Abstrakt AB:01
BrewDog

Abstrakt AB:01Abstrakt AB:01
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From:
BrewDog
 
Scotland, United Kingdom
Style:
Quadrupel (Quad)
ABV:
10.2%
Score:
79
Avg:
3.32 | pDev: 21.08%
Reviews:
19
Ratings:
28
Status:
Retired
Rated:
Dec 04, 2014
Added:
Apr 16, 2010
Wants:
  6
Gots:
  8
Vanilla bean infused belgian quad.
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
 
Rated: 3 by olradetbalder from Sweden

Dec 04, 2014
 
Rated: 2 by spycow from Illinois

Nov 01, 2014
 
Rated: 3.25 by zestar from California

Oct 30, 2014
 
Rated: 2.5 by GClarkage from California

Jul 08, 2014
 
Rated: 3.75 by spicelab from Australia

May 28, 2013
Photo of ngeunit1
Reviewed by ngeunit1 from Massachusetts

4.26/5  rDev +28.3%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
A - Copper-orange with a finger of off-white head. Fades fairly quickly.

S - Dark caramel malts, raisins, figs, other dark fruits, vanilla, Belgian yeast, clove, other spices, some booze.

T - Sweet dark caramel malts, raisins, dates, other dark fruits, vanilla, candi sugar, Belgian yeast, clove, pepper, and other spices, and some booze.

M - Medium-full bodied with moderate carbonation. Smooth with a sweet, warming, lightly spicy finish.

D - Great Quad. The vanilla is a nice touch, great balance and mouthfeel.
Mar 04, 2013
 
Rated: 3.75 by danieelol from Australia

Jan 29, 2013
Photo of UCLABrewN84
Reviewed by UCLABrewN84 from California

3.02/5  rDev -9%
look: 2.75 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3 | feel: 2.75 | overall: 3
Thanks to Wowcoolman for sharing this one at jmgrub's tasting.

Bottled 1/29/10. Bottle # 2907/3000.

Pours a murky orange-brown with no head. Small dots of lace slowly drip into the remaining beer on the drink down either. Smell is of malt, brown sugar, caramel, and some fruity aromas. Taste is much the same with a medium amount of spice bitterness on the palate with each sip. This beer has a low level of carbonation with a flat and medium bodied mouthfeel. Overall, this is an average beer that is drinkable but seems way past its prime.
Jan 29, 2013
 
Rated: 3.5 by drewone from California

Jan 28, 2013
 
Rated: 2.25 by Wowcoolman from California

Jan 28, 2013
 
Rated: 3.75 by t0rin0 from California

Sep 02, 2012
Photo of crnipeter
Reviewed by crnipeter from Slovenia

1.64/5  rDev -50.6%
look: 4 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 1 | feel: 2 | overall: 1
Brewed with Westvleteren yeast and vanilla. Sounds promising.

Deep amber body with good clarity, topped by two fingers thick bubbly ivory head that sticks to the walls, with good retention.

Rather weak aroma is sweet with dominant esters of plum and dried cherries,followed by light peppery phenols and too evident alcohol, and no vanilla to speak of.

Taste is overpowering hot, throat-burning fusel alcohol that completely masks other flavors, if there are any. Finish is moderately dry with excessive alcohol warmth and phenolic bitterness. Again, where is the vanilla? I was given this one for free and yet I still feel cheated. I doubt this is how a supposed clone of Westvleteren with addition of vanilla beans should taste like.
Medium light with surprisingly flat carbonation (considering the well formed persistent head).

Overall: Do yourself a favor and avoid this if crosses your path or do as I did: consume the minimum quantity sufficient for rating and drainpour. The only good thing about this beer is that is a limited release.
Jan 25, 2012
Photo of AgentZero
Reviewed by AgentZero from Illinois

2.86/5  rDev -13.9%
look: 3 | smell: 2 | taste: 3 | feel: 4 | overall: 3
Cheers to dschuster03 for this generously shared and unexpected surprise.

