BREWDOG «Tokyo Rising Sun, Highland edition» (13,2%) 6/6

Gosh… for a moment there, I thought I’d never see this one in my life. (Thx Andreas!) Super-limited edition from back in the days when craft beer had quite a different position than today, this is quite something.

I’ve been excited about this one for ages, and today is the day… For those who have tried  the regular Tokyo: This is quite something else.

 

First off: Incredible that this beautiful beast is 12 years old! Lots of aromas, highly intact. Massive oakbarrel nose, soaked in whisky. Supreme carbonisation, full and suiting body. I can best describe this experience like this: lightly subtle sweet introduction, followed by the main ingredient being smokey flavour, which overlaps back & forth with sour mash whiskey.

At the same time: Heavy body, without providing any kind of disturbance to the close-to-perfect balance. Delicious & fullbodied with lots of smooth sweetness that evolves into an exciting acidity. To round things off, this masterpiece is superseded by a megasmoked outro. This 12year old is quite simply astonishing.

BREWDOG – the complete Abstrakt series

Photos: M.K. & I. Burheim

 

In the pandemic-ridden summer days of 2020, we see Corona putting a stop to most events planned to take place. However, On a late Saturday evening in Oslo, me and four friends gathered for a special happening that I believe hasn’t happened before (at least I have never seen anything like it?): The mission being to complete the entire line of the Abstract series from Brewdog.

Having gathered quite a bit of them each of us throughout times, we got together to crack them all at once. Yes, writing this the day after… (and it is a terrible day as one can imagine!) i’d forgotten how it feels with such a headache- so I suppose I’ll take it as a bonus reminder. But more importantly: I did take notes! So here they follow- enjoy!

 

 

 

 

AB:01- 3/6
Yellowbrownish colour. Nose is close to BW/quad, subtle notes of caramel. Ripe apples, super-ripe. Quite delicious as a matter of fact, contrary to what I expected.

 

 

 

 

 

AB:02- 1/6

Dark brown colour. Nose: Dark berries/fruity notes. Taste is somehow mouldy, with a straaange bitterness(?)- almost amonia-like sting of old hops. «Not cool», to quote Rick & Morty.

 

 

AB:03- 2/6
Brown & murky looks. Quite sour nose w/raspberries. Stings a bit. Acidity and old basement. It’s not as bad as nr 2…

 

 

 

 

AB:04- 4/6

Seems most promising of the lot so far! Dark, stout is what we have here. Chocolaty notes and chili traces are intact, definite best so far. Withstanding the test of time, this one- which (as a curiosity) is the one that the whole DOG series were based on.

 

 

AB:05- 5/6
Dark as night is what we like for a stout to be. This being no exeption. Belgian Imp stout, this one has the total picture: sweetness, Choc, nutty & fruity. Smooth as f**k!

 

 

 

 

AB:06-3/6
This one I’ve had once before- terrible! So, what now? Black IPA… Sounds awesome. Nose is hoppy and foresty, with clear traces of ageing. Much better than anticipated, thought this would be no good.

 

 

 

AB:07- 3/6
Scotch ale, with liquorice notes. Tastewise, It’s a bit old’ish, but smooth & better than expected.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

AB:08- 3/6

Thin. Supposed to be a stout? Caramellish nose. Sweetness in taste. Very mature.

 

 

 

 

 

AB:09- 4/6
Good taste for quite old beer. Vineous, oaky and boozy taste.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

AB:10- 3/6
Brown ale aged on Malaga barrels. Accompanied by a dessert wine of Malaga kind, it kinda weakens a bit- seems like lost what was there once. Not bad tasting,

 

 

 

 

AB:11- 2/6
BW. quite weak though. Not bad tasting, but bot good either

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

AB:12- 2/6 Belgian strong ale, strenght in raspberries, both in terms of aroma and taste.

 

 

 

 

 

 

AB:13- 2/6 sourish stout. Ageing doesn’t seem to have done this beer well, according to my taste.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

AB:14- 3/6 Weissbock. Not usually my fave category in the world of beers, still I’ve had some real good ones before. This one however, is past its prime it seems. Old beerbasement aroma. There’s some sweetness in the taste. Wort-like, but not in a bad way.

