BrewDog Riptide

Brewed by BrewDog
Style: Imperial Stout
Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire, Scotland

Bottled. Poured deep brown with a short cap of beige head. The aroma picked up dark chocolate, brown sugar, and lesser coffee with earthy and grassy hoppage around.. almost artificially sweet, but quite enjoyable. The flavor was also on the sweet side with chocolate and roasted barley at the core.. bitterness was light and earth-inspired.. a little warm, but alcohol was not overt. This was very average for the style, but quite servicable.

Dark brown color with a smaller hot cocoa head. Lightly toasted and roasted malt in the aroma. A touch of salt water toffee. Not a strong scent, but nothing askew. Light sweet licorice in the start. Quite enjoyable for a professed licorice hater. Middle is full of sweetened coffee, Toasted, hearty whole grain bread, blackberries and a hint of pencil eraser (resin?). Very light carbonation. Finish is lightly sweet and linger is of sweet roasted malt and some mild honey roasted nuts. I find no trace of alcohol. A very enjoyable stout.

Trade from TheRealBastard. Thanks! Enjoyed on Valentines night. Aroma is dark fruit, cream, malt. Dark brown/black with red tints when held to the light. Latte colored, big bubbled head. Creamy and sweet in mouth. Chocolate and coffee afters. Smooth.

Pours black with hardly any head. Aroma is fudgey, black coffee, black licorice, and smoke. Tastes like putting a whole bag of black licorice into your mouth. Other tastes include chocolate, french roast coffee, there is an earthiness present, red jube jube, and caramel. Alcohol is hidden very well. Decent lacing. Oily mouth feel that helps the finish linger pleasantly for a long time. This is a really nice beer.

Courtesy of tpd975. Reddish black pour, licorice color, fluffy wet white head and wet lacing. Nose has tons of oak, some roast and distant coffee. Flavor has a lot of oak, dry peat and smoke, nice roasted finish. Unique, good, harsh dry body, tasty and drinkable despite the harsness.

My Bottom Line:
This Imperial Stout’s lean and loose mouthfeel somewhat detracts from the enjoyment to be had of the chocolate, caramel and roasted malts, marzipan hints and lingering earthy, leafy hop bitterness. It’s a balanced and very drinkable example of the style, but it needs a lot work imho to play with the best in its league.

Further Personal Perceptions:
-A thin ring of foam circles the auburn-rimmed dark brown.
-The low carbonation may emulate what you get on cask, but then again the body is not well developed enough to withstand this vacuous atmosphere.
-Fruity vanilla-like sweetness morphs into marzipan every second sip.
-The finishing bitterness is not overdone, but it sure clings to the tastebuds for a long time.
-Alcohol accompanies the hop bitterness.

Bottle; batch #123, best before 10/02/2010.

Bottle shared thanks to Willblake I think. Pours a Deep dark brown wiht a thinning head. Aroma of chocolate malt, light licorice, anise, earth toast and hints of coffee. More chocolate malt, with a charred acrid balck malt bitterness, herbal and earthy like hops and more anise in the end.

Courtesy of THE tpd975. Pours deep brown with amber edges and almost no head. The aroma is roasty malts, mild wood and smoke to go along with a pulse of vanilla. The taste is roasty moving toward burnt malts and then into wood and mild smoky peatiness. Pretty nice stuff. It thins out into the finish. Starts bold and then finishes with smooth and light lingering notes of wood, peat, smoke and molasses.