Hellbender Brewing Co. - "Groundskeeper Islay" wee heavy

I first heard of this beer back around Christmastime, when I just started working at D'Vines. At the front counter, we had a little four-pack of fancy, rare whisky pints from local spirit producer One Eight Distilling. One of them was the "Wee Heavy", and was a bourbon aged in barrels used to make "Groundskeeper Islay", a 9.10% ABV Scotch ale made by Hellbender Brewing Co. I really like Scotch ales (and Scotch whisky) so I was quite intrigued. Fast forward a few months, and this little sixth-keg was delivered to the shop!

The name of the beer is a fun play-on-words; it references the whisky heritage of the beer (Islay) and everyone's favorite red-haired janitor, Willie, from The Simpsons. For those unaware, Islay (pronounced ee-luh, or, as I have also heard it, "eye-lah") is an island off the coast of Scotland, west of Glasgow and just south of the Inner Hebrides. It's home to many of the finest Scotch whisky distilleries, including Lagavulin, Laphroaig, and Bowmore, and is often associated with highly peated whiskys.

But what is "peat"? You may have heard of this before. According to internationally-recognized peat expert Dr. Hans Joosten, peat is "an accumulation of partially-decayed vegetation or organic matter that is unique to natural areas called peatlands, bogs, mires, moors, or muskeags." Peat is collected and often used as fuel in the malt-drying process, which imparts a pungent, vegetal, or medicinal character to the malts used to make whisky. This is why many whiskys from Islay have an astringent quality that has become a trademark of sorts.

Portnahaven, Islay, Scotland

So armed with this context, let's take a look at this beer. I don't have a bottle to show, since it's from my growler. It has a deep brick-red color, and generates very foamy, thick head.

If you are looking for a textbook example of a wee heavy / Scotch ale, this isn't it. While it has many of the qualities of a Scotch ale - an overly-malty, flat, slightly sweet beer with notes of caramel - this beer is also surprisingly lively, and has several major departures from the style: there's not only quite a bit of hops, but I can detect strong medicinal notes at home more in a glass of Kilchoman than in a beer. It has a strong finish and aftertaste of, well, burnt toast - some carbon, caramel, and grain / malt flavors.

Both the hops and the whisky notes gives the beer quite a strength of flavor to that I wasn't expecting. Although it's 35 IBUs, it the hop tang is quite noticeable (especially on the aftertaste) and is what's most unusual about this beer. The whisky-like flavors are also really interesting, and so if you're a fan of whisky, this is definitely a beer to investigate!