 

 

 

AB:15- 4/6 Great! Sweet, bold (still beautiful)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

AB:16- 3/6 Very vineous, but at the same time also quite light-bodied. Long aftertaste In this one.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

AB:17- 4/6 sweet nose. Candy chocolate combined with distinct coffee features.

 

 

 

 

 

 

AB:18- 3/6 Farmhouse. blend of saisons, aged in rum barrels. Raisins. old. Sour, but sweet undernotes.

 

 

 

 

 


AB:19- 3/6 sweet as well as acidic notes. Quite good balance. Good stuff

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

AB:20- 3/6 a little mouldy, but great. Sweet, old but good. Much better than what I remembered from last time I had it actually.

 

 

 

 

AB:21- 3/6

I have no idea anymore what beer type we’re talking. Sweet, a little acidic, and nice.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

AB:22- 4/6
Raw? Nose could fool me at this point. (“Really? You think??) Taste be like “Y’all, this is some sweet good shit.”

 

 

 

 

 

AB:23- 4/6
Sweet & fruity. Lost 4 further words… 3 left.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

AB:24- 3/6 great. A little BBQ, smoky-like.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

AB:25- 5/6 Wow! A barley wine that just strikes out like that! This is it. Fresh, aged and rounded off in them edges. Fantastic stuff guys!

 

 

 

 


AB:26- 3/6 spiced, heat, stout-like. Funny & exiting twist on a stout, and it does actually work.

 

 

 

 

 

 


AB:27- 4/6 Bourbon notes and sweetness provides for a good stout. Also: Stoked that this the last one! (Phew) There were several good ones ones in this run, this being one of them. Great finalé! ?

 

 

 

Last but not least: A shoutout to those who were kind enough to trade/sell contribution beers with us, in order for this to take place: Lasse L, David H, Thomas S, Kryzsiek M and Svein Åge B.

Cheers!

 

BREWDOG Abstract 06 (11,2%) 2/6

Now, this should be quite interesting… Having saved this bottle of excitement for merely almost a decade, it is now time to taste it and see what’s in store.

Pouring reveals a devilish black color, whilst notes of licorice, fruits, dark berries strikes the nose. According to the description that I find this is supposed to be a triple/black IPA. I must say and admit that I am highly excited now! It somehow reminds me a little of Brewdog’s other flagship, Tactical nuclear penguin (albeit in a lighter version). Let’s get down & dirty…

Not at all as expected. That is the first thing that comes to mind- there is absolutely no combination left in this beer and the taste is mildly put… ehrm, mild. With no bubbles going on at all, I must say it’s over its peak for sure. Can’t say that I’m that surprised considering the length of storage ? What can I say about taste here though… mild, lightly hoppy (probably lost most of it along the way). Quite dead and bland now, not even traces of heat to be found. Well well, tick the box, I suppose one can say.

 

Photo: M. Burheim

BREWDOG “Hello my name is Vladimir” (8,2%) 3/6

Finally, trying this! Like some kind of candy… Doesn’t really smell like an IPA at all.

Pretty flat- not so strange, since best before-date is well passed on this one. Reddish/light brown colour, little bubbly-action going on… very little aroma at all… tiny fruity hint, perhaps. And little acidic… Tiiiny honey infusion/caramel’ish note. The tastes herein must have taken twists & turns, going through the long while since production.

Well, tastewise then? Like a fruit juice, overly balanced- just so round now that if this passed as a controversial IPA some 4 years ago, it’s turned into an incredibly adjusted fruitpunch with figs and an incredible mateurity unlike much else… And after a long, long while eventually showing a hoppy hint that once was bitterness. Then ounded off with sweet outro- almost like George & Freddie touring Russia for a last time together. In perfect hoppyness.

FIERCE/AMUNDSEN “Orange scream” (7%) 4/6

Photo: M. K. Brochs

 

This beer is strikingly dark yellow in color and pours a small nice head on top. Almost on the verge to brownish, just on the borderline between dark yellow to light brown, I’d say. 

