Brewdog: Edinburgh: 01 (Scotland: Amber Ale: 6.2% ABV)
Visual: Dark cloudy reddened brown. Hazelnut color small bubbled froth that leaves suds.
Nose: Cashew nuts. Dry. Caramelised brown sugar. Gherkins. Cherries. Malt chocolate.
Body: Dry. Cashew nuts. Treacle. Moderate bitterness. Creamy texture. Light apricot. Crème brulee. Light fruitcake.
Finish: Brown sugar. Peanuts. Hop character and dry hop feel. Plums. Moderate bitterness. Toffee. Treacle.
Conclusion: Interesting. Very dry in an Irish red style but with a strong sweet crème brulee backbone that contradicts my expectations of the style. It is mixed in with lots of cashew nuts that is distinctive in that slight sourness that they bring, and also in the dry nuttiness they leave behind in the finish.
The contrast of the dry feel and nuttiness to the sweetness is balanced quite well, though there are a few points where it leans too much one way or the other. For example the treacle in the finish builds to a more sickly level over time which weakens the overall experience.
To compensate the texture helps a lot, very creamy and smooth, it acts as a negotiator between the two aspects, helping to make some of the harsher edged flavours more easy drinking. It is quite telling that this aspect is lacking in the finish and it results in the starker contrast as you head out of the body which is the weaker point of the beer.
Overall it is still a mostly well balanced, very dry but flavoursome red. I find it a touch too drying over time for my tastes, predominantly in the finish, but the body delivers well for the most part.
A good try in the a style, balancing the more American amber ale with the Irish red, hard to get right, but it does ok here even if it doesn’t wow.
Background; The second of the bar brewed beer based at Brewdog brewery and they’ve changed the naming convention already. Well that’s just rude. Well maybe not, other places are listing it as BDEN01, so who knows, maybe we just have a schism in the ranks of the Brewdog naming faith. Anyway an amber ale, but I would say it is closer to Irish red in interpretation myself. As always I am not an unbiased actor on Brewdog beers.
