Storm (Islay Whisky Cask Aged IPA) - BrewDog

jondeelee

Massachusetts

3.43/5  rDev +22.9%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5

Storm opens with a rich whiff of charcoal, ash, heavy wood grains and burnt vanilla that would be more at home coming out of a bottle of scotch whiskey than beer, making immediately obvious the brew’s barrel aging. So heavy is the whiskey overtone at first that the beer itself is almost lost against it, but there are layers of sticky brown sugar, burnt toast crust, brown bread and, just at the edges, a sweet fruit ester rim with tinges of orange, berry, and apricot. After a few moments these sweeter notes become more apparent as the initial shock of whiskey fades slightly. Heavy pine resins from the hops blend well with the whiskey notes and fruits, joined by touches of pink grapefruit and grapefruit rind. As a whole, the nose is excellent, the aromas blending almost perfectly and feeding off one another to produce an alluring and delicious waft of thick, sticky vapor that changes noticeably over the course of only a few minutes, ranging from an initial whiskey blast that almost singes to the nose hairs to a pink grapefruit sweet hop blast after the whiskey dies off.

On the tongue, the beer opens with a huge whiskey blast that sears the tongue and, if you breathe out, the nose as well. The flavors here are huge and definitely geared toward the dark side, with mountains of carbon, charcoal, and ash swamping the landscape, and floating bits of burnt bread, charred vanilla, and tobacco cluttering the shores. So powerful are these barrel aged notes that the beer is almost utterly lost against them, and based on initial flavors alone, a blind taster could easily make the mistake of thinking this to be watered down whiskey. In subsequent sips, as the tongue becomes somewhat more used to the charcoal and ash, a layer of pine resin emerges, joined by berries and oranges that peek their heads up tenuously from behind the trees. The beer also gains a bit more nuance from brown breads and pepper. Still, the whiskey notes are dominant, occupying the larger portion of the aftertaste as well, which lingers in burnt offerings and charcoal on the tongue for a very long time. Mouthfeel is a strange medium-light to medium, given the potency of the flavors, and carbonation is medium-light.

Overall, while I like the beer and want to give it higher ratings, especially since the initial aromas were so enticing, I find the whiskey notes to be simply too overpowering on the tongue, and the beer flavors lost against them. It says much that a beer boasting around 50 IBUs has almost all of those IBUs fade well into the background against an onslaught of whiskey. In fact, the only reason my scores are as high as they are is that I quite like carbon and charcoal notes; otherwise I would have likely failed this brew utterly. So while I appreciate the flavors, I find them overly intense, and have a hard time imagining drinking more than one bottle of this at a time—even halfway through the first bottle, the intense smokiness is powerful enough that I can only take a sip every few minutes.

Serving type: bottle

08-14-2012 17:48:15 | More by jondeelee

smartassboiler

Illinois

1/5  rDev -64.2%

05-17-2013 14:22:10 | More by smartassboiler

Bonko_the_sane

North Carolina

3.25/5  rDev +16.5%

05-13-2013 05:55:05 | More by Bonko_the_sane

tbryan5

Louisiana

3.5/5  rDev +25.4%

04-06-2013 13:13:47 | More by tbryan5

Pecan

California

2.5/5  rDev -10.4%

12-20-2012 16:09:36 | More by Pecan

Gatordaddy

Maryland

1.25/5  rDev -55.2%

11-10-2012 02:16:09 | More by Gatordaddy

RyanLigeia

Massachusetts

1.68/5  rDev -39.8%
look: 2 | smell: 3 | taste: 1.5 | feel: 1 | overall: 1

BATCH- 013

Appearance-2- Pours a murky brownish/yellowish color. No head. No real signs of any visible carbonation, looks sort of watery.

Smell-3- Boozy. Smells way more strong than 8%. An almost sour fruit sort of smell. Some wood. Not really getting any IPA hoppyness here.

Taste-1.5- Smoke. Smoke and a hint of wood. Maybe a hint of smoked peat. Slightly bitter. Almost tastes like a very watered down scotch.

MF-1- Watery. Slight alcohol tingle.

Overall- WHAT A LETDOWN. I was really excited about this, I thought it was a really creative idea. I've also always wanted to try something by BrewDog and this was my first. Not only did this beer taste like straight up watered down scotch but it was $10 FOR A SINGLE 12oz BOTTLE!! I've been had.

