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Tonight’s review is gonna be whack. Things will be weird, I’m sure. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Tonight’s beer is a recommendation from a friend at work, Nick. He’s the guy who quietly said, “Have you tried Dragon’s Milk? It’s pretty good.” One of the best tasting beers I’ve had and he called it pretty good. We have another one of Nick’s pretty good recommendations on tap for tonight. I spotted this beer during our last foray to Binny’s in Plainfield. It’s called Scotty Karate Scotch Ale made by the Dark Horse Brewing Co. out of Marshall, Michigan. This will be our first taste from that brewery as I’ve never heard of it until recently. I picked up a four-pack for under 8 bucks and was surprised when I spotted the ABV on the label: 9.75%. Double barreled… four should be plenty.

When I brought the beer home, I started doing some Internet background checking. The bottles had no neck ring, black, undecorated bottlecaps, and the caricature of a guy in a medicine man’s horned bison headwear with a guitar and drums. What in the wide world of sports is going on here? Who is Scotty Karate?

I went right to the Dark Horse website where I found:

For those of you who don’t know who “Scotty Karate” is… He is a local one man band who plays an amazing slurry of honky tonk influenced, punk country songs. His voice is amazing as well as his high energy shows. (Check him out @ www.scottykarate.com) So, we decided to make a beer and name it in his honor. This beer is a big, full bodied Scottish ale. It is 9.75% alc. but it is very smooth and balanced. Since Scotty is also very passionate about  beer I asked him to write a description for you, so from the man himself…

Aroma: Smells like A fresh caramel apple with a hint of cinnamon inside of cranberry shortbread. Or maybe fresh home made hard candy (from home economics class-7th grade).?

Flavor: Tastes like a smokey chocolate chip cookie, wild roadside cherry-asparagus, woody, crispy leaf on a fall day.

Scotty’s website yielded this image and not much else:

And he sort of looks like this guy:

Scotty Karate is a musical artist who seems to have a bit of a tech background in the fact that some of his performances are accompanied by a solenoid operated, computerized rhythm section. I’d also venture to say that his performances are unrehearsed and all of them are audience pleasers.

Another little tidbit of weirdness turned up when grabbing info from the beer rating sites. The recommended drinking vessel is called a thistle.

Not that one, this other one. It’s a goofy design for a glass, wouldn’t you say? Sure looks nice but it doesn’t seem practical. After reading some reviews on this beer, I was almost going to choose the Duvel tulip glass, but instead, I decided to go weird myself and chose a plain, ordinary pub pint glass.

With a full stomach, I set myself up with Mac and camera and glass and beer. Let the weirdness begin!

The beer poured up an orange-red color and was translucent in the glass. I can’t say if it was bottle conditioned or not, having dumped the entire contents in one motion. The head was rather sparse and had an off-white tint to it. The aroma was slight and hinted of dark fruit, strawberry or grape.

The first sip had a multitude of flavors in it. Full body, with a hint of smokiness mixed in with a little sweet at the front. There was a lot going on with each sip. The maltiness in this beer is very full and I could tell from the taste that it was a high gravity beer.

The sweetness slowly came forward and rounded out the taste. This beer was very reminiscent of Dragon’s Milk but with a bit of smoke thrown in. Each sip had that deep, rich flavor with the sweet at the front and the kick of smoke on the way down. This beer was very full bodied, robust, hearty, you know, thick in the middle. This was a big beer.

Halfway through the first glass, my stomach space heater kicked on low. Although the beer didn’t have an alcohol taste to it (a “hot” beer), it did have the kindling and spark for some stomach heat. Each sip however, had that full flavor and the smokiness.

It’s my own personal preference but if you ask me, the smoke flavor is a detraction in the experience of this otherwise rich tasting beer. Each sip had a little bit of smoldering campfire that went along with it and ended the taste concert with a cowbell. This beer had less smoke in it than O’Fallon’s Smoke porter from not too long ago. It was as if you took O’Fallon’s and ratcheted it up in flavor about 5 times.

This beer is definitely a sipping beer and at 9.75% ABV, forget about slamming or sessioning. Have one or two with a favorite uncle during a visit. This would be a good congratulatory beer after a graduation or wedding when all the hubbub has died down. I’d say it’s beer of togetherness, a personal moment shared among friends. Have your beer, your moment, and then move on.

Overall, Scotty Karate is a wonderful taste experience with a full body and a smoky hint that will make one remember it for a long, long time.

The SixPackTech ratings for Scotty Karate Scotch Ale are:

Taste: A- > A junkyard full of flavor in each sip.
Smoothness: B > An oil fire in the DeSoto section.
Drinkability: C+ > Have one. Have two. Then you’ll have second thoughts about three.
Bang for the buck: B- > Under 8 bucks for a fist in the taste buds.
ABV: 9.75% (Be careful.)
Wife’s all-encompassing opinion: Kinda dark; cloudy dark. (sip) Oh! (smack) Uff! Nuff! It’s the tang and the bitter and the dry hitcha all at one time. I’ll pass on this one. Yuck. (What? No mention of smoke or berries? Hey! Is that it??!!)

(BA) – (RB)

Scotty Karate himself: