Tactical Nuclear Penguin - BrewDog

KentMills

Germany

4.4/5  rDev +26.1%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5

I bought this hard to acquire beer at Bacchanalia in Cambridge, England.

It poured as black and thick as used oil with a lovely brown head.

It smelled at first like alcohol, but turned into hints of chocolate and raisin as it breathed.

The taste was a mind grenade for me. I assumed a world record setter for alcohol couldn't have flavor, but my mouth was flooded with dark cherry, chocolate and molasses. Amazing!

It's sad I may never get to try this beer again, but at least there are some annually released imperial stouts that are this good, though still not very easy to get.

Serving type: bottle

02-24-2013 08:12:51 | More by KentMills

koganator

Illinois

3.95/5  rDev +13.2%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

Had on 12/31/2012 for New Years Eve at Brew dog Camden in London as a gift from me to me.
The bartender whipped out a bottle and poured it into a shot glass which he then poured into a tulip wine glass.

A: Deep whisky colored brown, no head or any other hint in the appearance that this is in fact a beer. But it's a nice butterscotch-ish color.

S: And this is where the show hits the road; imagine any variant of caramel, toffee, and tootsie roll-esque things and put them into liquid form. This is an deviously intriguing smell, but I pray that it isn't overwhelmingly sweet when I drink it.

T: First thing comes to mind: Really smooth. Like a fine liquor. It's definitely sweet, but not so much as to be offensive. Buttery and mineraly caramel flavors dominate as was previously suggested in the nose. This is interesting, it's both one-dimensional and incredibly complex at the same time... almost like a paradox. Somehow reminds me of bailey in it's texture and sweetness. No carbonation to speak of either.

M: Smooth, but after having the portion I had, I would not want more the following night. It's best consumed in thoughtful and slow doses.

O: The aging potential for this beer is terrifying. It's really got a lot in it that I don't know the proper descriptors for. And with time I feel like this will synchronize into something rivaling a well aged single malt whisky. If you balk at the price thinking your in for an over priced beer, think again. I would say purchasing a bottle of this is like buying a fine brown liquor that you intend to keep for a while and whip out at special occasions.

Serving type: bottle

01-04-2013 19:05:52 | More by koganator

FLima

Brazil

3.5/5  rDev +0.3%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

Brown woody color. Similar to hard liquors left alcohol marks in the glass. No head or carbonation whatsoever.
Sweet malt and woody aroma, Brandy type of scent, booze is felt in the air around it.
In the taste, alcohol numbs your mouth and malt is one of the few clear elements that makes it recognized as beer. Very woody with smoked flavors such as for some particular scotch that uses peat in the process.
Body is heavy and oily.
I found their stronger version, Sink the Bismarck, more tasteful.

Serving type: bottle

12-11-2012 20:37:00 | More by FLima

goodbeerallday

Australia

4.3/5  rDev +23.2%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

Reviews with HoppyHayashi

A: a rich blood cherry colour. low carbonation present. huge alcohol legs are present when glass tilted. beer is not transparent when held to light.

S: can smell the alcohol and feel the warmth that accompanies it! dark fruit, figs, raisins and dates are present. extremely sweet notes. cinnamon and brown sugar coming off strongly behind the dark fruits.

T: raisins and cinnamon bounce off the tongue. sweet dark fruits as the aroma suggests. lingering warmth from the alcohol and definitely a great winter warmer.

M: silky smooth! medium bodied although expected to be heavier. spreads evenly across the tongue and a pleasant finish, lingering with rich fruitiness.

O: amazing beer! everything we expected but more! i actually saved this for four months after arriving back from the U.K into Canada. it was planned to be for asking a girl out and she finally said yes so i cracked it open! Praise the Lord!

Serving type: bottle

12-07-2012 06:53:57 | More by goodbeerallday

GJ40

North Carolina

3.9/5  rDev +11.7%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3 | overall: 4

Sampled at the Brewdog in Camden. I'm not a sprits drinker so I thought this would be way too overpowering for me but I was curious.

A nice mahogany brown with no head or visible bubbles. The aroma is rich with caramel, brown sugar and wood. The flavor is just as rich with caramel, brown sugar, alcohol heat and some sweetness to offset it a bit. It was silky smooth with no feeling of carbonation.