Serving type: bottle

11-09-2012 01:02:35 | More by RyanLigeia

SocalKicks

California

2.75/5  rDev -1.4%

10-27-2012 17:16:13 | More by SocalKicks

t0rin0

California

2.25/5  rDev -19.4%

09-02-2012 03:29:35 | More by t0rin0

BWHD

Illinois

2.5/5  rDev -10.4%

06-05-2012 22:14:08 | More by BWHD

UltimateLivewire

South Carolina

2.75/5  rDev -1.4%

05-13-2012 07:07:44 | More by UltimateLivewire

savagepm

Colorado

3.5/5  rDev +25.4%

04-16-2012 01:29:15 | More by savagepm

LiquidAmber

Washington

3.2/5  rDev +14.7%
look: 3 | smell: 4 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

Review from 1/2011 notes. Poured into a Nostradamus flute glass. Pours a murky orange amber, very little carbonation; no head nor lacing. Woody, smoky light fruit aroma. Flavor is dominated by wood smoke, with light malt and fruit in the background. Smoky finish with some non-descript bitterness. This beer needs stronger background flavors, some carbonation and balance. An interesting but flawed attempt.

Serving type: bottle

04-12-2012 03:21:48 | More by LiquidAmber

redfacedshooter

Michigan

3/5  rDev +7.5%

03-28-2012 04:51:45 | More by redfacedshooter

polishkaz

Massachusetts

2.75/5  rDev -1.4%

03-28-2012 00:04:52 | More by polishkaz

Tyrawlings

Ohio

3/5  rDev +7.5%

02-16-2012 02:30:12 | More by Tyrawlings

ohtheguilt

Georgia

2/5  rDev -28.3%

02-08-2012 23:11:04 | More by ohtheguilt

cougarbait

Washington

1.95/5  rDev -30.1%
look: 3 | smell: 2 | taste: 2 | feel: 1 | overall: 2

Serving Type: Bottle
A: Amber in color

S: Big hints of wood, smoke, hops and has a boozy character to it.

T: Sweet mailty tones with an overpowering boozy and smoke quality to it.

M: Light body to the beer, with big alcohol taste to it. Beer is flat.

O: I felt like this beer was a waste of the 5 dollars I spent.

Serving type: bottle

01-30-2012 02:07:24 | More by cougarbait

WrathsU

Florida

2.83/5  rDev +1.4%
look: 1 | smell: 2 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 2 | overall: 3

A - Hazy (murky)golden body, no head on vigorous pour. No lacing, close to no carbonation visible.

S - Faint whiffs of floral hops and whiskey. Not intense at all.

T - Malty sweetness to begin with. Then the whiskey starts to take over. I get strong tastes of oak, moderate tobacco, and faint smoke. Finishes oaky.

M - Medium bodied, flat as can be. Moderate alcohol warmth.

O - Seems to me more like a whiskey diluted with beer than a beer aged in a whiskey barrel. The underlying style of a Double IPA doesn't really seem to come into play much at all which is unfortunate. It's not a terrible beer, just a different type which I think missed its mark.

Serving type: bottle

01-26-2012 02:49:49 | More by WrathsU

DrNo

Australia

5/5  rDev +79.2%

01-13-2012 03:27:31 | More by DrNo

redleaves

Maine

3.1/5  rDev +11.1%
look: 3 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

No head, blah cloudy amber. No big deal. Nose is that sea salty peat of Islay scotch. It's there, whether you want like it or not. It's acquired, I imagine this would be significantly different if it was any other type of barrel, maybe they should have done a lowland to get a fuller smoke flavor. But I digress, I wasn't thinking about what was in this at first and the taste was awful, like first time I tried I sauerkraut, second sip however like the second time I tried sauerkraut; I understood the flavor. Still not amazing, fruity, peaty slightly salty, and slightly sweet. Good and interesting, but I feel it was a swing and a miss and they had to bottle their mistake anyway. I don't blame brewdog, I would do the same thing. Better luck next time.

Serving type: bottle

12-29-2011 01:27:36 | More by redleaves

Knapp85

Pennsylvania

2.1/5  rDev -24.7%
look: 2 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 2 | feel: 2 | overall: 2

Wow, wish I hadn't wasted almost $9 on this. This beer poured out with basically no head at all on it. There were just a few bubbles that came to the top from the rough pour I gave it. The color is a muddy orange gold. The smell is smokey and I personally can't get much hop aroma out of this one. The taste of the beer tastes like one of their Paradox brews. It's heavily smoked with the lack of much hop flavor doesn't really spark my interest. The mouthfeel is flat and watery. Overall I feel that the IPA stlye doesn't blend well with the Islay Casks like their Stouts do. I am bummed that I'm not enjoyin gthis more. I normally enjoy what BrewDog does but this one is not a success.

Serving type: bottle

12-01-2011 02:51:56 | More by Knapp85

wvsabbath

West Virginia

3/5  rDev +7.5%

11-21-2011 23:50:39 | More by wvsabbath

jenray

Texas

2/5  rDev -28.3%

11-20-2011 15:34:01 | More by jenray

JAHMUR

Connecticut

4.5/5  rDev +61.3%

11-18-2011 22:20:17 | More by JAHMUR