BrewDog Riptide

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

(Bottle at Hilpeä Hauki on 2008-02-15) Black. Big brownish head. Smoke and roasted malts in nose. Very full bodied. Perhaps even too heavy for my taste. Still, a good imperial stout.

Bottle. Pours an opaque black with a very small light tan head. Aroma of raisin, roasted malt, burnt malt, chocolate, roasted nuts. Flavor of sweet and roasted malt up front with a sweet finish. Aroma is nice and complex but the flavor/palate doesn’t match up. Just kind of dull to me. 7/4/7/3/14 (3.5/5)

330ml bottle, at home with renffisch, 17th June 2008. Pours a very dark, red-tinged brown. Lovely complex taste and aroma - apricots, chocolate, coffee, caramel, treacle, molasses, hops. Creamy & smooth yet not too cloying, this is a very drinkable stout indeed.

One pint 6.4 oz bottle purchased from Spirits RB. Pours a thin dark black with a small white soapy head, not attractive in any means. Aroma was very weak and seemed to be a stout light. Notes of weak charcoal, burnt malts, cola and black olive juice. The body was thin and watery and closing in on becoming flat, ugh. The flavor was about as good, or bad, as the aroma with some weak cola, soy, tobacco leaves and roasted malts. Wow.......either I got the worst bottle of Riptide ever made or this is of the most overpriced and overrated beers I have ever had.

22.4oz bottle. Random, right? Very dark brown with a light beige head that dissipates. Licorice, chocolate, and wet paper aroma. The flavor has sweet licorice, lightly roasted malt and modest bitterness. Pretty mellow. Medium bodied with light carbonation. Not much going on here, but I can see why this would be a good barrel candidate.

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.

Taste courtesy Hopscotch. Blackish red pour with little head. Roasty grain aroma with sweet malt and just a hint of whiskey. Roasted grains, chocolate malt and hint of hops in the taste. Big and ballsy very assertive malt and very much like an after dinner drink.

On cask at Spuyten Duyvel. Pours a dark cola with a tiny light beige head. Aroma of roasted malts and bitter dark chocolate. Taste is much the same as the aroma.