BrewDog Tokyo*

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

Serve in Snifter

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One of my favorite beers. Acquired a taste for it when Sergio’s in Louisville had it on draft.

Aroma of dark chocolate, fruit and booze. Pours black with a thick dark tan head that lives on the sides of the glass forever. Syrup sweet (in a good way). Boozy, thick, smooth. Not even a hint of bitterness. The cranberries are very evident but in a sweet rather than tart presentation. Woody and boozy on the finish. This is a stellar beer. Intergalactic fantastic indeed.

UPDATED: JUN 22, 2010 (bottle - 330 ml) Spelled "Tokio" on the label. Pitch black pour with a thick and creamy tan head. Huge aroma. Lots of roasted malts, coffee, oak and fruit notes. Flavor starts off with a roasted malt and cranberry sweetness. Light chocolate and coffee flavors blend with the cherries and move toward the palate delivering a roasted and bittersweet flavor. Finish is warm, but not hot, and that nice light cranberry hint. Couldn’t really taste the jasmine that the label said, but still an outstanding stout. Alcohol is really hidden well.

Pours black with a thin off white foam. Aroma is soaked with bourbon, oak, vanilla, and alcohol. Big mouthfeel with powerful fruit and toasted flavors. Oak, vanilla, and condensed caramel linger on the tongue. Sweet finish and alcohol dryness. Excellent beer.

UPDATED: DEC 14, 2010 Bottle, 330 ml. Wow, this is a great one. Brown-black colour, pours a dark red head, that doesn’t hold much. Smell of coffee, figs, pepper, vanilla, licorice, with toasted notes, maybe wood... and pure alcohol, maybe too much ethanol. Thick body, it seems to "weight" in your tongue, and dumb it. Taste is the same of smell, plus oranges and definitely wood. Maybe too agressive, even more when it warms, but a pleasure to your senses. It may be hard to drink for most people, even for beer lovers, but it’s really great.

Pours a thick creamy dark murky brown with very little head. Pretty exciting to pour (or maybe it’s just the anticipation of what a $15 12oz beer might bring). If anything, I’d label it one of the maltiest beers I’ve had the pleasure of drinking (which is immediately noticed by the aroma). Very complex all the way through....finishes extremely well as its malty goodness fades slowly - almost begging you to take another sip. You can taste the subtle fruity notes (labeled as cranberries), but nothing specific seems to scream out at you. Very balanced - very drinkable...and although quite a potent beer, its craftsmanship is shown in the fact that its 18.2% alcohol content is well guarded by a bevy of sensational flavors.

I am drooling from smelling this! Ultra dark red going dark brown with a small deep tan cap that resides forever. Excellent lacing... well, maybe not excellent but considering this is 18% it’s pretty good.. Man, Smells thick as hell! Awesome. Sweet, intense, cranberries, cocoa, plums, raisin, roast, fragrant and floral, weak pepper. I’m reviewing this pretty close to room temperature. Heavy heavy roast.. this is excellent. Damn, this tastes excellent. Tasty cranberries, alcohol, spices, plum, touch of fruit cake, flowers, a bit of heat initially, raisins, candy, Halls cough drops,.. getting sweeter as I go. Thick roast, very fruity.. I don’t quite see the 90 IBU but the bitterness is by no means silenced. Quite thick mouth feel but not overly which is surprising. Smooth, a bit of carbonation which all help leaving my mouth soft and soothed. Good bitterness, finishes oddly fruity with a spice and a light burn on occasion. I love this beer. 10 thumbs up!

Before I write this review, I’d just like to mention that the lovely lady at the supermarket who sold me this couldn’t be bothered to find out the actual price of the bottle when the barcode wouldn’t scan. She charged me NZ$2, actual price turned out to be $28. Win for Jim. Black with port, rosy notes and a caramel coloured head. I stuck my nose over the glass and picked up Christmas cake, mature fortified wine, fresh spices, cinnamon and caramel. Prickly and then a full-on blast of spice and thick syrup, molasses which settles into a lustrous tasty cakiness. It is full, rich and generous. Although the bitterness is listed as being fairly high, it isn’t tear your head off strong. The finish is long lasting and when you burp it brings back a pleasant flush of allspice, cloves, port and other flavours too numerous to mention. I doubt whether I have given too many 10s for flavour (aroma certainly), but this is thoroughly deserving. This is an epic beer. It shows what beer can be and for that, I love it.

Pours rich plum dark brown, almost black. Sorta looks the color of congealed blood but in no way do I mean that in a negative sense... just using the analogy to describe the color. The head is small and filthy tan. The aroma is oak, chocolate, plum, and alcohol. The flavor is sticky, syrupy sweet with cranberry, lots of sugar, and background notes of malty bitter chocolate. Its very smooth on the palate and done very well. You’d have no idea of the strength except for the belling warming effect. Powerful, smooth and flavorful. If you can only have "1" beer (tonight), this one will work wonderfully. The beer draws down clean with sparse, large spotty lace. It swirls in the glass like the waves of the ocean and will redevelop a thin head. This beer can inspire the best thinking in you. Its so rich and contemplative you’ll wonder about a lot of things.

Bottles from Pivo, York. Opened for the Superbowl and shared with Slothez. A dense, deep dark brown coloured pour with a short lived tan head. Enticing aroma that had traces of molasses, dark malts, liquorice, leather, dark chocolate, berry fruit and booze. Wonderful velvety mouth feel. Flavour was absolutely stunning - rich, fruity and full bodied. The alcohol is lovingly embraced and merged pretty darn seamlessly; whilst being warming it never distracted from the delights that reside within. Quite brown sugary sweet from the offset but not in a cloying way. The chocolate and berry fruit stand out , but there’s so much complexity going down here that every sip was a lingering pleasure. A triumph.