Day 66: 03.07.10 BrewDog/Mikkeller Devine Rebel

BrewDog Ltd.

Fraserburgh, Scotland


in collaboration with:
Mikkeller

Kobenhaven, Denmark


Devine Rebel


Style: English Barleywine
Availability: Limited - Brewed Once
Format: 330ml
ABV: 12.1%


Bottle text & Info: 
"In a rock n' roll collaboration, 2 of Europe's most extreme, experimental brewers have combined forces, talents and ideas to produce this innovative ale. Uniting inspiration, ingredients and people from around the world this beer was brewed and aged at BrewDog in Scotland. This rebellious beer is partially aged in oak Spayside whiskey barrels and partially aged in stainless steel, combines an ale yeast and a champagne yeast and showcases a single hop variety."


Tasting Notes:
Pours a deep copper with little to no head.  Smells of candied dark fruit, prune/fig, dried peach and that classic caramel - butterscotch note. Nice nose on this one. Mouthfeel is smooth and heavy with some great toffee, caramel and vanilla notes along with slight marzipan and scotch whiskey all backed by warming alcohol. An absolutely chewy barleywine that has a great dynamic between honey-like sweetness on fruit ending with some slight tartness. I have to admit, English-style Barleywines aren't my favorites. I usually find them too malty and cloyingly sweet - however, the whiskey and the tart end hold my interest. If you enjoy big, malty, night cappers - I'd definitely recommend checking this out. A solid offering produced by two of Europe's most innovative breweries.

Day 65: 03.06.10 BrewDog Storm IPA

BrewDog Ltd.

Fraserburgh, Scotland


Storm (Islay Whiskey Cask Aged) IPA 


Style: Double/Imperial India Pale Ale
Availablity: Year Round
Format: 330ml
ABV: 8.0%


Bottle text & Info:
"At BrewDog we are selfish; we only make beers that we want to drink. This is not an unerring, despondent half hearted compromise. This bottle contains are IPA which has been aged in Scottish Islay whiskey casks. The combination of Islay whisky casks and New Zealand hops is one of polar opposites on many levels. Drinking this beer is like being caught in the eye of a force 12 North Atlantic storm. Heavily peated demonic smoked Islay whiskey and the fruity hop flavors of our IPA should not go well together. Nor should mild pretentiousness and exponential cool. However at BrewDog we are pretty sure we can rock it out and make both admirable combinations work reasonably well. Zeitgeist in a bottle."


Tasting Notes:
Pours a dirty golden orange with little to no head, that immediately creates a white ring around the glass. Whoas. Smells overwhelmingly of smokey peat ridden scotch. This will make your eyes water. I'm a little frightened. Can i get this on the rocks? Here goes. Yeah, ok. No. Watery mouthfeel with slight, slight hints of Kent Goldings that is immediately overwhelmed by smoke and peat. This has all the peat notes-  band-aid/plastic weird smoke flavors that I love in the whiskeys from the west of Scotland. This just isn't what I want in an IPA. This might work if they ratcheted up the hops so it wasn't just dominated by the whiskey, or perhaps they should just stick to only whiskey cask aging their stouts. There's a fine line between confidence and arrogance and this beer errs on the side of the later. The boys at BrewDog had it right when they said "heavily peated demonic smoked Islay whiskey and the fruity hop flavors of our IPA should not go well together." They don't. I get that BrewDog essentially sees themselves as the Dogfish Brewing of Europe. You push the envelope, you do extreme beers. We get it. Sometimes when you try/experiment with brewing things don't go well. When they don't - when the beer fails to come together. You scrap it and go back to the drawing board. This offering from BrewDog seems forced, sort of like they don't even believe in it. Like they brewed it just because they could.  And this is proof that just because something can technically be done, doesn't mean it should. Occasionally, BrewDog will hit a home run, then sometimes they whiff.  If you pay attention, you can feel the breeze from this miss.

Day 64: 03.05.10 BrewDog Tokyo*

BrewDog Ltd.

Fraserburgh, Scotland


Tokyo*


Style: Russian Imperial Stout
Availability: Limited
Format: 330ml
ABV: 18.2%
IBUs: 90
Malts: Maris Otter, Dark Crystal, Caramalt, Chocolate Malt, Roast Barley
Hops: Galena
Twist: Brewed with Jasmine and Cranberries. Dry-Hopped then aged on oak chips.  
Batch: 002


Bottle text & Info: 
"The irony of existentialism, the parody of being and the inherent contradictions of post-modernism, all so delicately conveyed by the blocky, pixelated arcade action have all been painstakingly recreated in this bottles contents. This imperial stout is brewed with copious amounts of speciality malts, jasmine and cranberries. After fermentation we then dry-hop this killer stout with a bucketload of our favourite hops before carefully ageing the beer on French toasted oak chips. It is all about moderation. Everything in moderation, including moderation itself. What logically follows is that you must, from time, have excess. This beer is for those times."

check out the video blog on tokyo here!