This isn't something I'd drink regularly but I thought it was interesting and worth a try.

Serving type: bottle

11-19-2012 10:37:18 | More by GJ40

Zorro

California

3.85/5  rDev +10.3%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

Clear black colored beer with no head formation.

Smells intensely fruity with a very strong fig and grape aroma. Certainly boozy it smells a lot like Grappa and is about as strong. Scents of cherry and apple and solvent alcohol.

Starts out sweet and fruity with an alcohol burn, lots of fig after taste. It doesn't lack for flavor, in fact it is extremely over flavored. Not exactly sweet but the flavors are intensified, fruit and figs with a fig after taste. Intense alcohol warming in the chest. The flavor doesn't change much as you drink it.

Mouthfeel is hot.and thick.

Overall interesting, it was designed for bragging rights not really to be the most flavorful thing ever.

Serving type: bottle

11-17-2012 04:38:24 | More by Zorro

OWSLEY069

Pennsylvania

2.93/5  rDev -16%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

Pours a deep amber color with no head. In the aroma, bacon and nail polish remover is all I can smell. In the taste, Nail polish remover, coffee, and molasses. A small bite from alcohol and a medium bodied mouthfeel, with a small dry nail polish remover with notes of caramel and coffee in the aftertaste. Too boozy! The nail polish remover essence was a bit too much for me.

Serving type: bottle

08-21-2012 16:34:44 | More by OWSLEY069

brystmar

New York

1.25/5  rDev -64.2%
look: 3 | smell: 1 | taste: 1 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 1

From notes.

It's 9am on Dark Lord Day, and I've been sharing bottles with people in line around me for about an hour. One of them decided to show his gratitude by opening his bottle of TNP and approaching me: "Hey, I really appreciate you sharing with us this morning. Try some of this!" He then drizzled a small pour into my tasting glass and awaited my thoughts on the brew.

Now, TNP is a beast I actively avoided for the longest time: I despise the base beer and haven't liked a single beer from BrewDog, ever. So although I was pretty sure this would cause my taste buds to cry mutiny -- not to mention that drinking a 32% beer in the early hours of DLD is just a bad idea all around -- how could I decline this gesture of goodwill?

Hey, it doesn't look awful. Ruby-brownish body, a little cloudy, no head or lace. About what I expect from an extreme beer like this. However, the smell reminds me why I hesitated to accept his offer: this stuff wreaks of rubbing alcohol, overly-smoked malt, tobacco, peat whiskey, used ashtrays, and more booze. Yuck.

My first sip brings no relief from the torturous aroma. It's a mouthful of ashtrays alongside relentless, burning alcohol. To replicate the taste of TNP, place a burnt chunk of wood in the center of a large mixing bowl. Using water, rinse out a few dozen heavily-soiled ashtrays into the bowl. Add rotting forest foliage, pure ethanol, a bottle of whiskey, liquified peat moss, and refined petroleum. Give the concoction a brisk stir, take a sip, then puke your brains out. Voila! Homemade Tactical Nuclear Penguin!

All the while, this generous BA was standing in front of me, awaiting my thoughts on the beer. I forced a smile, told him it was interesting (technically true!), but said it wasn't really up my alley. If you're reading this, please know that I truly did appreciate your generosity; I just really hated this beer :)

That said, I'm not a smoker, and I strongly dislike being around cigarette & cigar smoke. I also dislike whiskey & bourbon as spirits, so if you happen to enjoy the aforementioned you may find TNP only mildly offensively bad. For the rest of us, this stuff is putrid. And on the upside, at least it's ridiculously overpriced!

Serving type: bottle

08-09-2012 19:52:47 | More by brystmar

netrioter

Texas

3.43/5  rDev -1.7%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

friend got a bottle of this in the mail....spent $119.99 on it and called me over to try some

drank from a 2 oz shotglass

I was blown away....tasted like some sort of tobacco orgy in my shotglass...you definitely should be a fan of cigars or other tobacco products to get whats going on here....and this stuff will get you DRUNK...be careful...this isnt no session beer

Serving type: bottle

07-21-2012 23:08:06 | More by netrioter

suspect

New York

2.88/5  rDev -17.5%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 3

Poured from a bottle into a small snifter. Split with a few people.

