Atlantic IPA
BrewDog

 

 

 

Served in a shaker pint glass.

Because I had the monies and the ambition, I purchased a bottle of this with the intention of bringing it along to my first Dark Lord Day (2010) and sharing it with my friends. When the rains came, we were forced into my empty van, wherein lay the opportunity to finally crack this bad boy. It pours a cloudy amber topped by a finger of lightly off-white foam. The nose comprises smooth caramel (it's actually amazing that you can smell the texture), flowers, dank greens, and a hint of buttercream. The taste brings in more of the same, with the caramel and greens melding beautifully, joined on occasion by what seems like fresh oak. There's still a bitter bite from the hops in there, and though some may call it dull, I'd say it's smooth, mellow. The body is a light-leaning medium, with a light carbonation and a, well, smooth feel. Overall, a damn fine beer, one of the highlights of the day (including guest drafts, random bottles, and the Dark Lord himself). Makes me wonder why all of the hullabaloo regarding "peak freshness" persists so loudly in the BeerAdvocate zeitgeist...

Thanks to GRG1313 for sharing this one at his tasting.

Pours a clear copper with a foamy khaki head that settles to a film on top of the beer. Foamy swaths of lace form around the glass on the drink down. Smell is of malt, citrus fruit, and citrus zest aromas. Taste is much the same with citrus zest flavors on the finish. There is a mild amount of hop bitterness on the palate with each sip. This beer has a lower level of carbonation with a slightly crisp and medium bodied mouthfeel. Overall, this is a pretty good beer with a better smell over taste in my opinion.

Picked this up at Bottle Barn in Santa Rosa, CA.

Pouring into a small Firestone Walker nonic pint glass. This is a cloudy, dark orange. Formed a 2 finger off-white head that's retaining well.

Caramel, brown sugar nose. Floral, soft booze. Vanilla sweetness. Alcohol shouldn't be noticeable but it is.

Floral hops, an almost cookie-like sweetness. Vanilla and caramel notes remind of the oak aging.

Medium bodied, moderate carbonation. Smooth.

Unique spin on the style with some interesting barrel aged character. A bit hot, would like to have more restraint.

 

Bottle at Local Option in Chicago.

Appearance: Pours a copper color with a modest head that leaves shards of lace

Smell: Rich caramel and oak aroma with a hint of earthy hop

Taste: Caramel jumps forward at the outset but is buttressed by the oak flavors through mid-palate; while there is still some hoppy bitterness in the beer after all this time, the caramel/oak/earthy hop character makes it taste like an old ale

Mouthfeel: Medium body with moderate carbonation

Overall: Glad to have a chance to taste this beer, even if the hops have faded; it is still drinking very nicely and provides an inkling of what beer drinkers in the colonies would have enjoyed in the 19th century

Pours vibrant dark/muddy copper with a very thick off white/ tinted thick foamy head slowly recedes to leave large frothy lacing reminiscent of ice cream.

Roasted malts, oak notes, citrus hops strong and a hint of earthy hops.

Complex, the English style jumps out instantly as does the Atlantic aging. It is just as I would imagine one of the original IPAs to taste. Caramel and slight roast malts lead, bitterness underneath through out, citrus hops round out with saltiness and hints of oak present, creamy finish.

Smooth and well bodied with mild carbonation.

Incredible, awesome historic feel to it, I wish I could keep a six pack in the fridge.

Medium orange copper color with a nice full white head.

Light fruity ester nose; pears, sweet floral character.

Mouth is medium bodied with nice carbonation and good balance.

Flavors are primarily burnt toast and clean medium bold coffee bitter. A very roasted grain, roasted cereal character; BBQ character -very smokey; tastes like a chewed espresso bean.

A bitter grapefruit undertond and finish. Interesting story; good beer; actually very drinkable.

The rarity of this one and the high price leaves even the most open minded concluding that he/she is in for something really special. Not the case; just expensive very good beer.

Poured from a bottle adorned with a woodcut-lithograph looking label depicting iconic navel elements; I appreciate a good Jolly Roger reference. Hazy burnt amber body with a tall, foamy, almost ice-cream like head. Lots of silky ivory bubbles. It smells like a sourdough whole-grain bread is rising in the next room. I think I can sense the aroma of candied dates, and by the time I've put the glass back down, the previously towering head has dropped to two-fingers. A sour thin-film coats the mouth and turns bitter at some point. The hops emerge after you swallow with more of that whole-grain bread, but before that it's on the sweet side. The mouthfeel is thin as long as it's held in the mouth, but the bitter/sour lingers for as long as it takes to reach for another sip.

