#56: The Tasting Panel

The Saturday before last, after I dropped Becca at the Airport, and finished off a looooong week at work it seemed prudent to catch up with a couple of mates and drink some beers …some good beers!

So the call went out and a line up was put together. When we looked at the line up though, it just looked too good for any old night… and so The Tasting Panel was formed, Harley, Kenneth, Jan and Myself each of us would taste the beers, try to break down the flavours we got from them and then give it a rating out of 10. Our rating system was not set out on any established set of rules other than a simple: “if you had to rate this beer, 10 being the best you’ve ever had, 0 being the worst, what would you give it?”
Starting with some lighter beers, and kept moving down the line to some pretty special ones …with a little palate cleansing lager in between…

The first part of the line up was a few offerings from the Brewdog family….

#1: Brewdog Punk IPA
I’ve had the Hardcore IPA on many an occasion, a big intense, oh so tasty beast! But somehow I have never gotten around to trying the original… It poured a light straw colour, with about half a finger of head. The nose is light and citrussy, kind of grapefruit-y. In the mouth it’s light to medium bodied with mildly hoppy, citrus-y characters coming through, moving into a short but satisfyingly hoppy finish. Tasty, sessionable pale ale, unfortunately for me, it was struggling to stand up to an incredibly spicy beef stew that I had for dinner…
The panel gave it a average score of 6.5/10

#2: Brewdog 5am Saint
Poured a light amber colour, with a fluffy white head. The nose was citrus-y yet sweet, some tangelo, pineapple, an underlying caramel sweetness, toffee like notes. In the mouth, the first thing I get is candy sweetness, some caramel balanced out by some fresh fruity notes. That tangelo sweetness comes through more and more, but moves into a lingering hop bitterness on the finish.
I haven’t always been the biggest fan of amber ales, but this one has just the right twist, and is amazingly balanced… overall, really good beer!
The panel gave it an average score of 6.7/10

#3: Brewdog Hop Kills Nazis
It poured a dark golden colour, almost copper-tone, Kenneth called it a darker Baltic Amber which I quite liked, very poetic. The nose is full of candy sweetness, a little citrus character, some burnt toffee undertones, the alcohol is just noticeable amongst all the other aromas. It has a medium body that coats the mouth a little, flavours of orange rind, following through to a grapefruit-y burnt toffee bitterness that lingers on the palate. Pretty good beer, but the alcohol content is a little more apparent, a little less balanced than what we wanted it to be… Damn good beer, but one was enough.
The panel gave it an average score of  5.5/10

#4: Maui Coconut Porter
A bit of a favourite from way back! …I picked this one because Harley was planning an Imperial Stout for his next brew, with coconut and vanilla, seemed applicable…
Poured dark brown, nearly black, with a little bit of mocha coloured head. Nice warm roast-y coffee notes, with sweet coconut, and some kind of earthy notes coming through. In the mouth it’s got a light to medium body, with all those awesome notes you get off the nose coming through. Satisfyingly roast-y toast-y goodness, with a little sweet coconut, and just a tinge of underlying citrus …a lot better than the last time I had this, all kinds of fantastic!
The panel gave it a rating of 8.3/10

#5: Brewdog Tokyo*
The Main Event! For anyone that doesn’t know this beer, it is the second batch of their Intergalactic Fantastic Oak Aged Imperial Stout, much bigger and badder at 18.2%ABV. Big bold and brewed with Jasmine and cranberries… Mmmmm…
It pours pitch black, no light making it through the glass at all! With a small mocha head …impressive to even have a head with an 18.2%ABV! As you put your nose over the glass there is an alcohol burn at first, but once you get past that there is an aroma of coffee rinds, cedar-y oak, dark toffee, some dark fruit and it just keeps developing and changing in front of you… The mouth is insane! Rich, intense, viscous, there’s chocolate, vanilla, macerated fruit, coffee, white pepper …layer after layer of awesome!! 
The description of this beer talks about moderation.  Everything in moderation, including moderation itself. What logically follows is that you must, from time, have excess. This beer is for those times. …this is the beer that pushed us into excess this time!
The panel gave it an average of 9.7/10 …a beer that will take a bit of beating!

#6: Rogue Double Mocha Porter
I had been looking forward to this one for aaaaaaaaaages! The bottle completely covered in gaudy blue wax, letting absolutely no light in, the great beer that is it’s little brother, and the all round awesomeness that is Rogue… The Tokyo* was going to be a hard act to follow but this was setting out to be all kinds of good.
Poured a deep dark brown almost black, with about a finger of tan head. Smells exactly as you expect from a mocha beer, chocolate, coffee all the way. In the mouth there is a lot more body than expected, light to medium, but with a creaminess to the texture. Carrying on with those coffee and chocolate flavours, rolling into some balanced pine-y hop bitterness. So so good!
The panel gave this one an average of 7.9/10 

There were a few more beers after this, and some damned good ones; The Tuatara XI, Ballast Point Seamonster Stout, Avery Hog Heaven and Harley’s own Hopopitimus IPA. But to be 100% honest, with the combination of high ABV Beers and “palate cleansing” chasers, we just started to get a little pissed… and the night, like my notes, just began to degenerate into an indistinguishable mess…
…but a fun indistinguishable mess!