BrewDog Cambridge Stone Juxtaposition Black Pilsner

Brewed by Stone Brewing Co.
Style: European Strong Lager
Escondido, California USA

Black, thick beige head. Winey, fruity coffee-ish aroma. Flavor is very woody at first, then notes of red wine and coffee. Very crisp palate. Some licorace, too. Tasty.

12 oz. bottle purchased at Hop City in Atlanta, GA. Head was hard to come by, but this beer is nice in terms of color i.e. damn near opaque black. This beer is quite aromatic. Very nice hop presence in the aroma. As some have noted, there is a subtle spice aroma as well. Nice aroma on this thing. Very big citrus hop at first! Wow, that was unexpected. At 10% ABV the alcohol is well hidden. Slight malt flavor, but the citrus hops steal the show. Would like to say there is this slight roast flavor lingering around, but it is very sublte, almost unnoticeable. Overall, a pretty nice hop flavor, but not very nuanced.

12oz bottle from Bevmo. Pours a dark brown color with a small creamy khaki head that has good retention. The aroma is most unusual with spiced mixed vegetables set in a hoppy backdrop. The flavor is complex and vegetable-like with biter cabbage, scallions, carrots, spices, sweet malts and some pine. The mouthfeel is full and creamy. The finish is long and dry with lingering spices. Unusual but flavorful, something of a Frankenstein brew if you ask me..

12 ounce bottle purchased at the brewery. Pours a very dark brown with ruby highlights when held up to the light. The one finger or so of beige head quickly subsides to a thin layer. Despite the color, the nose does resemble a Stone beer with hops (citrusy, piny, spicy). However, the hop character is much more subdued than most Stone brews. In fact, the Stone blog states that there are no American hops in this, but rather Japanese and New Zealand hops. Beyond the hops, there are some malty tones going on in the nose, too. Flavor comes on strong and hoppy (grapefruit and pine) in case you doubted that this was actually brewed at Stone. Some mild roasted malty flavors emerge toward the finish, but by this time the hops have won outright. Some moderate bitterness in the finish. Medium to full body but feels a little light for a ten percenter. This actually reminds me of the Stone 11th Anniversary (now rechristened as Stone Sublimely Self Righteous Ale) in terms of color, flavor, and ABV. When Stone announced on April 1, 2009 that they would be brewing a lager, I think most of us assumed it was an April Fools joke. They seemed to have pulled it off, but I would imagine most people find that this escapes such easy categorization.

pours red black with a light brown tan head. smells good. berries, a touch tart, vanilla and paint thinner. rum barrel like flavors hit me first. dry bitter finish evens it out. loads of vanilla flavor, and i am an admitted whore for vanilla. strong booze notes dominate this but far from being a bad thing it helps this out. the roast flavors are balanced by it. i don’t know if it is a yeasty twang that is not quite funky, or something else that is going on to create this flavor. malty sweetness is there with a toffee and coffee flavor and it is all working together well. approaches too sweet, then stops, bitterness is there, but not in my face. a lot of enjoyable flavors come to the front with each sip i discover something new, and good. should have put this in bombers. 5 8 8 4 17

12oz bottle. Aroma is wheaty sweet malts with a well balanced hop undertone. Pours a dark brownish/black color with a cola like fizz and just a ring of head. Mimics a cola pretty well. After pour, the bitter hops come out to play a little more. Taste is up front bitter with some carbonation fizz and then subsides to a roasted malt bitter end. Bit too bitter to get a higher rating from me.

12oz bottle poured into a tulip. Pours dark, dark brown in the glass with mahogany hints around the edges and a creamy tan head that recedes to a small collar and leaves no lacing. The aroma certainly has a Stone-like hop profile - lots of citrus with oranges and lemons definitely in there. There is some dark roasted malts and an interesting sugary sweetness going on in the background as well. If the aroma was an interesting mix, then the taste is even more interesting with the initial hop blast of oranges, tangerines and floral pine giving way to a sweet but roasted dark malt backbone. The finish is bitter with floral hops. The mouthfeel is full bodied and extremely smooth which contrasts the bitterness of the hops very well. The carbonation is moderate. Well, there was little doubt, given the first two iterations of the series, that this one was going to be a creative effort and I was certainly not disappointed. It’s got a whole lot of disparate things going on that come together almost perfectly. It’s still a little messy, but very tasty.

12oz bottle from Southbay Drug. Poured into the new stone Vertical Epic glass. Pours very dark, with lighter brown around the edges in the light. The head is thin and doesn’t completely cover the top of the beer. Creamy and smooth, but wispy too. I can smell the hops - citric and bitter, but also some lingering roasted malt. Flavors are mostly bitter, but that is at the finish. Upfront there is also some chocolaty malt. Its messy, but well-together. But if I just think about how much I like it - I have to say I like drinking it.