody dryness, and crisp astringency. The abv was appropriate, and the beer drank easily.

Overall, the best thing about this beer was the drinkability. You can definitely slurp and gulp this beer without anything offensive stopping you on the way down. This, however, was also to its detriment, as any of the desired robustness of oak or bourbon was replaced by that curious burnt popcorn flavoring. This is an okay variant, but we’ll be sticking to their regular Scotch Ale.