BrewDog Riptide

Well, I hope I didn’t get a bad bottle, so I’ll give it a try if I see it again. Anyway, I found this beer to be a bit boring. It’s undercarbonated and fairly mild. It’s sweet like a Scottish ale with a relatively thin shell of stout flavors. The beer ends up somewhat watery. I’m not really sure what is twisted or merciless about the beer. The appearance is also underwhelming. There’s very little head. It’s just a very dark brown liquid. The dominant flavors are caramel, licorice and a touch of bittering hops. I had high hopes for this beer and it didn’t really follow through.

Wow! Great beer. Got this bottle at Sam’s in Chicago a few months ago. Poured with a nice light tan, medium head with lotsa lace. Color is an opaque dark brown to black. Aroma is very malty, cocoa, licorice, dark ripe fruit, roasty, and a bit of toffee. Flavor’s the same, but with the licorice in the finish, plus some hints of berry and lemon/orange. Great body and carbonation. Good rich finish. In spite of its robust strength and character, it’s still so good, it’s almost (but not quite) a session beer.

on cask at Rattle&Hum, NYC. body is blackish with mahogany edges. dark tan thin creamy head. coffee and roasted malt aroma, a bit of chocolate and vanilla extract too. body is smooth and glossy. flavor is just a little hoppy bitter at the start, then coffee and roasted malt, licorice/anise, a bit of baking chocolate. bitter/dry aftertaste.

Cask at RnH. Near black with a beige head. Roasted malty aroma, with tar and molasses. The flavor has a pretty distinct smoky note, almost like burlap, as well as coffee and roasted malt. Not very subtle, but quite tasty.

Bottle 330ml. Very dark brown, fastly dissappearing head. Aroma has dark chocolate, coffee and roasted malt. Palate is creamy, medium-full bodied. Roasted malt and coffee are present in the flavor with some herbs and sweetnes on the background.

Nice dark color and small off-white head. The beer is a little bit clear and has a surprisingly good drink ability for an impy stout. Still very good, but lacking complexity.

Pours brown-black with a small light tan head of assorted bubbles that speak of low-ish carbonation. Aroma is dark chocolate, pumperknickel, sticks, raspberry, toffee, and a wee bit o’ smoke. Keeps changing, as it was fruitier at the start. Taste is weak when cold, so this MUST be drank warm. Flavors of dark chocolate, toffee, dirt, earthy slightly spicy/peppery hops, and wood. Finishes significantly hoppy, peppery, and burnt. A little too strong on the hoppy finish, especially considering that the rest of the beer is pretty mellow. Medium bodied, under-carbonated, but the bubbles still stand out a little more than they should, slick bodied, not too creamy. Though the flavor and aroma develop really nicely as the beer warms, it’s just too mellow and the mouthfeel makes the beer tough to notice. Worth trying at least.

Bottled. Pours out in a dark brown colour with a low bubbly grey head. Roasted malts, dark chocolate and sweet licorice in the aroma. Medium to full-bodied with notes of burnt malts, salty licorice, dark chocolate and chalk. Burnt finish of coffee and dark chocolate. Definitely not bad but lacking depth.