A: Mahogany in color, no carbonation, lots of legs.

S: I could smell this puppy from the next seat over. Humongous booze smell with some vanilla and lots of sugary sweet molasses notes. Plums and black cherries hang out in the hidden spots as well.

T: It's an assault on the taste buds with sweetness but it's got the incredibly high amounts of booze mixed in to make it a mix of sugary death.

M: It's got a syrupy, soy sauce feel. Thin but full. Finishes like a SA Triple Bock.

O: Glad I got to try it but I'm even more glad I didn't actually pay for it. I cannot image actually shelling out ~$150 for a bottle of this but you know? If breweries like Brewdog don't push the envelope, we don't progress.

Serving type: bottle

06-17-2012 04:01:23 | More by suspect

pwsoldier

Texas

3.33/5  rDev -4.6%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5

Served room temp in a Utopia glass.

A - Pours deep mahogany. Very nice color, but unusual for a beer that was a stout at one time in its existence. No signs of carbonation, as expected.

S - Maple-like sweetness is the most dominant aroma, which I wasn't expecting. Nice though. A strong peat character (fully expected) comes through as well, accompanied by notes of brown sugar, raisins, and wood.

T - Simultaneously sweet and smoky on the palate. A bit of maple and brown sugar help to calm down a very smoky center. Some people have compared this to drinking out of an ashtray. While I don't completely agree, I can see where they're coming from. The smoke is pretty harsh, almost like the taste you get when smoking a cigarette (not the same as licking an ashtray). As a former smoker, I'm not entirely put-off by this, though I can't say it's a pleasant smoke profile either.

M - Syrupy and a bit heavy, as expected. No carbonation, as previously mentioned. Aftertaste is reminiscent of cigarette smoke.

O - I can see why many people hate this beer. As I mentioned, I think the fact that I'm a former smoker helped blunt some of the negative aspects. I'm also wondering how many people tried this cold or chilled. It was very tolerable at room temp, but I can see how chilling it would make it unpalatable. Personally, I found it to be a bit one-dimensional, but decent overall. I'm glad I got to try it. Not so happy about how much I paid though.

Serving type: bottle

06-16-2012 10:21:05 | More by pwsoldier

Mora2000

Texas

3.05/5  rDev -12.6%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

Small pour split with hudsonphotog at The Meddlesome Moth.

The beer pours a clear brown color with absolutely no head. The aroma is very smokey with a lot of alcohol, dark fruit and a hint of toffee. The flavor is more of the same. The alcohol really stands out as expected, but there is also a big peat smoke character as well as some roasted malt, chocolate and some more dark fruit. Medium mouthfeel and no carbonation. You can really get the Scotch-barrel aged notes in the beer, which I think is OK, but not really my thing. A decent beer, but not as good as Sink the Bismarck.

Serving type: bottle

06-13-2012 04:35:59 | More by Mora2000

jondeelee

Massachusetts

4.6/5  rDev +31.8%
look: 4.5 | smell: 5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

NB: this review is for Batch 007.

Poured into a Sam Adams Utopias glass (which seemed appropriate, this being one of the only other beers I've purchased which approached Utopias' price), Tactical Nuclear Penguin is a deep chestnut brown that reflects dark ruby shades when held against a bright light, and maintains its dark shade near the edges of a tipped glass. The high ABV--32%--leaves wine-like legs oozing gently down the sides of the glass. There is no head, and only the faintest presence of carbonation is visible in thin streams of bubbles rising from the bottom. In appearance, this more resembles a cognac or a brandy than a beer.

