Tokyo Rising Sun (Highland Cask Aged)
BrewDog

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From:
BrewDog
 
Scotland, United Kingdom
Style:
American Imperial Stout
ABV:
13.2%
Score:
92
Avg:
4.26 | pDev: 10.56%
Reviews:
6
Ratings:
16
Status:
Retired
Rated:
Jan 07, 2021
Added:
Oct 27, 2012
Wants:
  3
Gots:
  2
No description / notes.
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
Photo of Craftbeerfan666
Reviewed by Craftbeerfan666 from Norway

4.9/5  rDev +15%
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 5 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 5
A great deal of excitement was in connection with this long sought-after beer. Finally, my friend (the only one I know who had it) decided to try itlast year. It was suitably thickbodied, still well-tasting with notes of coffee, choc & barrel intact.
Jan 07, 2021
Photo of CrazyDavros
Reviewed by CrazyDavros from Australia

4.37/5  rDev +2.6%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
Aged a further 3.5 years (7.5 total).
Pours dark brown with a small head.
Nose shows smoke, woody oak, prunes, treacle, rum, morello cherries.
Flavours incldue more smoky wood and charred oak along with cherries and marzipan.
Incredible stuff.
Dec 02, 2015
Photo of Phyl21ca
Reviewed by Phyl21ca from Canada (QC)

4.41/5  rDev +3.5%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
Bottle: Poured pitch-black color stout with a large dark brown foamy head with OK retention and some lacing. Aroma of black chocolate with dominant notes of scotch is quite sublime. Taste is a great mix between some powder cacao and some residuals sugar notes with some dominant notes of scotch which rounded some of the rough edge. Body is quite full with somewhat of an oily texture and medium carbonation with no warming alcohol notes. This is an extreme beer for sure but some balanced was retained and barrel-aging treatment is excellent.
Oct 17, 2013
Photo of wordemupg
Reviewed by wordemupg from Canada (AB)

4.4/5  rDev +3.3%
look: 3.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
330ml bottle poured into tulip 26/8/13

A not quite black with a large loose mocha foam with big air pockets that has no retention or lace

S dark chocolate covered berries, heavy peat smoke, charred wood, teriayki, faint booze but 13.2% I'd never guess, burnt brown sugar almost smouldering marsh mellow, bruised plum and burnt prune

T the barrel's much more intense then the nose, tar, burnt wood, quite sweet and a hint of booze but again I'd never guess its as strong as it is, differs greatly from the nose but not in quality

M low carbonation, tannins almost numb your lips, faint booze with an intense burnt barrel aftertaste

O just great stuff that I honestly didn't think I'd love it as much as I did, a happy mistake for sure

one of those beers that I'll never drink again and will need to remember, too bad I wrote this review from memory after accidentally deleting a detailed review minutes earlier when my glass was full, sexy liquid
Aug 27, 2013
 
Rated: 4 by ROGUE16 from Delaware

Aug 22, 2013
 
Rated: 4.25 by Kirk from England

Jun 22, 2013
 
Rated: 4.75 by Scalawags from Michigan

Jun 18, 2013
 
Rated: 4.5 by Bonko_the_sane from North Carolina

May 13, 2013
 
Rated: 4.5 by SCZ from Illinois

Apr 28, 2013
 
Rated: 3.25 by Paolawt from Brazil

Apr 23, 2013
 
Rated: 4.5 by DmouthCaliBrewz from New Hampshire

Mar 29, 2013
 
Rated: 4.5 by DruRho from Maryland

Mar 19, 2013
 
Rated: 4 by whiterapid from Massachusetts

Jan 09, 2013
 
Rated: 3.75 by beernads from Florida

Jan 05, 2013
Photo of dgilks
Reviewed by dgilks from Australia

3.42/5  rDev -19.7%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
Pitch black with a medium sized but short lasted tan head. Okay.

Lots of really hot alcohol and phenol. Smoky as anything. Some interesting fruit. Earthy.

Interesting sweetness. Some chocolate and roast. Hot, higher alcohols. Fruity. Oak.

Full body with moderate carbonation. Fine.

An interesting beer. A little fusel-ridden and overly smoky. Not at all balanced and not working for me.
Dec 24, 2012
Photo of Dennoman
Reviewed by Dennoman from Belgium

4.67/5  rDev +9.6%
look: 4.5 | smell: 5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 5 | overall: 4.5
330 ml bottle, shared at newly opened BrewDog ShoreDitch, London. It was the classic "one too many" of the night, but what a one to finish with. The bottles are a rather shocking £25 each, but I managed to find another hapless victim to fall for the hype. This was the first batch of Tokyo brewed in 2008, then aged on whisky barrels (two Highland and one Lowland) and then forgotten about. I labelled it a marketing shtick, but the people at BrewDog who were briefed on this beer assured me it wasn't. Well, I guess you have to somehow make a sale. I was assured this one was far superior to the Lowland Edition, so I went for flavour over rarity. I didn't regret it, and here's why:

A: Thick, syrupy pool of black with a nice thin mocha head. Textbook imperial stout.

S: I don't even know where to begin here. Hefty smoke notes coming from the oak and whisky. The essence of maple-syrup glazed bacon, or at least what I imagine that to smell like. Sweetness and peat also coming from the whisky. Deep woody oak. The actual stout notes of roasted malts, coffee and dark chocolate are somewhat forced towards the background, which I imagine 4 years of cask-aging will do to it.

T: Big smokiness hits the palate first, followed by syrupy sweetness and huge whisky notes. Finish is chocolate and coffee. Everything is surprisingly soft and never hot with booze. At 13.2% there is absolutely no booze in this. Silky smooth and proper lush.

M: Despite the amazing smell and taste, this is probably where this beer really shines for me. Everything is so soft and silky smooth, and the mouth is numbed slightly by the whisky despite not being hot with booze.

O: Don't expect a perfectly balanced cask-aged stout when diving into this one. It's been aged for a little under half a decade, and you notice that throughout every smallest bit of the experience. Consider it a gloriously succesful, but weird experiment. Make sure to also drink it that way. Don't drink more than one though, we wouldn't want to openly support this kind of marketing, now would we?
Oct 27, 2012
Tokyo Rising Sun (Highland Cask Aged) from BrewDog
Beer rating: 92 out of 100 with 16 ratings