Brewery: Brew Dog
Style: Imperial Stout aged in Islay Cask
ABV: 15%
More Info: Brew Dog

Who can resist a stout aged in an Islay malt cask? Yep, I sure can’t!

Ever the experimenters, let’s see if Brewdog have succeeded where others failed – peaty beers I’ve tried in the past have tended to be just too weird to be enjoyable.

Right-o, to the glass…

Nose: Damp Guinness-flavoured sponge cake. Iron filings. Liqourice root, chocolate fudge brownie, oak smoked meats.

Palate: Dark, rich and malty. Bourbon biscuits, thick sweet oily espresso, bitter citrus peel, and a rising oceanic peat (think crushed shells and dried peat bricks).

Finish: Tarry and ashen with a growing lip-smacking oakiness.

This is an interesting blend of two different worlds and one that I think Brewdog have pulled off beautifully.

The balance is masterful with enough peaty whisky flavour to make itself known but without overpowering the palate like other peaty beers. The stout itself is superbly indulgent – rich, chocolatey and velvet-smooth. That peat cask influence gives it that subtle twist to contrast against and bring out the depths of flavour.

Brewvo, Bradog.