Tasting Notes: BrewDog Tokyo*
Brewery: BrewDog
Location: Fraserburgh, Scotland
ABV: 18.2%
Version: Bottled
Source: Courtesy of BrewDog
The Back-story: At 18.2% ABV, BrewDog Tokyo* is the strongest beer brewed in the UK and as a result, it's currently the most infamous: it has been condemned by health groups, the Scottish Parliament and the largely ignorant media.
The Beer: BrewDog Tokyo* is "an imperial stout brewed with jasmine and cranberries added in the kettle", dry hopped "with a combination of North American and New Zealand hops" and then aged "for 4 weeks on toasted vanilla French oak chips".
The Tasting Notes: I drank this one soon after the BrewDog Rake Raspberry, the better to compare the two. Tokyo*'s aroma was a lot more muted, but still noticeably fruity; more rich fruitcake than crushed berries. The pour was noticeably effervescent and the head slightly lighter, but still with that same tan colour.
And the flavour? Bear with me, I may run out of superlatives halfway through these notes... let's start with 'absolutely incredible' and move on from there, shall we? The first thing I noted: a distinct sweetness that was malty without being syrupy and an overall impression of definite alcoholic warmth, but without the stridency that you'd expect from a similar ABV beverage; port or sherry for instance. The flavours are rich, dense, complex and quite fascinating: a touch of cough-syrup, toasted bread, treacle, vintage port and dark cherry, with a hint of nuttiness, and a very slight herbal tang. Not much smokiness, not too heavy on the tannins; an extremely smooth, immensely satisfying drink all round.
Honestly, I could have happily gone on slowly sipping this one all night. All weekend, in fact. An absolutely stunning beer... quite possibly... in fact, no, definitely the best I've ever tasted. There, I've said it. Back in February Ed, Tim, Joe and myself all posted our tasting notes for BrewDog's Paradox Smokehead and RipTide stouts and concluded that they were quite possibly the best stouts we'd ever tasted. I hinted at the time that there was actually one or two I'd tried that were even better: I can tell you that I was alluding to BrewDog's Paradox Springbank and Paradox Longrow (I've just been too bone idle to type up the Tasting Notes since then). Well, I can promise you that this year's Tokyo* surpasses even those utterly stellar beers. Really, truly, unbelievably good...
And that's it... I really have run out of different ways of praising the stuff. Seriously, if you haven't grabbed a couple of bottles yet, do so while you can. I'm contemplating investing in a few more myself, even though I have one more stashed in the special beer cupboard already (and may actually transfer that one to the house safe...)
In a word: wow. Just... wow.
What the other Beer Bloggers are saying: I sampled this one last Friday night so I was hoping to have the Notes posted at the weekend, but BT managed to kill my landline for four days, so I'm lagging behind both Pencil & Spoon's Mark Dredge's video review and Pete Brown's blog. Haven't seen any more reviews just yet, but I'll post the links as and when I find them.
Related posts:
I need to try this stuff. I hope it hasn't sold out on the site! Reading this review reminds me of how awe-some beer can be-- the infinite nuanced flavors and the way they can make us feel. It's nice to meet a beer like that every so often that reminds you that no matter how many you try there will always be something lovely and new brewing somewhere! (Probably at Brewdog. Haha)
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Awesome review.
I agree with you on the beer.
Probably my favourite beer ever too.
Gotta love what they guys are doing at BrewDog.
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Hi Ally, Adrian - Thank you very much indeed, glad you liked the Notes. And this really is exactly the sort of incredible, truly remarkable beer we should be celebrating as an example of the creativity and energy that can be found in British brewing these days.
You really do gotta love what BrewDog are doing, and the best news is they're not the only ones, either.
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Darren, I waited until I could truly enjoy my bottle of Tokyo* and I'm glad I did. What a remarkable beer. A whole raft of tastes come through, from first sip to the wonderful afterglow that remained for some time. Caramel, coffee, and a wonderful hint of spice that rang through the whole tasting. It left a tingle on the tongue, and you're right saying that the high alcohol content didn't interrupt or intrude too much. The strength was there for sure, but the tastes were rich, varied and complex, and not overpowered by it. A beautiful beer ... a work of art ... I wish I could drink some more.
And of course, now the Portman Group is sticking its nose in again. But to hell with them - this is a splendid beer from a fine brewery, and one that I'll remember for some time.
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Tim mate, very glad indeed you liked it. I'm extremely tempted to blow £35 on a six-pack before it sells out. Want to go halves? I can deliver your bottles to you at F'Con...
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Sampled this yesterday, and not wanting to be irresponsible and incur the wrath of the Portman Group I shared it with my brother. We both agreed that, as noted by Darren and Tim, the alcohol, while certainly noticable, is not all as pervasive or cloying as we would expect from a beer of this strength. Bro reckoned it would go well accompanied with a fine single malt whisky. He's not a beer connoisseur and missed out on a lot of the subtleties, so the rest of the comments are my own impressions.
I found the aroma quite interesting, quite light and fruity for an imperial stout. First impressions on tasting were surprising as well. As noted before, the alcohol was well controlled, even better than some I've had at half the strength. Then as tasting continued - malt, treacle, molasses, those cranberries, vanilla and oak notes from the toasted chips, some chocolate, nicely balanced bitterness, just a hint of floral from the jasmine, and buried in there I picked up on a touch of mango and apricot. Wonderfully complex stuff indeed.
It'll be interesting to revisit another bottle or two when they've been in storage for a while so I better nip off to GapWines and hope they still have a few left.
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