A - Kind of a reddish color with a little bit of a white head. Some floaties in there, guessing that will add flavor.

S - Kind of turpentine-esque, not particularly promising. There is a bit of booze and some sweetness, but not exactly quad-like.

T - Taste is kind of off, some fruits and a little booze, not a great quad by any means.

M - Full bodied, lower carbonation. For a quad, this seems right.

O - BrewDog kind of sucks, and this isn't a great beer, but it's passable. Fix the aroma and get some actual flavor in there and it might be a decent example of the style
Jan 24, 2012
Photo of TMoney2591
Reviewed by TMoney2591 from Illinois

3.97/5  rDev +19.6%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Served in a Dogfish Head snifter.

Bottle #2854/3200, bottled on 1/29/10. A vanilla bean-infused quad, eh? Right on. After a decent struggle with the cork, it pours a murky garnet-sienna topped by a nice finger of slightly wan ecru foam. The nose comprises sharp vanilla, rye bread, toffee, Belgian candi sugar, and some combination of mandarin orange syrup and candied orange peel. A pinch of cocoa powder comes through as well in passing. The taste brings in more of the same, with that vanilla really coming through powerfully, likely getting an assist from the sweet toffee and candi sugar. The orange also comes through more powerfully, more distinctly. The body is a lithe medium, with a very light moderate carbonation and a relatively smooth feel. Overall, this thing is far from a traditional quad, but I think it works. Well done, BrewDog crew...
Jan 17, 2012
Photo of Sean9689
Reviewed by Sean9689 from Illinois

3.08/5  rDev -7.2%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3
Thanks, Dave! Poured into Kuhnhenn tulip.

A - Pours a light brownish/red color, cream-colored head, thin collar, thin cap.

S - Dark fruits, caramel, toffee, burnt sugars. Very rich and sweet but still has an off-putting medicinal note.

T - Burnt sugars, malts, oak...not very exciting or inviting. There's an off-putting medicinal note to this one as well.

M - Medium, good carbonation, creamy oak finsih.

O - Not really into this one. The smell was way better the the taste. I had some hopes of this one being decent...but didn't happen. Another epic fail...
Oct 27, 2011
Photo of MasterSki
Reviewed by MasterSki from Canada (ON)

3.04/5  rDev -8.4%
look: 4 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 4 | overall: 3
Thanks to Dave (dschuster03) for bringing this rarity all the way to Chicago. Served in a Russian River tulip. Bottle # was somewhere in the 3000s.

A - Another Abstrakt, another infuriating synthetic cork that required a corkscrew. When we finally got this open it yielded a thin white foam that settled to a thick ring, wisps, and spotty lacework. Hazy amber body, with some obvious suspended sediment.

S - Hmm...definite alcohol, with a vague paint thinner note present. Surprisingly mild flavors for a quad, with very low amounts of sweetness present. Where are the dark fruits? Where is the vanilla?

T - Again, this is somewhat understated, with mostly bready malts and Belgian yeast. Alcohol is better hidden, but this just has a nebulous fruity quality to it.

M - Smooth full body, lower carbonation, and no alcohol heat, which was a serious surprise after the boozy aroma. Quite pleasant feel actually.

D - A fairly bland and inoffensive offering from Brewdog. It's definitely the worst Abstrakt I've had, but it's still a step up from many of their other offerings. Perhaps this was better fresh? Or perhaps Westvleteren's bottle conditioning yeast isn't very interesting? Who knows?
Oct 24, 2011
Photo of bylerteck
Reviewed by bylerteck from Canada (ON)

3.17/5  rDev -4.5%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 2.5
I bought this at de Struise after a conversation with some people from Scotland about the Abstrakt series. One said the 01 and 05 were best so I went for the 01. Consumed back home with a friend. From notes.

A - Poured a dark red with one finger of soapy eggshell head. Hazy with tons of chunks. No lacing and a film of retention.

S - Smells like a juicebox of fruit punch. Alcohol and intense fruitiness. After a while it opens up with alot of raisin, plum, and other dark, pitted fruits.

