Kamikaze Knitting Club
BrewDog

BrewDog "Kamikaze Knitting Club"
5,50€ / 2/3 pint @ Brew Dog Roma, Roma, IT on 30 June 2018

Notes: Listed at 7.5%ABV with 30 IBUs. Black body with ruby colored highlights beneath a short but creamy head of tan. Very good head retention and excellent lacing that leaves solid walls of lace about the glass. The aroma is basically just chocolate. The flavor is more complex. There's a hint of fruit, and... something else. (I later learned this was maple syrup). It's moderately bitter and there's chocolate, caramel, underlying fruit, and a dusting of woodiness in the finish. Medium leaning towards medium-full in body and smooth across the palate.

 

 

Pours a pitch black coloration with a large, creamy head. Smells of roasted, caramel malt, chocolate and maple syrup, with a hint of coffee and licorice. Taste follows the nose, but not as much maple is coming through, being dominated by roasted, caramel malt, chocolate and licorice, with hints of maple, coffee and tobacco. Finishes with a light/medium bitterness and quite a bit more licorice coming through in the aftertaste. Thin mouthfeel with a light/medium body and medium carbonation.

This has a good balance of sweet and roasted, bitter notes but is not very rich, suffering from a somewhat thin and watery body and mouthfeel. Really not that bad for 2€ a can though.

CAN
Smoke + brown sugar; cola + walnuts.

4 4 4.25 4 4

Smooth + round; not hot or heavy. Wilts next to CBS + Lervig Maple.

2nd tasting: Cola black with pitted tan head; fig, ash, + meat on the nose; treacle, wood, anise, a maple hit, tar, some vanilla, and bitter licorice root linger, creamy + medium.

Maple, yes, but in a woody, rustic way, not a pancake way. Underneath is a muscular stout that skips chocolate and coffee for some very black notes. Maybe it was trying to avoid being oversweet like other maple beers, in which case, it over corrected.

Bumping down Taste .5, up Feel .5.
It's good, it's not just very fun.

This review: Now with 100% more BrewDog! Next dog up for bruview is BrewDog Kamikaze Knitting Club – a 7.5% ABV maple syrup flavoured American Stout. Yes, maple in a beer – that’s the stuff I drench my pancakes with! Yeeehaa! And so forth. About time I got my hands on a maple-flavoured Stout too after I missed out on Stockade The Mountie Maple Imperial Stout. I was gutted because I missed the chance to try a beer that would go great with pancakes [my dream since childhood… well maybe not childhood, but adulthood indeed]. So here goes – a dream pancake-pairing brew from the brewest [not a word] of dogs: BrewDog. Enough faffing, let’s crack that can already – the overlords at BrewDog are eagerly awaiting my report.

Poured from a 330ml can into a nonic pint.

A: Black body, like the nightiest of moonless nights… also there are no stars to be seen for some reason – that black, with a khaki-coloured cappuccino foam head that leaves impressive and chunky lace as it goes down. Yep, this looks pretty good. 8/10.

S: This things got maple written all over it, in ALL-CAPS too. Aroma is a tasty mix of sweet sweet maple “ah yes, she is my dark mistress that I seductively pour all over my pancakes like a silky velour of flavour”, and err, yes: roasted coffee hints too. But that maple is singular in its ability to win over my olfactory senses [TL;DR: I like maple syrup. Duh]. Overpowering though, bit too one-note, actual critique. 7/10.

T: Bit more balanced here – begins with a smoky/roasted coffee and chocolate note, maple brings in more aroma than sweetness, earthy mid-palate, finishes dry with a light roasted espresso bitterness. Touch of alcohol presence – a tad un-BrewDog-like, given these peeps are the masters of high ABV beers and this one is a lowly [for them] 7.5%. Aftertaste is also a touch astringent, detracting from the overall flavour profile. 7/10.

M: Medium bodied with a slight prickly carbonation that stands out a little due to the style, but it isn’t really that bad regardless – a few burps with this one. 7/10.

D: Look… BrewDog have certainly done better before, and I’m not about to start pouring this on my pancakes, yet it is a brew that needs improvement: could be sweeter, more maple in the flavour, less alco-burn in the back-end, all that stuff I noted above. Overall this is a Stout left wanting from BrewDog, who sometimes leave me… scratch that, just looked up my ratings for BrewDog beers and it isn’t pretty: generally leave me wanting. 8/10.

Food match: Close enough to being a pancake beer I guess *kicks some dirt*.

Opaque black beer with thick beige head, good retention, some laces.
Smell - chocolate, dark fruits/maple.
Taste - sweet, chocolate, maple syrup.
Light to medium body, moderate carbonation.
For maple fans only.

 

L: Jet black color, two finger beige head, excellent lacing, light carbonation.

S: Chocolate, roasted coffee, sweet. Nice.

T: Chocolate, roasted coffee, sweet.

F: Medium bodied, quite drinkable.

O: Very good stout from Brewdog.

 

Poured from fridge temp. Pours jet black with about 1 inch of tan head. Nose is licorice, chocolate, roasted malts, and some dark fruit. Taste is interesting. Lots of black licorice (which I like), tobacco, chocolate (dark and bitter), and charcoal. Getting some dark fruit - mostly blackberry. Mouthfeel is medium - not as thick as some big stouts. Overall, a nice stout.

 

Keg (Schooner) at Brewdog Doghouse, Glasgow (£4.50):
This one was a decent stout from Brewdog & a definite step-up from their Indie Pale Ale that I tried just before this one. The beer started strong with some smokey touches & dark malts before giving way to a sweeter, more balanced taste that had some chocolate & coconut showing & touches of alcohol following on behind. It was quite a smooth, creamy offering that helped it go down well & it proved quite enjoyable, it's one that I'd recommend.

On draft in Brewdog Roma.

Pours a standard stout appearance. Nose is overwhelmingly redolent of maple syrup. Taste follows the nose. Mouthfeel is watery. This could be really good but it doesn’t come together at all well.

Edit: Much better from can. Still a bit thin but all other aspects are improved. On reflection my prior review may have been influenced by the fact that Brewdog Roma was filled with flies and the staff seemed to give not a solitary fuck about pouring a decent beer.