Brewdog: #Mashtag (Scotland: Brown Ale: 7.4% ABV)
Visual: Very dark chestnut red to brown. Moderate beige froth.
Nose; Crushed peanuts. Roasted character. Bubblegum. Kiwi touch.
Body: Big roasted malt. Nuts. Fruitcake and raisins. Kiwi. Juicy grapes. Very smooth. Sweet chocolate.
Finish: Malt chocolate. Lemongrass. Peanuts and dry roasted peanuts. Light liquorice. Kiwi again.
Conclusion: So, democracy, the worst of all systems, except for the other ones we have tried. How did it do this time?
Very smoothly, texture wise at least. There are rough roasted edges but the center is slick malted chocolate in feel and flavor. For the hazelnuts used in making? Well there is a distinct nuttiness, but not huge and I would probably call it more peanuts myself. Then again I don’t claim to be a nut expert (or any kind of expert really) so take that with a pinch of salt. The nuts are subtle and roasted on the aroma, dry and laden in the finish, and poking through at the edges in the body.
What I did find intriguing is below the evident malt an nut flavours there is a real juiciness to the beer. It’s hard to pin down but if I hadn’t to make a claim I would say it is like a subtle mix of kiwi and grape touches. Never above the malt, but riding around underneath. The main part is the juiciness which helps keep the nuts from being too drying.
As a beer it keeps to a few main notes, malt, light nuts and juiciness, with variants of expression. However it does express them in a very satisfying manner. Smooth, big in flavor but easy to drink. Dangerously easy to drink for the abv.
Ok. I’ll give democracy this one. It is nice.
Background: Decided by public vote, including the eponymous hashtag “mashtag”. This beer is a 7.5% abv brown ale made with NZ hops and aged on hazelnuts and oak chips. I would like to point out nearly every vote went against my choice. I will however try not to hold that against the beer. I started with the beer pretty heavily chilled down, so took my time with it. The weekday heat gave it a good chance to warm up and experiment with the range of flavor. As always I am not an unbiased actor on Brewdog beers.