BrewDog Riptide

Brewed by BrewDog
Style: Imperial Stout
Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire, Scotland

Serve in Snifter

Bottle. Opaque blackness with a medium, frothy mocha-colored head. Aroma is rather sweet with dark chocolate notes, roasted malt, cocoa, and creamed-and-sugared coffee notes. Taste ups the bitterness quite a bit. Roasted malt, bitter coffee, big hops, bittersweet chocolate, and light licorice. Body is medium-full with a creamy, bubbly carbonation. Finishes with more bitter coffee and bitter hops, blended with chocolate, cocoa, roasted malt, burnt caramel and cocoa.
Earlier Rating: 2/25/2010 Total Score: 3.1
Bottle. Black pour with not much head. Only packs of tan bubbles on top. Nose is soy sauce, dark chocolate and coffee. Perhaps some sea salt as well. Taste is strong roasted malt, light chocolate, soy sauce, light licorice and soft coffee. Body is rather light for an imperial stout and the carbonation still lacking. Finishes with more roasted malt, light salt water, dark chocolate, watery coffee and light smoky notes.

Poured from big bottle. Aroma of roasted nut, coffee, burnt caramel, smoke, butter. Classic stout appearance. Flavors of roasted nut, licorice, molasses, alcohol, banana, pepper, piney hops. Dry feel. Cocoa flavor noticed about a third of the way thru. Enjoyable stout.

Pours a dark brown, almost black. Nice lacing with a highly carbonated tan head. Roasted malt, dark chocolate, earthy, brown sugar. Burnt. Big roasted flavor upfront with a hoppy bite. Slight pepper flavor with a tad of an alcohol finish. Mouthfeel is oily...and bitter/burnt.

THOUGHTS: Nice, but nothing unique. It was nice to see a simpler and probably more traditional take on what the style was probably actually like when it was first created. Everyone tries to put a new spine like coffee or barrel aging on imperial stouts so it was nice to taste the beer in its raw state. Hid alcohol fairly well. TECHNICAL: Bottle. Poured a dark brown that was basically opaque black in the glass with an average to large, tan to light brown head that mostly diminished, but left excellent lacing. The aroma had moderate to heavy grain, roasted and burnt malts; lighter caramel; light herbal and earthy hops; raisin; plum; prune; hints of licorice; slight vegetable; slight vinegar; and dark fruit. The initial flavor was light to moderately sweet and slightly bitter; while the finish was moderately sweet and moderate to heavily bitter with a long duration. There was roasted malt, dark chocolate, caramel, chocolate syrup, coffee grounds, slight licorice, burnt malt, dark fruit, earthy and herbal hops, a little metallic hops, raisin, prune, and a little alcohol. The medium to full body was sort of silky, but also slightly sticky on the lips with rather fizzy carbonation and a lightly metallic and ever so slightly alcoholic finish.
Earlier Rating: 11/5/2010 Total Score: 3.9
THOUGHTS: Not incredible, but a very nice Imperial stout. Not the fullest impy, but very easy to drink. Slightly boozy, but it might age well. A well balanced beer, but slightly artificial. TECHNICAL: Bottle. Poured a very brown that was nearly black in the glass with amber, brown highlights in direct light and a small to average, off-white head that almost fully diminished with only a few stray bubbles along the glass and left virtually no lacing. The aroma was moderate to heavy, chocolate and chocolate syrup, lighter coffee; soy sauce, alcohol, and whiskey. The initial flavor was rather sweet and lightly bitter; while the finish was very sweet and light to moderately bitter with an average to long duration. There was chocolate, chocolate syrup, cocoa powder, alcohol, weak coffee, grain, slight dark fruits, and slightly artificial soy. The medium to full body that felt thinner because of how oily it was was a bit sticky on the lips with fairly soft, yet tingly carbonation and a metallic, slightly chalky and slightly alcoholic finish.

AROMA: licorice, chocolate, coffee, roasty APPEARANCE: black, clear, frothy TASTE: heavy bitterness PALATE: medium body, thick feel, average carbonation, bitter, long bitter finish with roasty aromas OVERALL: interesting stout, hides the alcohol well, nice blend of stout aromas

Bottle. Pours with brown airy head. Very dark, almost black, brown colour. Aroma of caramel, coffee, chocolate, raisins, roasted. I had sweet expectations, but this beer kicked me in head with bitterness. Also, strong hops flavour appeared in finish. Higher ABV noticeable. Not a bad beer, but the hoppy bitterness and alcohol annoy me a little in this beer.

UPDATED: FEB 6, 2012 19 jan 2012, bottle (old world russian imperial stout). Sooooo dark! Gorgeous nose! Straw, roasted chocolate. Med body and a tad fizzy. Big, roasted coffee. Malty, meaty, alcohol. Wow! Great! ---Rated via Beer Buddy for iPhone
(original rating) 24 May 2011, tap. (Total Score: 3.6 ) black w/ thin foamy brown head. burnt toast and dark chocolate nose and lots of dry cereals. thin/med body, slightly creamy and a little oily. burnt coffee, some woody hints, mostly roasted malt but not a dry stout. lingering bitter chocolate finish. very nice.

Pours and tastes like someone poured chocolate milk into the La Brea Tar Pits. Surprisingly too cartoony and sugary for me.