Tasting Notes: Brewdog: Sink The Bismarck

Brewdog: Sink The Bismarck (Scotland: IIPA: 41% ABV)

Visual: Dark brown, cherry red with no head at all, but slightly unexpectedly there is some carbonation in its fruitcake appearing liquid.

Nose: Hops, resin and cherry. Quite pungent. Pineapples, fruitcake, grapefruit and treacle. Dusty and airy – like air full of crushed grain dust. Quite sweet and hoppy.

Body: Really thickly textured, treacle and lots of fruitcake, evident alcohol but not burning. Cherries and bitterness, slight custard and toffee. The hops are not as evident as you would expect.

Finish: Lots of charring, bitter chocolate and now evident hops, resin again, the bitterness really comes through and a powdery feel reveals itself.

Conclusion: A thick heavy forceful beer, really pushing heaps of flavour out, dense and very hoppy and bitter. Every elements strikes with the force of Thors hammer

The nose is wonderful, the heaviness of the body works against it on pure flavour, however it does make it feel appropriately epic, a drink of the heroes of epics. If it were a whisky I would say it could do with a touch of water to let it expand, as it is that isn’t an option.

What it does best is be a distinct experience, a thick treacle whisky mixed with a hop bomb IPA. Tactical Nuclear Penguin worked as an event, but did not stand up well against the top Imperial Stouts, however this beer is so different from the Imperial IPAs that I would otherwise compare it against that it truly is a category to itself and thus makes itself the better event beer.

Very powerful and enjoyable anyway, as beer goes there are better, but it really is a centrepiece of a show, and unlike most contenders for the highest ABV beer crown it is very drinkable, and also distinctly beer like in its hop character and bitterness.

Definitely not your weekly tipple, I would advise this beer be saved for weddings and funerals, except as Will pointed out to me, you get this down your guests necks and you’ll end up needing more of both.