Dark Horse Scotty Karate Scotch Ale - Dark Horse Brewing Company

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BA SCORE
90
outstanding
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919 Ratings

THE BROS
97
world-class
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rAvg: 4.03
pDev: 11.91%
Reviews: 486
Hads: 433

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Brewed by:
Dark Horse Brewing Company

Michigan, United States

Style | ABV
Scotch Ale / Wee Heavy | 9.75% ABV

Availability: Fall. bottle (440), on-tap (44), growler (2).

Notes:
Available September to March.

View: Beers (55) | Reviews (84) | Events (0)

Reviews

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Reviews by israel:

israel

New York

4.25/5 rDev +5.5%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 3.5

Thanks to pwoods for providing the opportunity to try this beer

A - Opaque with a slightly thin head that kinda goes away quickly and just forms a halo of sorts around the rim. there's no lacing and I can see carbonation bubbles streaking along the sides to the top.

S -Definite dark fruits with an alcohol presence, reminds me of a fruit bread. Great aroma and very inviting, I caught myself smelling this beer more than was necesarry.

T - After my initial taste I had to double check the ABV% to make sure this beer was actually almost 10%, very smooth for such a alcohol presence. The flavors don't seem overly complex but this works really well for this beer IMO. Lots of malty goodness accompanied with flavors of dark fruits and candies.

M - Not a ton of carbonation which really works well for this beer. The beer just sorta slides over my tongue leaving a smooth pleasant aftertaste.

D - This is a great tasting scotch ale and one that I will definitely seek out again, but being so high in alc.% you really can only have so many of these.

Serving type: bottle

02-08-2009 04:33:10 | More by israel

More User Reviews:

BlurryVisi0n

New York

3.93/5 rDev -2.5%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4

Served in a tulip glass.

Appearance: One thing is for sure and I find quite intriguing is how heavy the bubbles are on the body of the brew.The body itself is brown with a caramel color, almost opaque and hazy with sediments floating throughout. Head is off-white rising to maybe 1/4".

Smell: Light malts, smells good giving you a sweet scent.

Taste: Has a sweet caramel feel with a hit of toffee. Absolutely love the malts, migvht overwhelm first time scotch ale drinkers but I find it just right.

Mouth: Medium to heavy, carbonation...bitter finish at the end might remind you something making you reminisce of barleywine.

Overall: Very good brew but still not at the level of my favorite scotch ale. It definitely is stronger but stronger doesn't always mean better. Flavor is everything and a little tweaking couldn't hurt. Salud!

Serving type: bottle

06-20-2013 06:44:34 | More by BlurryVisi0n

Eddyfunt

Michigan

4/5 rDev -0.7%

06-18-2013 20:32:45 | More by Eddyfunt

jimmah120

Minnesota

3.75/5 rDev -6.9%

06-17-2013 06:19:50 | More by jimmah120

harrymel

Washington

3.75/5 rDev -6.9%

06-14-2013 04:20:52 | More by harrymel

djre4orm

Virginia

4/5 rDev -0.7%

06-13-2013 19:52:32 | More by djre4orm

pjkelley82

New York

4.18/5 rDev +3.7%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4

I had the privilege of tasting this next to innis & Gunn as well as founders dirty bastard. My friend prefered this one over the 3. Mainly for the reasons I liked it over the founders one which was more mouth to it and a little more bite. To me the founders was a little sweeter which i liked. I prefer innis and gunn over all of them but thats me... this is probably the 5th or 6th wee heavy I tried and it's easily number 2... I wouldn't skip over this one if you like the style...

Serving type: bottle

06-11-2013 07:51:35 | More by pjkelley82

woodychandler

Pennsylvania

3.79/5 rDev -6%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75

Another bottled beer courtesy of my local, in-person trader, tone77. Cool stuff!

From the bottle: "Guest Artist Series #1 James Mestamaker Austin Texas".

I have no idea how the label relates to the idea of a Scotch Ale, but I totally dig the wigged-out one-man band that it depicts. Perhaps that is how they anticipate one will feel after a bottle of this beer. We shall see. Holy hot, Batman! I got a good whiff of booze in pouring this one into my glass. I got a brief appearance of (maybe) a finger of deep-tan head that quickly fell to swirling wisps. Color was a slightly hazy cola-brown. Nose smelled of dried, dark fruit(s), leather, lemon zest and al-kee-haul. Whee! Mouthfeel was medium with an initial alcohol heat followed by notes of toffee, leather, dried fruit, and brown sugar. Finish was semi-dry with the alcohol heat accounting for this in the face of all of the sugary flavors involved. This really packed a wallop, even for me. I would recommend that you at least try it once and if you are a fan of the style (which I am not), you will be head over heels for it.

Serving type: bottle

06-09-2013 04:29:31 | More by woodychandler

Greywulfken

New York

4.03/5 rDev 0%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4

A: deep brown body under a finger of tan foam in an over-sized snifter; filmy cap persisted for the most part; sparse brief lace motes

S: deep, rich, thick, dark malty smells, fruit-like; caramel toffee sweetness aromas

T: crisper than the nosee; intimations of peat smoke and boozy fruit. Made me think of rye spiciness at times. Sweetened with warming, softening edges.

M: a little shaper than I'd expected early on, but still in line with the taste; slight filmy coating; slight astringence while cooler; bittering, then smoothing finish

O: a rugged take on the wee heavy, not as syrupy as some, with more bite than others.

Serving type: bottle

06-09-2013 00:09:28 | More by Greywulfken