Great Lakes Dirtbag McQuaig's Malt Liquor For Fine Gentlemen - Great Lakes Brewery

biegaman

Ontario (Canada)

3.68/5  rDev +5.4%
look: 3.25 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4

Dirtbag McQuaig's has an appearance that I'm not at all familiar with seeing in a beer. True, I'm not used to buying 40 ounce bottles in brown paper bags, but, seriously, I'm not trying to be funny here. It is an entirely smoggy straw-coloured liquid with an almost lime-juice tinted complexion. It kind of has that unearthly green luminosity that cartoons give to nuclear contaminants. I wonder, Does it glow in the dark too?

I wasn't sure whether to chastise or reward the 'otherworldly' appearance, but I'm even more ambivalent about the aroma. Is it good or bad that this smells virtually like nothing at all? If anything, whatever faint graininess is perceived is pleasant and has an heir of authenticity (i.e., is free of off-putting adjuncts). Sure, there's a bit of alcohol but I reckon more than half of the commercial lagers I've tried have smelled five times worse than this.

With regards to aroma we can say there is nothing bad. With regards to taste, we can say that there's only good. Much to my (pleasant) surprise, Dirtbag McQuaig, despite what its name might lead you to believe, is actually - so far I can tell - a serious attempt at making an agreeable malt liquor (as opposed to a sarcastic attempt at imitating commercial malt liquors). Or at least it turned out that way.

Malt liquor like this makes the down-and-out significantly better-off. There's no taste of corn syrup or other starch sugars. In fact, there's no taste even of corn or rice (except maybe the slight flavour of corn chips, albeit the organic, multi-coloured brand from the gourmet store). It has a sweet taste, no doubt, but it's nothing saccharine. It also passes a test that no malt liquor should ever be put to - it is every bit as drinkable warm as chilled.

I started this review thinking that the government might want to prevent this malt liquor from ever falling into Iranian or North Korean (or the general public's) hands, but upon actually trying the beer my opinion was instantly swayed. I would have been fine with a silly, jokey offering but Dirtbag McQuaig's Malt Liquor For Fine Gentlemen is nowhere near the satirical offering I assumed it'd be. It's actually a 40 not worth pouring out for your fallen hommies.

Serving type: bottle

03-22-2013 00:39:18 | More by biegaman

peensteen

Ontario (Canada)

3.53/5  rDev +1.1%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

40oz. bottle. Poured 12oz in a tulip for the tick, the rest drank from the bottle.

Lightly hazed blonde colour, one finger of white head with some lace. Smell is dominated by grainy malts, fruity points, some apple juice, farily hop forward earthiness and some alcohol, some sweet scents come off as well, somewhere between a 3 and 3.5 but went with the higher score here. Taste is also quite grainy and malty, apple and other fruit, mild sweetness, medium bitterness, alcohol on back end feels a little higher than the 7% the label suggests. Medium-light carbonation medium body. Overall this was pretty enjoyable but I'm sure stronger than 7% ABV listed, I could see myself drinking another (or part of) one of these again though.

Serving type: bottle

12-28-2012 13:58:31 | More by peensteen