The story behind it is enticing, and I'm very glad I was able to catch a bottle, but I couldn't justify springing for another ... still, it's intriguing, subtle, and complicated, and overall has left me smiling and satisfied.

thanks to HarvInSTL for picking this up for me and dragging it across the atlantic of the 2nd time.

hands down one of the coolest labels ever.

pours a murky brownish copper. slight hints of orange. massive pillow head that takes its dear sweet time.

light oak and boozy malts up front. light citrus and floral hops.

interesting. booze is present for sure. the malts are vibrant. the hops have bite, bits of floral and resin with hints of pine. the oak yields light vanilla and darker tones. bits of lemon zest and bitter citrus in the finish. hands down the oddest IPA i have ever had.

light, smooth, lightly sweet, mild carbonation.

i dig this, a lot. im assuming this is from the batch that was made last year. id love to try this fresh. great flavors, lots of complexity, something different. if this were available, i would drink this again.

kudos to Brewdog for taking this on!

11.2oz bottle poured into a tulip.

Pours a nice clear ruby red/amber with a very small white thin head with no lacing. Nose. A bit musty and like a boat. It's very earthy with a light hoppiness.

Taste is fantastic, it's really malty and rich, there's a nice hoppiness but it's super balanced. Very good beer with a crazy story.

For those of you that don't know the story behind this beer:

James was given an 1856 "Brewer's Handbook" as a gift last Christmas which contained an even older original IPA hoppy recipe - which provided inspiration for him to embark on BrewDog's latest voyage of creating waves in an otherwise flat beer market. The following month (January 2009), he set off on a journey on his fishing trawler in the North Atlantic with eight barrels on-board, each containing beer brewed from the original recipe. Atlantic IPA (and James!) survived two months on the North Atlantic, involving a tense barrel-rescue-mission, beatings from force ten storms, 60 foot waves and encounters with killer whales. Upon safe return to dry land, the IPA was bottle conditioned and is now available at www.brewdog.com and Uto Beer, Real Ale (both London), Cornelius (Edinburgh) Beer Ritz (Leeds).

This poured an orange copper with an off white with a touch of orange creamy head. This smelled like honey, spice, oak, malt and a touch of soy sauce. It tasted spicy, oaky, with roasted malt that turned to pine to bitter roasted coffee. It had a fantastic transition in taste. Glad I tried it, not sure if it's worth $28 a bottle.

Thanks to capra12 for sharing this one. Poured from a 12oz. bottle into a Troeg pint glass.

A: Standard pour produces a 2 finger, fine, yellowish-cream head with decent retention. Beer is a cloudy orange with a hint of brown. Lacing is frothy and sticky with a nice ring-like pattern.

S: Nose is boozy, caramel, roasted malts, and brown sugar, with a noticeably absent hop and citrus aroma.

T: Slightly sour opening with a boozy, rich caramel middle, hop at finish with brown sugar, caramel, and toffee. Finish lingers boozy and slightly dark fruit tartness.

M: Medium bodied, coarse and carbonated but smooths out as it warms in the mouth. Slightly oily. Watery with a messy finish. Finish is aggressive, lingers, and slightly sticky.

D: NOT an IPA as I know it but the grade is elevated for innovation. Mouthfeel doesn't really help the flavors (which aren't that impressive in the first place) meld. This is one and done especially including all factors such as availability and price.

I was very lucky to get to try this beer.

Poured into a tasting glass.

Pours 1 finger of slight off white head. Color is a copper gold. Good retention with sticky lace left.

Aroma: Interesting hop profile. Dry floral taste with lots of sugar flavors, vanilla. Bready malts and oak. There also seems to be some fruit in here maybe, more than the regular ipa citrus. Very interesting indeed.

Taste: A dry floral taste with vanilla and oak. The oak flavors are really nice in this beer. I also get citrus notes with some other fruit flavors.

Mouthfeel: Bitter, but incredibly smooth. Very nice feel for an ipa. Medium bodied with a decent amount of carbonation. Ends a little dry and hoppy.

Overall, I wish I had more of this, but getting to try it was pretty cool. I thought this ipa was very unique as compared to any other I have had. It had a nice amount of oak and the fruit flavors that blended in were great. Definitely worth a try.

Out of curiosity I picked up a bottle of this from West Lakeview Liquors. Served in a FoBAB mini-pint glass.

A - Pours with two fingers of off-white foam. Poor retention and minimal lacing, but settles to a nice cap and ring. The body is a lightly hazed apricot color that has a few stray bubbles idly escaping the confines of the glass.

S - A lot of oak, as well as some salt and spiciness, both of which I'm guessing are derived from the barrel-aging. The base beer has light floral hopping over a malt-forward backbone of toffee. Smells quite sweet. A little muted.

