Brewtorium Barrel-Aged Little Ivan McGregor

My wife's been gone all weekend on a girls' trip to Vegas, leaving me as a de facto single dad over the weekend, but on Friday before she left the following morning, she and the kids accompanied me to The Brewtorium in Austin for dinner and beer.  She's nice like that.  Anyway, their Barrel-Aged Little Ivan McGregor, a combo Scotch ale/imperial stout was delightful.  Pouring a dark, deep brown with an off white head, the 11.5% ABV beer smells of toffee, vanilla, chocolate, and booze, those same flavors prevailing throughout.  Rich.  Complex.  Delicious.

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4th Tap Highland Scoundrel

On Friday, i took a day off from work, as did my wife, and the two of us went on a kind of brewery taproom crawl during the day while the kids were at school and daycare.  The last brewery we hit was 4th Tap Brewing Co-op in North Austin, and while i made sure to try a whole slew of things partaking in a flight, my favorite was the Highland Scoundrel, a delicious Scotch Ale.  The beer pours dark and brown and smells molasses, toffee, and malt.  Flavors of brown sugar, caramel, and dark fruit swirl in this strong 10% ABV, but never gets too boozy.  All in all, a perfect Fall libation.

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