The aroma drifting up from the glass is so potent that it can be easily detected from three feet away if wafted toward the nose, and from a good eighteen to twenty inches away in still air. Inhaled deeply, the nose is literally dripping with sugars and fruit esters, the beer smelling less like a beer than a heavily alcoholic mashed fruit extract. Berries, figs, orange liqueurs, raisins, plums, and dates abound, mixed with a drowsy syrup of toasted pecans, burnt coconut shell, and walnut. The aroma also bears striking earthy tones, reminiscent of charred oak, fresh loam, and peat moss. Thick vanilla beans lace through everything, joined by molasses. Also present are port, cognac, and brandy aromas, thick with charcoal filtering and oak barrel aging. The aromas also remind me somewhat strangely of open pit suckling pig on a rotisserie spit, fat bubbling and dripping onto the hot coals, and the wet, woody scent of the inside of freshly-peeled tree bark. I imagine this is what the inside of a very rich man's study would smell like: full of the remnants of expensive brandies and cognacs, with touches of pipe tobacco lingering in the curtains, and the oak and cedar paneling adding its own woody layers. In short, this is one of the more unique aromas I've ever encountered, and I have difficulties winding my way through the seemingly infinite layers of scents drifting from the glass. I could honestly sit here and simply smell the beer--as I have been for the last twenty minutes--for a very long time, the aromas so enticing and intriguing that I hesitate to take a sip for fear that the taste not match the aroma. As it is, I can report not only no loss in the potency of the aromas over the last twenty minutes, but a continued sensation of marvel at the complexity, nuance, variation, and depth of the aromas.

Still, at some point I suppose some of this must pass my lips. So: on the tongue, the beer begins with a charcoal and ash slam so powerful that it literally takes over my tastebuds, reminding me of the heavy charcoal of whiskey, vanilla-flavored pipe tobacco placed directly on the tongue, campfire ash, burnt pecan husks, blackened and burnt steak fat, and what I imagine would be the taste of charred oak. These flavors are literally overwhelming, and it is difficult to find other flavors against their strength. However, there are a myriad of fruit esters begging for attention, including fig, raisin, plum, date, orange, and black cherry. Huge port, whiskey, and cognac flavors are also present, ripe with charcoal filtering and the oak-and-vanilla flavors of barrel aging, and joined by an alcohol bite that at least equals any of the strongest of those liquors. The alcohol is so strong that it burns the nose during exhalation, and bites angrily at the soft palate and at the back of the throat when swallowed. Much like a strong liquor, however, this is part of the process, and while the alcohol is indeed potent, it somehow adds a layer of charm and swagger to the beverage. There is a somewhat unfortunate touch of an almost bike-tire-rubber squeal at the edges of the brew, especially noticeable later in the mouthful. The aftertaste is heavy on charred ash, black malt, charcoal, and lingering molasses and burnt sugars, and like cigarette smoke, squats languidly on the tongue for a very, very long time. Mouthfeel is a gloopy, syrupy, viscous, alcohol-burning medium-high, and carbonation is hardly detectable.

Overall, and noting that it is difficult to make any sort of judgement about a beer that in almost every conceivable way does not in the least bit resemble a beer--given an unidentified glass of this, I would have most likely thought it bourbon or scotch--this is still a stunning brew, and should be on the must-try list of any serious connoisseur. Admittedly, the flavors are so warring in their charred, ashy, smoky, charcoal, fresh-out-of-the-campfires-of-hell potency that they're very likely to simply disgust anyone not already a fan of bourbon, scotch, etc., and anyone expecting this to simply resemble a very, very strong Imperial Stout (which, admittedly, it was before the special aging and freezing process brought it to 32%), will be very, very surprised at how much this exactly does not resemble that beer. So try with caution.

But try you must.

Serving type: bottle

04-10-2012 00:40:10 | More by jondeelee

woosterbill

Connecticut

3.5/5  rDev +0.3%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 3.5

33cl bottle poured into a Lost Abbey style tulip at the BrewDog pub in Camden Town. £6 for a dram. Not bad.

A: Still red-brown body; coats the glass with thick legs and a light brown hue. Looks appropriately intimidating.

S: Monstrous. Booze is first and foremost, with plenty of sugary sweetness as well: butterscotch, creme brulee, and vanilla. I kind of like it.

T: Sweet. Diabetic-coma-inducing sweet. Sugar, brown sugar, maple syrup, and toffee. A touch of coffee. Oh, and of course plenty of burning booze. A little too treacly for me, but a tasty sipper all the same.