Judging by the “book” or more correctly in this case, by the box, it seems highly interesting and something that I’ve never tried before… Apparently what we got here is an orange ice cream ale, and being a collab between Amundsen and Fierce, we might just be in for a treat here. This seems to be something that I am more familiar with within the stout- category. 

So, what’s going on in terms of nose? Well, there’s the lights beautiful sweet fruitiness combined with the distinct Caramel& vanilla here… Almost toffee-like. And then, the taste: great freshness at first, in terms of carbonation. 

Then, that sweet sweet caramel comes into the picture, creamy and now even clearer before evolving into fruityness most definably banana, rounded off with a hint of citrusy bitterness that lingers into the aftertaste. 

What a fabulous surprise! And what a great beer. Astonishing stuff, this one.

BREWDOG «Democratic imperial red ale» (9%) 3/6

DemocImpRedAleA «red ale» states the bottle label. However, this is brown deeming by colour and the fragrance is pointing in the direction of a somewhat fusion-like of the two. There’s that sweetness of a brown ale-aroma, but also traces of fruity hops herein- with a caramel-nutty salty twist to it. A mouthful confirms that salty, but also spiced (and hints of ripe berries) taste which in turn evolves to immensely bitter for a red ale to be towards the end. Full-bodied and lightly carbonated this blends into the aftertaste as well, rounded off with a sweet edge but a bit soap-like. Final verdict: Not balanced enough, even though the taste-elements on their own provides a decent fundament.

BREWDOG «Hello my name is Päivi» (8,2%) 5/6

BREWDOG_PäiviDark, mirky yellow- on the verge to brownish colour. Pours small head which settles quickly. Nose is highly fruity- somewhat toffee/caramelish, hints of a subtle sharpness of sweet dried fruit, as dates and figs. Suits autumn and winter perfectly, contrary to all the recent summer beers that has been consumed… When it comes to taste, carbonation freshness is peek-a-boo’ing, but is gradually giving way to the immense sweet malt body. Very solid, lies steady and authentic for a good while before rounding off in a mildly hopped fruityness.

BREWDOG «Paradox Compass Box» (15%) 5/6

Paradox compass boxThis beverage is black in color and produces little head whilst pouring. The nose is clearly hinting towards burnt oak, resonance of delish roasted malts utilized herein. Also, the whisky is evidently showing itself, blended with outstanding coffee aromas infused with figs/deep fruityness. There’s also dark chocolate going on here. Tastewise, it is indeed a strong alcohol content pointing in the direction of Irish coffee… Much sweetness (chocolate) at first, followed by fruity impulses that gradually is overwon by bitterness from the coffee. All the while whilst the alcohol-warmth combined with a fair degree of smoke tingles the palate, associating this dark beauty with incredible whisky-based landscapes. Outstanding.

BREWDOG «Jack Hammer» (7,2%) 4/6

Jack HammerThis one has a great nose to it. It’s promising fruity, bitter taste with sweet toffee features and the bitter ending is good. But first & foremost, I find the beautiful colour really inviting, with lots of foam. It’s not as easy to describe right away, but after a short while, it’s there: Grapefruit. Thereafter, a second of caramel followed by an increasingly bitter taste. Swallow once more, and the bitterness grows into a powerful tasty aftertaste.

Brewmeister «Snake venom» (67,5%) 3/6

imageThis beer had been saved for an occation- a special one. As I earlier this week got some positive answers to an examn result that I’d been waiting for, it’s now time…

A deep whisky-like redbrown colour and visually very clear in appearance, it seems very «clean». Intriguingly stingy spiritus aroma, also some Scottish malt. Tastewise, the malts barely gets any attention, as it is quickly dominated by the incredibly strong spiritus taste- no wonder with the intentioned height/strenght (ABV) here. The malts are way back there, but overall the palate in on fire by now- tingling the tongue, burning the whole mouth, through all the intestines and god knows what next. Considering the predecessor was a weissbock, I’m thinking maybe scottish ale was not the best choice in candidates for this. Still- very interesting to have tried the new holder of the title.