BrewDog Zephyr

Brewed by BrewDog
Style: Fruit Beer
Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire, Scotland

Clear gold, copper and amber hues settle beneath a coppery head soft as cotton. Her body is brilliantly clear with nary a hint of haze. The nose is very light, nay, I say verily weak. As I struggle to gather what I can of her aromas, I detect faint strawberry lemonade and raspberry seltzer water esters. I swirl her contents in hope of releasing more esters, but to no avail. Caramel, buttered toast, burnt vanilla bean, golden pie crust, wet wood, and faint strawberry esters. Like a ghost, her nose is hard to see and even harder to capture. Moving onto her crystal clear depths, I draw deep not once but twice in search of her elusive spirit. Thin and sparkly, she bubbles across my tongue like seltzer water, bursting with strawberry and raspberry essences. Strawberry Italian ice, anyone? There is a bit of hard mineral water in the finish which is also where I find faint esters of pie crust, wood, and burnt wood. A few more quaffs and I am left most unfortunately underwhelmed.

It wasn’t horrible, but neither was it great. The BrewDog Zephyr was definitely not what I was expecting out of an ale aged with strawberries in whisky casks. More of a clean, simple, quaffing session beer which has its own merits, but even there it was underwhelming. I definitely think this is a beer where the final verdict is up to the quaffer.

[bottle @ RBESG 2009, Grand Tasting] Buttery caramel aroma that is a bit perfumy (infected?). Hazy dark yellow. Buttery plum pediococcus(?). Strong ethanol and a very bright tang. Warming feel with a sweet finish that is clean but for a little tang.

Clear golden with a tiny white head. Aroma had strawberries, whiskey and malty notes. Flavour was sweet with strawberries, whiskey, malt and hoppy notes. Finished bitter and strong with warming alcohol.

From the Bottle at RBESG Harlequin, Sheffield 19/07/2009 Sour slight whisky aroma. White head. Golden coloured hazy in appearance strong in alcohol and sour with a slightly dry whisky malt finish.

Bottle @ pre-GBBF shindig, August 2009. Hazy blond appearance - no sign of any colour deriving from the strawberries. Decent sharp stuff with some fruity acidity but I struggled to identify the fruit as strawberry. The IPA and whisky elements are relatively muted. Wouldn’t have guessed the ABV was as high as 13%. The various elements are quite well balanced in that none of them dominates too much. However, the rather odd combination means that, for me at least, this is more of an intriguing and interesting beer than an unreservedly enjoyable one.

A Mes rate. Gravicask self poured from the Rake cellar.
Semi hazy gold with a faint white collar. A strange and not altogether brilliant blend of whisky and strawberry on the nose. Faint peat and butter underneath. The flavour is similar but better. It’s clearly mad as a bag of spanner munching frogs. Lovely tart notes from the strawberries that works really well. I’m honestly struggling to describe this one. A very interesting brew but certainly not something I could drink a lot of. Whatever, BrewDog, your credit is good! Finally, thanks to James for giving the chance to get a hefty sample of something that otherwise, would have been very expensive.

Bottle at Papsø. Clear yellow coloured with a small white head. Fruity aroma of strawberries and oak. Fruity flavour of strawberries and oak with notes of berries and hops. Tart berryish finish.

Hazy deep blond color. Aroma of strawberry jam; it reminds me some Dogfish Head… I just got a sip: undrinkable! Extremely harsh and bitter flavor, chemicals, some fruits and wood, but I really don’t want to drink the rest of the glass just to find out… disgusting, like the Dogfish Head I mentioned…