BA Scotty Karate

Someone can correct me if I am wrong, but I believe it is a legal issue as far as not changing the abv on BA beers. From a legal standpoint the barrels shouldnt effect the ABV, as that would be fortifying and thus illegal. I think it is one of those things they just look the other way. That is a good thing, as we dont need more complications to the process.

 

This would depend greatly upon whether the barrels are nice n' juicy wet second use barrels or whether they might have been previously used for another Dark Horse beer (third or fourth use).

 

I was thinking about that as well. Im assuming they are saying its 2015 scotty aged. Would that mean that it spent close to year in the barrels..? Or was it aged for 6 months and they are calling it 2015 vintage because thats when it was brewed and put into barrels..? I think Dark Horse needs to give out more information on these barrel aged variants.

 

Dark Horse Facebook page stated that the 2015 vintage on the labels was because that is when the beer went into the barrels.

 

Agreed. This one is getting distributed some (i think they said that) and I don't know how far this will go but I know they distribute to Ohio. So if it is 9.75% that is fine, but if it really is like 13%, then it wouldn't be able to be sold there. Just a thought on that.

If I drank 2 scottys, thinking they were 9.75 but they really 13, that would be like me drinking another 7% beer without knowing it. Which could have other implications as well.

Just throwing out a few ideas how incorrect ABV reporting could go really wrong for them. In the end I would really like to know, because NO ABV increase when bourbon barrel aging confuses the heck out me, as that seems totally uncommon.

Also, that dating process seems off. This is the 2016 version of Scotty (in my mind) because that is when the beer was finished. Even if it was put in barrels in 15, it was not done at that point.

 

If I remember correctly, wine vintages are based on the year that the grapes were picked. Obviously it's not a 1:1 correlation with beer, but gives some insight into the fact that the vintage doesn't necessarily mean the year that it was finished and bottled.

Similarly, I believe the Lou Pepe beers from Cantillon are given a bottling date, but the sticker relates to the vintage, which is a different year than the bottling year.

 

They did the same with the Pairs of Legs beers in June. Both say 2014 vintage on the labels.

 

Omg I love scotty. Damnit I can't make it noooooooooooo

 

Any home brewers here who have a refractometer? http://www.brewheads.com/refract-getog.php

 

I know initial and final gravity tells you the ABV of the brewing process, but does that still hold true from additives like pure bourbon? You'd think you'd be able to do some math based on the gravity of the bourbon itself but I honestly don't know.

 

How would you know how much bourbon got into the beer? Also alcohol evaporates at room temperature and oak is porous. There are many factors. Beyond that, there is still the legal issue of adding liquor to beer is fortifying and illegal.

 

Sorry, by additive I meant the impact of the bourbon that gets added to the beer via the barrel aging process itself. It varies depending on all those factors you mentioned, how wet the barrel was, etc. and that's my understanding on why using a refractometer doesn't work to figure out how much the ABV increased from the barrel aging process.

 

Fwiw Looks like this finally made it to distro. Was pleasantly surprised when I walked into my local bottle shop to find a 4 pk waiting for me. Not sure what everyone else is paying, but mine was at $15.99

 

Wow awesome, didn't think was hitting distro.

 

Picked up a 4 pack and a single in east Lansing. Drank the single. Love it. Might have to pick up more when it hits around metro Detroit.

 

Picked up a few bottles in Grand Rapids Sunday, and am drinking one as I type this. Definitely more barrel than I was expecting. At $4.50 a bottle most places I've seen it, I'll likely be grabbing some more.

I actually asked my Wife on Saturday to check if the local store had it (as she was planning on stopping by anyway). Needless to say, she came home shortly thereafter all excited that she got my beer. In reality, she bought Scotty Karate vs. BA Scotty Karate. No harm though as it's also very enjoyable.

Anybody else here get headaches after 1-2 scotch ales? Just curious because as much as I love the style, it just doesn't like me. More often than not if I drink 1+ scotch ales, I wake up the next day (or if I'm still awake a few hours later) with a headache. Other styles don't seem to do the same thing to me (BA Stouts, porters, IPAs, sours, etc...)

 

Finally found 2 4pks of this just sitting on a shelf so snatched one of them up and left one hopefully brightening someone else's weekend like it did mine. No let down at all, thought the barrel came through nicely and added much more depth to Scotty. Here's to hoping this becomes a yearly release.

 

I saw two 4 packs yesterday as well, though I was not as nice as you - I took them both.

 

Grabbed my 4 pack for $18.

Its really good.

 

Is there any in the Chicago area? I want this one, bad.