Brewdog Tokyo*

Alrighty,

When I heard this was coming out I was mad excited, as the previous Tokyo was fantastic being one of my favourite  imperial stouts to date. James (the brewdog director) had posted on his blog updates as this was fermenting and guided us through how it was getting on, up until when it got to around 17%. Then when it came out at a massive 18.2% people really began to turn their heads. It has now become arguably the most controversial beer ever made in Britain.

At 18.2% it’s the strongest beer in Britain that I know of and what with brewdog’s growing reputation as an extreme brewing company it grabbed everyone’s attention, but not just beer loves such as myself, the Portman group also. Automatically it was in the spotlight as “6 units per bottle” and  was being condemned by everyone who wanted to look like they have some sort of medical/social influence over The Sun readers. As usual they forget that its £10+ a bottle. I mean hang about, I can get a 75cl bottle of port at 20% out of Lidl for £4 but that’s not a beer so its alright? Everyone jumped on the bandwagon to the extent it was even brought up in the Scottish Parliament, who as far as I know are still toying with the idea of banning sale in Britain.

Anyway enough about the politics and more about the beer. The beer itself is an imperial stout that has been fermented with a champagne yeast and conditioned with cranberries, jasmine and French oak chips. It was a very limited batch, only around 2000 bottles made and 3 x 30l key kegs. I managed to get my hands on 6 bottles at an early stage of the release and my god what an experience. Its massive. Huge honey sweetness, the roasty imperial stout character is almost muted by it, the spice and whatever hops were added mix with the alcohol to give you a dry peppery balancing influence, the fruitiness of the cranberries and the light acidity off the wood also help to balance the sweetness and add the layers of complexity you need in such a beast, and that was just the first sip. As you work your way through it the warming character of alcohol, as you get from any drink of this strength, begins to make itself known. It really is something to just sit back sip on and enjoy.

This is a seriously special beer. It has grabbed Britain’s beer drinkers attention and said “Let’s push some boundaries” and also shook up the multinationals so much that they have got their political arm(the Portman group) to try and ban it. Its an eye-opener on all fronts, get your hands on some before its too late!

Chin chin

Tom