BrewDog Riptide

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

Smell is roasty, coffee, leather, malts, and smoke. Look is clear dark brown to back in color. Taste is roasty, coffee, chocolate, super roasty almost too much so, with some dried fruits thrown in.

Pours like coffee in a cup that hadn’t been properly rinsed of it’s soapy suds. Very English and very short lived is the head froth and very little lacing. I smell molasses, chocolate, and coffee. Very light in body with watery carbonation. I have mixed feelings about this brew. On one hand it surely doesn’t compare to the usual kickass over the top specimens that I have come to crave. This one is more subdued (the title says ’’twisted merciless’’...over statement city) and refined. But on the other hand I can’t deny the overall complexities it offers. OK, so it has a bad head on it’s shoulders but the aromas is delightful and so is the flavor. Like I said, this is refined with flavors of roasted coffee bean, molasses, cake bread, cocoa, and a little English toffee. The finish lingers forever with a solid bittering component. I really could drink this all night. I would classify this as a Foreign Stout though.

Very black. You look at this and say ’’How much more black could this be?’’ and the answer is ’’None. None more black’’ Any way, smells like chocolate and coffee, with cofee being slightly more prominant. Flavor is coffee and chocolate, but also nuances of plum, fig, and red wine. As it warms, the red wine becomes more noticable.

22.4 oz. bottle. Batch #002. Dark brown color. Thin, whispy, light brown head. Good amount of lacing. Aroma of roasted malt, semi-sweet chocolate. Thin, watery mouthfeel. A bit of a disappointment. Flavor is nice, but doesn’t blow me away. Some roasted notes, a good amount of hoppiness. Finish is slightly bitter. Different take on the style. Ok beer.

Aros Ølfest, Aarhus, DK. Bottled, 241008. Dark brown with small head. Aroma of coffee and malt. Flavor is coffee, chocolate, dried fruit and some hop spices.

Bottle batch 006 best by 12/12/09. Decent oatmeal aromaalong with somesweet notes. Black flat head a can of RC has more of a carbinated head just to flaten out. Aweful thin body texture for an Imperial Stout. Sweet roasted oats and somedrycoco bittering. More like a sweet stout imo.

Dark chocolate brown color pour with a small, but lasting tan head. Aroma of roasted malt, dark chocolate and coffee. Flavor is chocolate and coffee as well, with some roasted sweet malt and dark fruit. Smooth on the palate, but a bit thin. A touch of hops on the finish. Highly drinkable. A pretty good brew.

The base for all of the barrel aged imperial stouts. Pours very dark brown, close to black, with a smooth tan head. Big dark chocolate character, very smooth palate, dry finish. Overall a really nice imperial stout and the perfect base for their barrel experiments. This is one of the few non-barrel beers I thought were worth their price, very well built and solid imperial stout.