BrewDog Riptide

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

660 ml bottle brought over by my Aberdeen friend, Bjorn! BB 22/03/09 Nose is roastiness, chocolate, with a peaty smoke note; black with a samll tan, cinnamon tinged head; flavor has light hop bitterness, chocolate,, some dark raisins, and a light molasses note! Best BrewDog so far! (see about the Paradoxes tonight)

660ml Bottle: Aroma of roasted malts, licorice, chocolate, alcohol, and hops. Poured deep red/dark brown in color with a medium-sized, dense, beige head that lasted throughout. Clear. Excellent lacing. Flavor is lightly sweet. Tastes of roasted malts, peat, chocolate, hops, and alcohol. Medium body. Thinish, smooth, creamy texture. Soft to average carbonation. Sweet, chocolate, peat, roasted malt finish.

This is not the kind of in your face imperial stout that most american beer nerd palates have come to expect, which is why I’m surprised it’s still rated so high - it’s more like a slightly more aggressive take on the traditional british version of the style - dark brown, with a soapy, lasting lace - aroma of lactose, chocolate, coffee, intense roast, a tiny bit of alcohol - very smooth mouthfeel - the flavor is extremely roasty, with a lot of coffee character - some sweet chocolate malts ride through the middle, with a bit of plum and dark berry fruitiness as well - but a strong bitterness comes from behind that, making the other characteristics aside from the roastiness disappear from the palate pretty fast - the bitterness lasts quite some time through the finish, and the alcohol becomes fairly evident, adding a warming character - the dryness and bitterness work well in this one, and I kind of find it refreshing to have an impy that isn’t so over the top.

The aroma is smokey, sweet, chocolaty, malty, and coffee like. The appearance is dark red brown with no head. The flavor is like the aroma and quite flat. The palate is thin due to the flat nature of the beer. Overall this a a decent beer but could be better if it wasn’t flat.

Bottle while in San Diego on 08/01/2008 for the RBSG Friday Pub Crawl. Dark brown body with a small off-white head. Chocolate and roast aroma. Roast malt and caramel flavor. Medium full body with moderately low carbonation.

Bottle shared with Hogtown Harry and Blankboy, courtesy of Hogtown Harry. Pitch black, small off-white head. Mild roast aroma. Good roast taste, almost tartness if that makes any sense - there is just that much roast. Slight acidity. Full flavoured and bodied with a hint of chocolate. I liked it, but because of the overwhelming roast (and maybe because of the quality of other impy’s we had at this session) it did not really make that leap from good to great.

Bottle: Amber brown pour with a bubbly tan head. (This is Imperial?) Soft malty aroma. Dark grains, milky chocolate and a hint of coffee roast. Light body. Mildly roasted flavor with a soft malt presence. Hint of coffee, sour dough and a mild chocolate finish. Not bad, but also not an Imperial Stout.

(Bottle, Stockholm Beer Festival, 27 Sep 2008) Very dark brown colour with brief, beige head. Roasted, malty nose with notes of coffee, chocolate and liquorice. Roasted, malty taste with dark bitter chooclate, coffee, liquorice and a nice cocoa bitterness in the finish. Fairly sweet, slightly above medium body. The last sentence of the commercial description puts it quite well. Very nice beer.