I’ve tasted this beer before. A fairly small sample at the Rake last December, plus a bottle I shared with the rest of the participants on the trip to Espedalen Fjellbryggeri.
But I kept one of the two bottles BrewDog sent me. To sip on my own.
The full name is Rake Raspberry Imperial Stout. Initially on cask at the London pub the Rake, but there are a limited number of bottles released as well.
The description on Ratebeer: 10% imperial stout aged in a Smokehead whisky cask with 25kgs of fresh raspberries.
The beer pours almost black, but there is a hint of ruby in there, too. Lively carbonation forms a rocky head that collapses fairly fast.
A fantastic aroma of berries and smoke.
I take a sip. Warming stout base, the whisky makes a solid presence in the background. And then the raspberries. Sweet and sour, it’s like a Scottish summer magically transformed and captured in the bottle.
And it has balance. The fruitiness adds another level to the Smokehead, which IMHO was close to perfect as it was.
Extreme beer? Sure, this is BrewDog at their best, daring to go where other brewers haven’t been before.
Very nice. I drank a bottle of this last Sunday. It’s a strange beast with lots of contrasting flavours. I liked it! I’ll post my notes soon for a comparison.