M: Thick, viscous, and glue-like. So sticky. Not good.

O: I think I just developed a new cavity or two. Wow that's sticky-sweet. On the plus side, it led to an amazingly aromatic burp while waiting to catch the tube back to my friend's flat - everyone on the platform was treated to a potent whiff of Penguin.

Cheers!

Serving type: bottle

04-01-2012 18:58:51 | More by woosterbill

Treebs

Illinois

1.05/5  rDev -69.9%
look: 2 | smell: 1 | taste: 1 | feel: 1 | overall: 1

Thanks (I think) to danielnovak3 for the share. Served in a mini taster snifter.

A: The pour is completely still with no head. It has the appearance of dark rum.

S: Ash trays, permanent marker, hard liquor and dark fruits. Simply stunning.

T: The taste is burning wood, embers, ash tray, hard liquor, burnt hair and salty leather.

M: Thin, extremely hot and down right horrible.

O: This now hold the distinction of the worst beer I've ever had. This is a complete gimmick and should never be brewed again.

Serving type: bottle

03-25-2012 16:47:40 | More by Treebs

beerik

Massachusetts

1/5  rDev -71.3%
look: 1 | smell: 1 | taste: 1 | feel: 1 | overall: 1

Appearance: Brown and syrupy with "legs" running down the walls of the glass.
Aroma: Acrid. Unnaturally concentrated peat smoke. Solvent-like alcohol that'll curl your nose hairs.
Taste: Like chewing on the ashes of a peat-moss fire and washing it down with a shot of turpentine.
Overall: The only thing recommending the purchase of this beer is that you too get to take part in the "Highest Alcohol Percentage Wars." Most of my bottle went into a batch of vinegar. A delicious cider/lambic/peat-smoke vinegar--yum!

Serving type: bottle

03-06-2012 23:44:26 | More by beerik

Brabander

Netherlands

3.75/5  rDev +7.4%
look: 3 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5

Fiona de Lange brought this beer with her at the tastingday @ de Molen in Bodegraven, Holland. This tasting was organized by her and she is THE beerlady of Holland. Thanks Fiona.

I had heard a lot about this beer and now i could finally try it. Bottle batch 2.

The beer has absolute no head and is very heavy to drink when you compare it with other beers in this league. Very oily liquid.

I would go for the Struise messy of the double black. It is a freak beer.

Serving type: bottle

02-10-2012 19:59:26 | More by Brabander

Mar02x

Netherlands

3.3/5  rDev -5.4%
look: 3 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

I was finally able to try this beer with thanks to Fiona de Lange. Thanks for sharing Fiona! She organized a great tasting session at 'de Molen' on 21st of January 2012.

A - A dark amber colored fluid with no head.

S - A strong sherry and spirituous scent.

T - Very alcoholic it totally overpowers the other tones in this beer.

M - A soft alcoholic bomb.

O - Not bad in taste, but a very very strong alcohol presence.

Serving type: bottle

02-05-2012 21:21:31 | More by Mar02x

PatrickSwayze

California

4.13/5  rDev +18.3%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Bought a 375ml bottle with 3 of my friends. Went in it expecting nothing special, mainly it it for the experience. But i was pleasantly surprised. Cracked this with no pop as the cork came out. Poured into 4 small shot sized snifters. Forced a head on it that disappeared within seconds. Deep dark brown but translucent similar to a dark whiskey. Smelled of deep figs, roast and a little boozy. This is were i was surprised the most. actually expecting to retain zero qualities of beer but instead though it tasted of sweet liquor with a nice chocolate roast at the end "just enough to realize it was still a beer". Piney hops barely noticeable but there seemed to help dry out the beers taste and counteract the sweetness. Oaky taste on the sides of the tongue as well. I feel if your a fan of liquor as well as beer you could appreciate the finer qualities in this beer. Defiantly not worth the price tag, but overall glad i got to enjoy this.

Serving type: bottle

02-02-2012 04:45:19 | More by PatrickSwayze

Jeffo

Netherlands

2.8/5  rDev -19.8%
look: 2.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2.5

A few of us got together at De Molen yesterday for a short tour of the brewery and a beer tasting upstairs. A big thanks to Fiona for organizing the event, and another cheers for bringing a bottle of this ever polorizing brew for us all to try. We drank this one right after a Struise Double Black, so it was interesting to try these two monster ABV stouts back to back.