T - The taste is also quite sweet, with a mixture of caramel and toffee malts with oaky vanillin. Thankfully it's a little less salty, but again there isn't much hoppiness left after the fairly extreme maturation process - the only place it comes through is a slow-mounting bitterness in the aftertaste.

M - Higher carbonation than would be unlikely for an "authentic" English IPA. Medium body, a bit gritty, with a very dry and tannic finish. However, there's almost no residual feel at all - no wood, oiliness, etc.

D - This is not a bad beer by any stretch of the imagination - it was fairly enjoyable and had some unique elements. The bitterness and tannic elements are complementary and never get out of hand, and the alcohol is masterfully hidden.

As a musician it reminds me a lot of symphonic performances on "period instruments" - they give us perspective on what things were like when the music was written, but also caution us against romanticizing the past while taking our technical innovations for granted (and anyone who's heard how wussy Beethoven sounds on period instruments will know exactly what I'm talking about). I also speculate that this may even be too good a beer to accurately represent an 18th century English IPA, as the quality of ingredients and quality control has greatly improved as well.

If you're interested in the history of beer, and don't mind paying $28 for some "perspective" (i.e. learning that IPAs in 1780 tasted like oaky/salty versions of Landlord) then this may be a worthwhile endeavor. Otherwise, spend you money elsewhere.

Quite a muscular, airy head forms atop this hazed cinnamon-orange beer, though it quickly pops and pocks its way to a cratered, parchment-colored sponge. Lovely and spicy to smell, remarkably hop-forward despite its journey, but also slightly oxidized. Stale bread and glue bind together a malty melange of oatmeal, peanut butter, a hint of cocoa, peppery wood, and cornbread. Tea and pine and lemon and lime characterize the ever-present hop profile. Soft yet zesty on the palate, with a smooth and feathery mouthfeel supporting a lusciously overhopped flavor accented with gin-like herby alcohol. Mild caramel and walnut notes and grapey esters are more or less totally decimated by a hot mix of Angostura bitters, brandy, autumn leaves, and bitter lemon.

Interesting - but not interesting enough, not for £10. Having said that, I never expected to buy another bottle of this and I'm glad I tried it. It is a good IPA, quite hoppy and rather aggressive, but it doesn't have much going for it to distinguish it from other (American) offerings. I hoped their experiment had yielded more revealing results. It is worth a try, certainly - but it is not worth £10.

Tis the season to be extravagant I guess. Available at Max's today, during their Brewdog promotion. Casey was selling the beer at his cost, so I got a veritable deal (if you want to call it that). This beer only cost me $20 in a bar.

The beer pours an amber orange color with very good head retention and lots of sticky lacing all around. Not entirely surprisingly, things went down quickly from there. The beer smells as if it will be on the malty side, with no more then minimal bitterness from hops. There's also a hint of smoke and butterscotch, but in all seriousness, there's nothing unusual or special about the aroma profile. Flavors replicate the nose, with just enough hoppy bitterness to counter the sweet malt. The beer finishes on the dry side, but this is not a particularly hoppy beer. I guess the brewer was trying to make an English style IPA, but this doesn't taste like any Brit IPA I've ever encountered. Mouthfeel is medium bodied with decent length, and drinkability is OK. Alcohol is bit more noticeable then I normally like in an IPA, and the maltiness only makes it that much more prominent.

A nice enough beer, but needless to say, not worth even a fraction of the price Brewdog wants for it. So my curiousity has been satisfied; I feel fairly certain that no one ever orders this beer more then once. I know I won't be...

Pours a dark burnt orange/amber color with golden orange/peach hues when held to a light source and a frothy two finger off-white yellowish head that has excellent retention, only slowly fading into a thick lasting cap that leaves chunks of soapy lacing in it's path.

Toasty malt aroma with hints of caramel, rye and biscuit. Subtle hops but they seem to have faded considerably during the journey. Oak is fairly prominent in the nose with a healthy dose of vanilla. Subtle pine and citrus notes.

Slightly resinous medium body with a good bit of dry bitterness up front followed by a slightly toasty malt backbone and dry piny finish. The hops have held up better in flavor than in the nose with some dry piny and sweet citrus character. Hints of grapefruit, mango and orange peel. The bitterness lingers throughout but is well balanced by a roasted caramel malt backbone with hints of sweet caramel and rye. The oak aging is evident but is subtle and not very earthy, resulting in a lot of vanilla character. Very well balanced and maybe a bit too sweet but this is an interesting experiment that worked out pretty well. Kind of gimmicky but definitely unique and flavorful. Not worth the outrageous price tag but I'm glad I had a chance to try it.