First Brew Dog

I have seen people telling both good and bad things about the Scottish Brew Dog brewery and its beers. Until January I had never tried a Brew Dog beer. I have seen them on shelves in beer shops and bars abroad, but I had never seen a bottle here in Norway.

This changed as of 1 Januar when the Norwegian state owned wine and liquor outlets, Vinmonopolet, started selling some Brew Dog beers. I decided to try one out, and Rip Tide was my first Brew Dog beer.

According to the label this is a "twisted merciless stout". The alcohol content is 8%. The label also tells that this beer won the prize for "world's best stout-imperial" at the World Beer Awards. The beer is very dark. In the glass there is some carbonation and a small, tanned head.

In the nose there is coffee and some burnt notes. In the mouth the feeling of cold coffee takes the lead with much bitterness, but there are also hints of prune there. The beer is balanced, as the alcohol content does not show.

Rip Tide is a nice beer, but I feel the straight forward coffee taste makes it unneccessarily bitter. I would like to try it again, but I feel there are other dark beers out there that suit my palate better than this beer from Brew Dog.