From a bottle into a small taster glass.
Batch #2

APPEARANCE: Pours a transparent, perfectly clear bistre brown and a small, wispy head forms but quickly disappears. A bubbly ring sticks around for a bit but also vanishes in quick fashion. No carbonation evident. Basically looks like a spirit after the initial pour is over. It’s also very clear for an imperial stout. The look makes more sense if you think of it as a strong ale.

SMELL: Relatively mild, but quite boozy and lots of whisky and sharp, piercing alcohol on the nose. After sitting for some time, it actually mellows out and some interesting aromas come to the forefront. A touch of roasted malts from the base beer with some chocolate and vanilla as well, though the whisky remains the dominant factor. The nose-piercing rubbing alcohol also fades off enough as it sits for a bit, which helped. Surprisingly mild for the ABV, but also surprisingly nice after it’s allowed to breath.

TASTE: Boozy as hell. Whisky and piles of burning rubbing alcohol. Some industrial cleaner in there as well, which doesn’t help. Very harsh at the beginning. Like the nose, after it sits for a bit, some of the flavors are allowed to find a way through. A touch of roasted malts, caramel sweetness, some smoky peat notes and hints of vanilla as well, though the booze is still the dominant factor the whole way through. A bold and persistent aftertaste is boozy with lots of whisky flavors and sharp, harsh alcohol. Interesting, but not necessarily good.

PALATE: Medium body and lower levels of carbonation. Not near flat, however. Relatively silky on the palate, which was a nice surprise, but goes down very harsh and finishes slightly sticky. A good burn at the swallow and lots of heat lingers on the palate.

OVERALL: This is a hard one to score, but then again, it’s also a hard one to drink. I was immediately excited to see this one on the table when I arrived at De Molen yesterday. It’s a beer I’ve always been interested in and have always wanted to try, but could never quite justify it to myself. It is certainly an interesting creation and a intriguing experiment into what beer can be, but doesn’t quite make the next step into being a quality product. Compared to the Double Black we’d had just before it, this one is quite thin, boozy, and is very harsh going down. Some have said this is closer to a spirit, and I might agree in part. Regardless, this was a great experience and I’m very happy to have had the chance at it. A big thanks again to Fiona for sharing this beer, as well as for organizing such a fun event for us all.

Serving type: bottle

01-22-2012 13:09:28 | More by Jeffo

IronDjinn

Alberta (Canada)

2.85/5  rDev -18.3%
look: 3.5 | smell: 1.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 2 | overall: 3

Some how I ended up with a caged and corked 375 ml green bottle of this. Well, not quite ended up, I forked over a lotta clams to get this, although I was expecting a 12 oz. bottle instead. Bottle wrapped in brown paper bag, simple felt drawing of a penguin and 32% drawn on it. I allowed it to breathe for about an hour

Cork releases with a small pop. Poured out about 2 oz. into a taster glass from the local homebrewing guild. The appearance is that of a dark brown, with a mahogany nimbus and cola highlights when held to light, somewhat translucent. No head whatsoever.

Aroma is sharp, boozy and somewhat vinous. Beneath all that is a character of roasted malt and coffee. Intense warming alcohol emanates out with every inhale. No real refinement to it though, it's sharp booze like moonshine or everclear.

The flavour is far more refined than the aroma hints at, thankfully. Sharp spike of raisin and alcohol up front, softening up with coffee, dark roasted malts and some peat on the finish. The aftertaste dries out considerably, while the alcohol heat increases. Some char, licorice root and molasses can be detected now and then as it sits and breathes.

Mouthfeel is thin, texture is slick, slippery and a bit silky, carbonation is absent.