T - Yeast, fruit punch, and grapes are about all I can get with fruit punch really dominating.

M - Medium carbonation and a medium body with a sweet finish.

O/D - This is a beer filled with 'need mores.' It needs more body, more dark fruit, and more adult notes. I don't wanna feel like I'm in elementary school at lunch time with my juice box. Lacked complexity and was weak for they style IMO.
May 21, 2011
Photo of laituegonflable
Reviewed by laituegonflable from Australia

2.94/5  rDev -11.4%
look: 4 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 4 | overall: 2.5
Enjoyed at 10:50AM on a Sunday morning.

Pours a murky red colour with odd chunks of sediment all the way through it. Head is sparsely webbed out, leaving a film of large bubbles and some tight, sticky lacing. Apart from the floaties, looks great.

Smells a little rancid, in all honesty. Fair malty aroma with a touch of paint stripper-level alcohol at the back, and a fair tart hit that smells rather like really overripe peaches. Slight lactic touch to it as well. Can't say I like it a whole lot.

Tastes quite strong as well, with a lot of bold characters bouncing around. Really quite different from moment to moment. Lots of treacly malt at first that gets a strong chemical boozey note that increases through the palate. Touch of herbal medicine on the mid with a strong bubblegum flavour coming through as well. Fusel alcohol sting on the back that is not all great. Overall, this is a strong bitch that doesn't really harmonise its flavours together well. Just tastes like throwing lots of fermentable malts together with a high flocculating yeast.

Quite thick body, but also slick enough. Surprisingly good, really.

Yeah, a bit strong for 10:50AM. Or, for that matter, any other time.
Jan 14, 2011
Photo of lacqueredmouse
Reviewed by lacqueredmouse from Australia

3.31/5  rDev -0.3%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 2.5
Pours a silty and sediment-riddled bright burnished red-orange, with a relatively aggressive head of off-white. Lacing is thick, owing at least partly to the insanely syrupy body. It leaves some of the best static carbonation I've seen - when tilting the glass, it looks as though huge clumps of white have just been left behind, but in fact, it's just the remaining carbonation struggling to get to the surface. Looks pretty damn good, I have to say.

Nose is fruity with banana esters coming out very prominently, along with a harsh fusel kind of character. Hint of cinnamon spice coming through along with a sweetness that could be the vanilla. Interesting and bold characters. I'm not sure they mesh that well together, though.

Taste is really disappointingly light for most of its length. Light and sharp for most of it, giving a little alcohol bite, before all the flavour comes in at the end. Here, there are some subtly sweet nut characters, and a light, pastry-vanilla note. Alcohol present throughout, giving a harshness like bad port throughout. Feel burns with the booze.

Pretty hard to drink, and without the complexity or the depth to make it worthwhile drinking either. Very poor characters for a Quad, and the vanilla seems only to accentuate the very prominent alcohol - like drinking artificial vanilla essence.

Not a great fan, although there are some interesting things to it, and I always appreciate BrewDog pushing the boundaries.
Jan 08, 2011
Photo of TurdFurgison
Reviewed by TurdFurgison from Ohio

3.06/5  rDev -7.8%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3
375mL bottle courtesy of Baggio. Bottle 1159/3200, bottled 1/29/2010. The black plastic cap comes out with a light pop. It pours a clear dark reddish copper with lots of floating yeastie bits and a thin wet-looking tan foam.

It smells like a high ABV quad, the ethanol is really apparent. Still the other flavors are OK, light fruit and Belgian yeast character. The alcohol is sorta defining in the taste too, it feels a little poorly put together for me. I'd prefer the alcohol to be more background but that hasn't been BrewDog's principle for some that I've tried, including this one.

Glad for the chance to have tried it, but I think I'm going to shy away from BrewDog from now on.
Nov 30, 2010
Abstrakt AB:01 from BrewDog
Beer rating: 79 out of 100 with 28 ratings