Buxton: Brewdog: Rough Cs (England: Speciality Grain: 5% ABV)
Visual: Amber to brown. Caramel touched thin head.
Nose: Brown sugar. Dry hops. Slight smoke, barley and pineapple.
Body: Prickly bitterness. Thick frothy texture. Touch of chalk. Toffee malt. Oatmeal flakes. Apricot.
Finish: Malt chocolate. Chalk. Toffee. Grapefruit touch. Pineapple. Charred touch. Dried raisins. Oatmeal.
Conclusion: This is a fun wee one, both exactly what a lager should be, and also kind of not. Ok, odd starting point, let’s break that down a bit.
On the awesome side, this has a lovely texture. Thick and frothy, the oatmeal really has given weight to this, and sometimes feels almost rye touched at times. The joy of this is pretty much as much about texture as it is anything else. The rough lead out after sipping, the big main body – it is always keeping things interesting in how it feels.
Unfortunately, possibly because of the huge influence of the texture, the big weight of feel, you find that the actual influence of hop flavours seems too light. There is mainly bitterness and prickle feel, but not much actual either traditional or craft lager flavours. There is some soft fruit you get behind, a light tartness, but the texture really seems to be the main point.
On the unusual, but neither bad nor good side, it doesn’t feel refreshing like a lager. Which is why I say is exactly what a lager should be (the awesome innovation) and not ( It really doesn’t have that crisp refreshing character). In fact in many ways it does feel dissimilar to expectations of a lager, some ways a good thing, others not, but different. The thing is the more it succeeds in one, the more it fails in the other, the feel and the refreshing seem to eternally be in conflict.
It makes for something that is easy to drink, but has presence, but if it is going to go that way I feel it needs to embrace it, if it isn’t going to be refreshing, use that texture to deliver a bigger flavor.
Even so, it isn’t dull, just could do with committing more to what it is – it is flavoursome in itself, if not in a huge range. What it does do is very different – not a sessionable lager, but worth a try.
background: Beer 8 of collabfest, and night was drawing in. Despite drinking a lot of water and taking breaks, it was at this point that I decided to draw day one’s limit at ten beers. Also at this point the guys from Wild Beer Co turned up and gave some samples, and a nice chat – plus posed for photos. Which was nice. Anyway, this is an oatmeal amber lager, and as always I am not an unbiased actor on Brewdog beers.