Tasting Notes:

Alright fellow beer turds. we have a treat tonight. Don't even ask me where i got this. i won't tell you, other than to say in the words of one the greatest bands ever (OneRepublic) "i've got all the right friends in all the right places." Let's get into this. 18.2% abv. yikes! This beer is commonly known as the tokyo stout. for some reason the guys at BrewDog were feeling particularly illiterate i guess, cause this beer here has 'tokio' boldly printed across the front of it. Anyways, on to the good stuff. Predictably pours a brownish black showing a mocha colored head that has good retention and clings to the glass. Plenty booze on the nose as well as that crazy soy sauce smell ales that have met significant barrel aging get. Some chocolate hidden in the back. Mouthfeel is nice and creamy with some tingling alcohol that burns nicely on the way down. talk about warming. whoa. Some nice roasted malts notes that intermingle with chocolate and vanilla notes. The cranberries and the jasmine are hidden way in the back of this one although sweet cherry/cranberry notes build with each sip. Pretty freakin sweet. The alcohol on creates a bite and some heat that brings you back for another sip, however, the sweetness builds and I find myself beginning to wince a little bit with each sip nearing the end of the session. Perhaps some more carbonation would make this a bit more drinkable. Surprisingly enough, the alcohol is less than bothersome, and it has the legs of a great RIS, but it just gets too sweet for me. Still glad I got to try this guy. A lot of people say this drinks quite similar to Dogfish's World Wide Stout. Aging you ask? um. yes. best by date says you're good as long as you drink it before December 14th, 2019.

Day 31: 01.31.10 Brewdog Paradox: Isle of Arran

Brewdog Ltd.
Fraserburgh, Scotland


Paradox: Isle of Arran


Style: Imperial Stout
Availability: Limited - One Time Brew
Format: 330ml
ABV: 10.0%
IBU's: 70
Malts: Marris Otter, Dark Crystal, Caramalt, Chocolate Malt, Roasted Barley
Hops: Galena, Bramling Cross
Batch: 16 Isle of Arran "best  before: 08.08.10."


Bottle text & Info:
"A rock'n roll partnership between Scotland's best new distillery (Distiller of the Year 2007) and Scotland hardcore new microbrewery (Gold Medal Winner, World Beer Cup 2008). Paradox, Isle of Arran Edition, see's BrewDog's killer 10% Imperial Stout matured in stunning whiskey casks from the Arran distillery. The rich vanilla sweetness, hints of cinnamon and balancing aromatic fruit and ginger flavors of the Arran Malt are all completely infused deep into the texture of our smooth robust Imperial Stout. Profound new depths emerge with each pass and sip, the pallet is as polished and classic as a Robbie Burns masterpiece. This is Scotland in a glass."




Tasting Notes:
Oh, man... So i just cracked this guy and there appears to be either rust or some sort of other corrosive metal leached around the entirety of the bottle, right below where the cap was. BrewDog has a buzz brewery around the state and they're only two years old. They have loud packaging, a bit of arrogance and talk a big game - they're pretty much the Stone Brewery of the U.K. (they appropriately collaborated on an ale, as well.) Anyways, I digress. They're has been some talk in the community about batch consistency and bottling issues. The brewery did deal swiftly and refunded and replaced bottles, so cheers for that. All I'm saying is that I'd not be happy if i spent 12$ on this 330ml to find what appears like rust under the cap. And what's with the best before date being 2010. This is an Imperial Stout, shouldn't this be just fine for atleast 2 years? I'm a little nervous to drink this to be quite honest. Anyways, time to sack up.


Pours a very opaque brown to black although the body shows somewhat thin with light penetrating the sides. Little to no head retention which is common for cask/barrel aged ales. A persistent cream colored ring hangs around the sides of the ale. Smells mostly of wood, almost like cedar. Some scotch, some roasted barley and some smoke in the background but mostly cedar chips up front. The body is silky smooth with some slight peat peeking through beneath layers of chocolate and vanilla with plenty of warming on the finish. As the session persist rum cake and hazelnut notes join the party. This is NOT a Russian Imperial Stout. Let's get that straight. The main knock on this guy seems to be its carbonation level; however, at room temperature out of a snifter, I have absolutely no qualms about it's low level carbonation. In fact, this is par for the course if not over carbonated for most U.K barrel aged ales. Overall, I didn't enjoy this as much as the "Smokehead" batch, but i think that's only because I enjoy the peatier west coast Scotches. Another great release from the U.K.'s most "extreme" brewery. I'd like to see them get more consistent at BrewDog and come down a bit price wise. They're just babies though (2 years old) so i'm sure this will improve. And please BrewDog, knock off this whole "beer for punks" non-sense, it's so gimmicky and adolescent. Have enough faith in your beer to not rely on this tripe.