One can question--and many have--what kind of beer this is left after being distilled so many times? Fortunately the presence of roasted malt still found in the flavour offers some familiar territory and a beery enough hallmark to let it pass for something beyond an alternative form of spirits. I'll give BrewDog points for experimenting and pushing the limits, though that probably won't be represented very well with the scoring of the finished product. I can understand the hefty price tag based on the process involved in making this, however the justification of the consumer to pay for it given the calibre of the end result is questionable. Then again I am no better, just a beer geek who eventually bought into the novelty factor and the fact that it became available locally, in order to see what the hype was about all for myself, and I suppose to cross this one off the list in the end. Been there, done that, won't be buying another ticket. The final word? This stuff becomes palatable once you let it breathe a bit, the aroma is perhaps the most off-putting factor of it all, yet when all is said and done the flavour is far from complex--especially compared to the complex process necessary to produce it--and not really worth the cost for it, especially since there are far more intense, complex and approachable Strong Ales/RIS's on the market for a fraction of the price tag. A novelty you'll have to ask yourself whether you'll buy into or not. However you never know, this stuff may turn into pure gold after several more years of aging, and those with deep pockets and stoic patience may win out in the end. For now it's just a crap shoot of skepticism....

Serving type: bottle

12-27-2011 11:55:42 | More by IronDjinn

DaveC93036

California

3.63/5  rDev +4%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4.5

Pours from the bottle dark brown with no head looks great.

The nose has hints coffee, plums, and alcohol, in that order, impressive for a beer with 32 ABV.

Tastes very bitter, akin to strong coffee black.

Goes over the palate and lets me know that it is every bit 32 ABV, I am impressed.

Overall, I would say that this beer was very enjoyable. Am thanking my good friend for sharing this impressive beer with me.

Serving type: bottle

12-02-2011 01:37:32 | More by DaveC93036

Huhzubendah

District of Columbia

3.58/5  rDev +2.6%
look: 3 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

Bottle shared by djmiller92. Thanks Dave.

The beer is chestnut brown. No head or lace. The aroma brings alcohol, smoke, cracked pepper, peat. Reminiscent of scotch in some regards. The flavor offers syrup, candy, malt, peppers, dark fruits, booze, scotch, plums, raisins. Whoa. The feel is a bit like cough syrup. Coats the palate. Lingering alcohol and syrup in the finish. A 2 oz. pour is sufficient. I enjoyed the experience. This is a beer I have wanted to taste since I first heard of it. Bold, unique, and worth a try.

Serving type: bottle

11-17-2011 21:03:22 | More by Huhzubendah

goblue3509

Pennsylvania

4.03/5  rDev +15.5%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Pours a dark black color with no head at all. When held to the light no light gets through even around the edges. There is no lace but there is sticky rings up and down the glass. The aroma is of big booze. It is like a smack in the face. There are aromas of dark fruits and oakiness hidden in there but you really have to search them out. The taste is big and bold. A big booze taste starts you out. The taste is like a big bourbon. There is a nice slight sweetness to it as well. There are notes of oak and darks fruits along with vanilla in that big taste. The mouthfeel is sticky and thick. Overall it was good beer. It is for sure big and it is to sip. There is no gulping this beer. A nice all night sip is what makes you enjoy this beer.

Serving type: bottle

11-13-2011 22:44:10 | More by goblue3509

BierGartenok

Oklahoma

4.9/5  rDev +40.4%
look: 5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 5 | feel: 5 | overall: 5

Fresh 2011 Vintage! Just off the boat! haha...My bottle opened for a friends B-day Cheers Chris!

Cage and cork removal, then on to the big guns!...Pour is dark, thick and beautiful. No head and not much lacing..this boy is sticky. Give a big sniff....am I in a salon...Smells like a perm is setting in! haha, wow this is a huge beer. Alcohol, sugar, chocolate, vanilla, oak and roasted malt hinge heavy on the nose. Mouthfeel is nice and sticky...Heavy and malty. Roastiness and coffee are there what is VERY surprising is how well the alcohol is hidden. Taste is very sweet with almost a tart on the backside. Finish is long and boozy. Alcohol is VERY warming and wonderful. This is simply one of the best beers I have ever had. I love this beer, I wish it was more readily available. If you get the chance PLEASE get one of these, you will NOT be disappointed!! Cheers!

Serving type: bottle

11-08-2011 02:39:54 | More by BierGartenok