Tasting Notes: BrewDog Rake Raspberry Imperial Stout
Brewery: BrewDog
Location: Fraserburgh, Scotland
ABV: 10.0% (ish)
Version: Bottled
Source: BrewDog
What do you get if you cross BrewDog's Paradox Smokehead Imperial stout and a cask full of fresh Scottish raspberries? Answer: Rake Raspberry, a beer that's round about 10.% ABV (the bottle arrived unlabelled so I'm a bit hazy on the details) and has a flavour that could actually be genuinely indescribable... although I'm going to give it a go.
Everything kicks off with an extremely pungent, rich fruity aroma as soon as you crack open the bottle. As you'd expect, the beer pours a delightful jet black and has a a thin, tan-coloured head. Then first sip unleashes an incredible explosion of dry, almost bitter fruit flavours, under-cut with a dark, smoky malt-sweetness, just a hint of liquorice and an oddly sharp, almost soapy tang on the aftertaste. Yes, soapy... unless that's a dollop of umami I'm getting (could be - I don't think I'm very good at spotting umami yet). After a period of breathing in the glass - and there was plenty of opportunity for this beer to breathe; Rake Raspberry really isn't a quaffer - the fruit flavours develop a bit more complexity, with the sour-sweetness of under-ripe plums coming to the fore. At the same time there's a tannin-dryness that comes through, giving the beer a claret-like flavour as well.
Final verdict: with its highly challenging flavour profile, Rake Raspberry is most definitely a beer you might have to work at acquiring a taste for, although as it's already sold out on the BrewDog website, that could be tricky (if you see a bottle in a specialist beer store near you, grab it). Luckily, I bought two bottles of this one as soon as I saw the announcement on the BrewDog blog, which means there's one more lurking in the special beer cupboard: I plan to let that one mature for a while and then re-visit to see whether the balance between the tart berry flavours and the whisky-malt smokiness has shifted at all. Should be an interesting one to re-visit.
When I placed my order, I noticed that Rake Raspberry was billed as 'Abstrakt AB:01' - the first in a new experimental series from BrewDog, perhaps? If this one is anything to go by then I definitely look forward to trying Abstrakts AB:02 onwards.
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