Today is world whisky day and in honour of the occasion, what better than a whisky-barrel aged beer to celebrate? Two whisky barrel-aged beers of course!
Brewdog released their zany collaboration with Three Floyds, Bitch Please, about 6 months ago. That iteration was aged in a Jura cask. But they also secreted some away in Laphroaig casks. Laphroaig is widely accepted to be one of the peatiest drams out there, its phenolic and iodine-full character is certainly an acquired taste and one that I myself have only recently discovered.
I've gotten hold of one of the latter and decided to open alongside the original for a comparative tasting (as I am wont to do). Will my original thoughts on the beer hold true up against the souped up version?
The original first then. I gave this 4.3 out of 5 on ratebeer originally. I said "A lighter beer than I’d anticipated, chestnut brown with cream coloured
head and a light level of carbonation. Fantastically complex nose, I can
detect toffee, hops and smoked malt with some oak wood character.
Smoky/peaty flavour certainly to the fore on the first taste with
noticeable alcohol presence and a fruity sweetness that reminds me of
toffos. Finishes with unmistakable sugar butteriness of shortcake an
alcoholic warmth and the ghost of the wood. A good solid beer." and I largely stand by those thoughts, though the smoke and peat seem somewhat subdued in this bottle.
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| Two brothers in arms. |
Its older, more boozy (13.5% vs 11.5%) brother next then. Its slightly darker but certainly appears the same beer.That is until you get a whiff of its aroma and its unmistakably been fraternising with that more southerly distillery. Phenol, smoke and deep heat are the order of the day and it tastes like inhaling a bonfire. The sweet toffee is still there but the subtleties are lost and replaced with vegetal peat, iodine and ash and a massive warming finish from that lovely ingrained whisky. Perhaps a touch of cola hidden in there too. Certainly an acquired taste and even one I can't take too much of. I still enjoyed the beer but it could perhaps have come out of the barrel sooner to retain some of the base beer characteristics.
As always, don't take my word for it, give it a go yourself. It may seem pricey, but for the strength its pretty decent. Both beers are still available in the Brewdog Online shop. I'm off for a wee dram.
