After some extra waiting, we've reached the last part of the trilogy. First part was good, second part showed some surprises, so this should be the disappointing unnecessary sequel. But in the end the truth can be that "your feeble skills are no match for the power of the Dark Side. You have paid the price for your lack of vision!" So, let's see and have a taste.
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| Wasting 0,5 cl of each fine dram... |
Third beer to be disgraced by my obsession to mess things up is Founders Dirty Bastard Scotch Ale. It's Wee Heavy. Well, yes, "way heavy", but as a beer style a strong pale ale from Scotland. Sweet caramel malty, moderately bitter and slowly spicy-growing great brew.
Since there already is a bourbon barrel-ged version - also excellent Backwoods Bastard - available, I didn't mix the beer with Maker's Mark. Instead I picked two whiskies from the second part, Auchentoschan Heartwood and Glenmorangie The Quinta Ruban, first one being sherry and bourbon barrel-aged Lowlander and the latter being partly port barrel-aged Speysider. For the part of the wild card or the joker I picked Ardbeg Corryvreckan, heavily peated cask strength Islay dram.
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| ...but here everything seems to be fine... |
The test
Since the arrangements and the amounts of whisky per dose were exactly the same as in the second test, we'll get straight to the notorious table:
| Dirty Bastard | |||||
| Whisky | Whisky volume (l) | Whisky abv (/1) | Beer volume (l) | Beer abv (/1) | Total abv (%) |
| Ardbeg Corryvreckan | 0,005 | 0,57 | 0,12 | 0,085 | 10,47 |
| Glenmorangie The Quinta Ruban | 0,005 | 0,46 | 0,12 | 0,085 | 10,02 |
| Auchentoschan Heartwood | 0,005 | 0,43 | 0,12 | 0,085 | 9,90 |
Then comes counting the costs. You get a bottle of Dirty Bastard from Alko with 3,99 euros. Price of 0.5 cl of whisky is 27 cents (Heartwood), 50 cents (Quinta Ruban) and 71 cents (Corryvreckan). Mixing one bottle of DB with 1,5 cl of one of these whiskies costs 4,70 - 6,22 euros. Is it a lot or not? The answer is once again a question: who gives a f**k?
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| ...until the bastard did it again! |
Tasting notes
Every mix is mahogany brown in colour and because of the slow pouring, there's only a thin tan lace.
Dirty Bastard vs. Ardbeg Corryvreckan
Aroma has peaty smoke, tar, roasted caramel and stingy alcohol. Taste begins with smoked sweet malts. Heavy, peated smoke and sweet burned caramel take over with bitter salty liquorice. Towards the end sweet tar-caramel, fruity bitterness and spicy alcohol step in front. Aftertaste has tar-flavoured liquorice, smoky-piny bitterness and oaky dryness.
In this case Corryvreckan comes out first with peaty smoke, tar and liquorice. But the peated Islay whisky seems to fit Scotch ale's caramel and bitter flavour much better than a roasted porter or stout. The result reminds recently tasted Nøgne Ø Sunturnbrew, which was a superb beer. Excellent and delicious.
Dirty Bastard vs. Glenmorangie The Quinta Ruban
Aroma has sweet berries/grapes, caramel malts and spicy booze. Taste starts with sweet fruity caramel. Sweet caramel malts and fruit-berry juice take over with spicy-fruity alcohol. Towards the end fruity liquor, spicy caramel and sweetish bitterness get on top. Aftertaste has a boozy kick, spicy-fruity bitterness and lasting oaky-peppery dryness.
Quinta Ruban hits the goal again. Fruity-spicy whisky supports the brew's malty sweet character beautifully. In the end oak comes out by giving the aftertaste a lasting spicy-dry ending. Superbly delicious.
Dirty Bastard vs. Auchentoshan Heartwood
Aroma has caramel malts, sweet dark fruits and alcohol. Taste starts with spicy fruity malts. Caramel malts and sweet dark fruits take over with spicy bitter alcohol kick. Towards the end oaky-spicy whisky comes out with fruity bitterness and malty sweetness staying by its side. Aftertaste has oaky-fruity bitterness, piny-malty dryness and spicy alcohol warmth.
Heartwood's oak, fruits and spices fit to the fruit, caramel and bitter flavours of the beer beautifully. Especially oak rounds the sweet elements of the brew very pleasantly. This is an excellent treat.
Conclusions
The result is a pleasant surprise: every Scotch single malt whisky seems to work beautifully with Wee Heavy. Auchentoschan Heartwood's spicy and oaky fruits match with the fruity caramel brew in a delicious way. Glenmorangie Quinta Ruban supports the brew's sweetness and gives it a tasty lasting oaky finale. I have to share the silver medal with these two. The gold goes to the union of Ardbeg Corryvreckan and Dirty Bastard, since in that combo the beer is the one that rounds the peat spike of the whiskey with the deep malty character - the result is a very unique but exquisite flavour.
Ölbeat
For the last and probably the best part of the trilogy I pick my personal favourite version of this title theme.
Thin Lizzy: Whiskey in the Jar (YouTube)
Released originally as a single in 1972, the song is a traditional Irish song.
