BrewDog Abstrakt AB:06

Formerly brewed at BrewDog
Style: Black IPA
Ellon, Aberdeenshire, Scotland

Serve in Shaker, Tulip

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Oh. Maybe I shouldn’t have waited two years before I opened this bottle, it seems like most of the carbonation is gone (if it ever was present). Isn’t the bottle corked properly? Anyway, the beer pours a rather lifeless dark brown body with just a few light brown, big bubbles on top. The bubbles gather in a ring at the walls of the glass, and don’t lace the glass. The aroma is very strong, very sweet and very much in DIPA land: here I find truckloads of overripe fruits, especially tropical fruits. It does however have a firm, malty, roasted backbone with liquorice, some coffee and traces of dark caramel and chocolate. The taste is moderate sweet and heavy to moderate bitter. The flavours are strong, complex and delicious, with an impressive malt/hop balance. Overripe tropical fruits, forrest berries, liquorice, roasted notes and chocolate, and in the back I get coffee, port wine and even some cola in the aftertaste. The alcohol is stunningly well integrated. The body is full, the texture is oily but unfortunately the carbonation is flat, which doesn’t fit this style at all, IMHO. It feels like I’m punishing the lack of carbonation twice, the sad head reduces the Appearance rating and the flat mouthfeel lowers the Palate rating, but what am I to do… A very nice beer that I suspect would have been absolutely fantastic with more carbonation.
[37.5 cl bottle, #5346/8973, enjoyed 2 years after bottling, from Vinmonopolet Vika, Oslo]

375ml bottle. Pours a dark brown, with a thick brown head. Rich, roasted, hoppy aroma, chocolate, spruce, coffee, spices, ashes, earth, faintly phenolic. Off-dry, full bodied, mid to high bitterness, slightly low CO2. Complex, roasted taste, coffee, licorice, ashes, hops, earth, tar. The hops are a bit too subsided (with age, I guess) for this to pass for a proper Black IPA. I probably kept the bottle for too long before drinking it. Nevertheless, it’s a pretty good beer, and regardless of style it’s enjoyable. (2013-04-30)

Bottle at Viisi Penniä, Helsinki. Originally rated 19082011. Colour is black with almost no head. Aromas and flavours: Chocolate, coffee, roasted malts and hops.

Not great, no hoppyness left. Too old. Feels stale in the mouth, no nose, a but dusty flavor.

Fra flaske nr. 6747) på Cardinaltreff aug-11: Mørk, mørk brun med tårnhøjt skum. Overbevisende aroma fra amerikanske humler (grapefrukt og nåletrær) pluss litt røstet malt. deilig sødmeanslag før humlebitterheten kjører på. Min første Abstrakt. Prøvde forleden AB:11, den er superb og har nå satt en AB:10 i kjelleren!

Heavy stuff. Black, creamy and oily look. Lots of bitterness, but really well-balanced in general. Dark fruits, chocolate, leather, coffee and black berries.

Bottle. Black color with a lot of quite big visible sediments. No head. Typical grassy Brewdog hop pellet aroma. Taste of salty licorice (like Finnish salmiakki). Sweet, medium bitter finish. Oily feel. Quite watery.

Pours very dark with no head at all. In aroma is roasted malt, dominating chocolate and coffee notes with some fruity (berries) background from hops. Tastes sweet with slight bitterness and kind of umami taste is here too. Thick texture, full bodied mouthfeel, flat carbonation. Long finish with that bitterness from taste. Glad I tried this one (my first Abstrakt). Very good, looking forward to some next beer from this line.

Age has not done this one any favors. was good fresh but has fallen off the map quickly. Little to no hop nose. Bits of coffee and bread. Kind of all over the board. hard to finsh the taster of it as really muddled. Good to try with a vertical though

Pours dark dark brown with almost no head. Nice aromas of toffee, coffee and rye bread. Sweetish in the mouth with a lot of coffee, tea and herb aromas. Nice balancing bitterness and lots of nice dark malt. Creamy mouthfeel, long finish. Delicious beer.