BrewDog Stone Bashah

BrewDog Stone Bashah (33 cl) 8,6%
Bashah is short for: Black As Shit Hoppy As Hell. It was brewed at BrewDog together with Stone Brewing Co. They describe the beer as a Black Belgian Style Double India Pale Ale which of course gets my imagination started.

Style: American Strong Ale
Cost: 38,40 SEK

Bitterness------Sweetness-----Sourness-----Intensity-------Body

□□□□□■□□----□■□□□□□□-----■□□□□□□□---□□□□□■□□----□□□□□□■□

Appearance: 4/5
It poured a pitch black liquid with a medium sized light brown foam that left a nice lacing.

Smell: 7/10
Actually not as strong as I expected. But it smelled of chocolate, yeast, hops and wood.

Taste: 8/10
The taste was allot stronger with chocolate, coffee, hops and some roasted notes. It had a high hop bitterness but not allot of hop aroma. The hops might have been hidden by the strong coffee-chocolate-roasted aromas.

Mouthfeel: 4/5
Thick body with a low carbonation. Fairly smooth and nice mouth feel.

Comment:

A very odd and complex brew, but I actually expected something even more complex. Thought there would be more fruitiness and yeast and other aromas that I connect to Belgian style ales. This tasted more like an imperial stout with hop bitterness.

Trying to put my expectations on the side I have to say this was an enjoyable beer. I tried it with some chocolate and it was a very good match. Well I used a high quality (70%) chocolate bar with cherries and chilli, which felt like the perfect match for this beer.

Total: 3,8/5

Christmas Beer 2009, part 9

St. Peters Winter Ale (bottle) 6,3%
I tried this beer during the summer, it was a bottle that I had lying around since the christmas of 2005. It was 2 years past it's expiration date. I have it written down in a post I haven't published yet, but I gave that beer a 3,1.

It poured a very dark liquid with a big light brown foam that left lots of lacing.

Weak smell of malt and red wine. Also was a bit sweet.

Very smooth mouthfeel with a roung and thick body and low bitterness. It tasted dry with primarily malt, something burned, hint of red wine and something sweet. Not a very intense beer but it still took me some time to drink the whole bottle.

Quite enjoyable and I can imagine it working well with some chocolate.
Total: 3,8/5

Christmas Beer 2009, part 1

I've started to try this years batch of christmas beers. I will try and try as many as possible before christmas. I tried these the friday before ÖBWF.

Fullers Old Winter Ale (Bottle) 5,3%
It poured an amber liquid with a medium sized dirty white foam with some nice craters that left allot of lacing.

It had a weak smell of caramell, malt, booze and arrack. Medium smooth mouthfeel with a bit stingy feeling. Medium body and medium bitterness. It didn't have a nice hoppy bitterness, a less enjoyable bitterness with a bite to it. It was also dry and taste of malt and had a buttery taste and feeling.

The butter took over more and more as I drank it. Not my choice for this years Christmas celebration.
Total: 2,5/5
Sheperd Neame Christmas Ale (Bottle) 7%
It poured a dark golden liquid with a medium sized white foam.

It had an odd smell of sawdust, wood, nuts and what I think is nutmeg.

Fairly smooth mouthfeel with just a bit of stingyness. Dry with a ligth body and low bitterness. Watery taste of caramell, malt and butter with an alcoholic finnish. Just as with Fullers this one had to much butter. I ended up pouring it out.
Total: 2,2/5

A couple of english beers, part 2

Here are some more english beers I've picked up at Systembolaget at Regeringsgatan over the last couple of months.

Fullers 1845 (bottle) 6,3%
It poured a lightly brown dark golden liquid with a big lasting foam, that left allot of lacing. It had a smell of caramell and something funky like an outdoor toilette. It had a smooth mouthfeel at first but got stingy further back in my mouth. It tasted of caramell, malt, some roasted notes and funky toilette. Not very good. Considering the fairly high score at Ratebeer there must have been something wrong with my bottle.
Total: 1,9/5
Shepherd Neame 1698 (bottle) 6,5%
It poured a clear dark golden liquid with a medium sized white foam that left allot of lacing. It had a smell of grassy hops, hay, malt and something sweet. It tasted the same but also had some sugar. Thick liquid with a smooth mouthfeel. Easy to drink and had very little stingyness. Felt a bit like drinking tea with sugar.
Total: 3,1/5

A couple of english beers, part 1

I've been trying out some of the more common beers at Systembolaget and now I've started working on the different kind of english ales that are supplied at Regeringsgatan.

Adnams The Bitter (Can) 4,5%
It poured a dark sligthly foggy golden copper liquid with a medium sized foam that left allot of lacing. IT had a scent of grassy hops (dry hopped?), flowers and fresh cut grass. It was smooth and tasted watery with a light body. But it also had a taste of flowers, caramell, fudge. Very easy to drink.
Total: 3,3/5

Boddingtons Pub Ale (can) 4,7%
It poured a clear dark golden liquid with a small creamy head. The liquid was very white and bubbly at first before it settled. It left a very thick and creamy lacing on the side of the glass. It had a weak scent of caramell, bread and a hint of grassy hops. It felt nice in my mouth, thich creamy, smooth and easy to drink. However it was also quite bland and watery with very little taste, just a hint of bread and a weird alcoholic finish.
Total: 2,6/5

Greene King - Abbot Ale (bottle) 5%
It poured a dark golden liquid with a medium sized dirty white foam that left a little bit of lacing. It had a smell and taste of malt, caramell, some grassy hops and something sweet. The mouthfeel was a bit stingy, specially at the back of my mouth. It also had an alcohlic finish, not to strong though. I'm not sure what it is but I didn't really enjoy this beer that much.
Total: 2,5/5

Street market and beer, part 1

Yesterday I took the subway to central Stockholm to visit a street market at Sergels Torg. It wasn't very big but at least they had an interesting diversity of stuff for sale. I did manage to get a decent paella, a huge sausage in a baguette and some italian cockies that looked interesting. But before I went to the market I did some other stuff.

Earlier during the day I met up with Per, his brother and room mate at Oliwer Twist where we sampled some interesting beer. Unfortunately I forgot to put a memory card in my camera so I don't have any pictures of it. After finishing of an oak aged Arrogant bastard ale from Stone we decided to go watch Liverpool beat Burnley by 4-0. After the game, I and Per went to the street market and then finished off with a couple of beers at Monks. The last beer we tried was a Struise Black Albert which will get its own post later on, fantastic beer.

Ruddgate Battle Axe (tap) 4,2%
It poured a clear dark golden liquid with a very small foam that left a small but very nice lacing. It didnt have much of a smell, nothing I could distinguish anyway. It was smooth, very mild and easy to drink, a thirstquencher that left a slightly dry sensation. It had some taste of bread and toast with a low bitterness.
Total: 2,7/5

Anderson Valley Hop Ottin IPA (tap) 7%
It poured a hazy dark golden liwuid with a small white foam. It had a strong scent of grassy hops, grapefruit and citrus. It also had a taste with allot of grassy hops, citrus and grapefruit, yet the bitterness wasn't as insane as I expected. Great thirst quencher, very enjoyable beer.
Total: 3,9/5

Victory HopDevil (bottle) 6,7%

It poured a clear dark golen liquid with a small foam that lasted a long time. It had a strong scent of grassy hops, grapefruit and also some sweetness. The taste was similar with grassy hops, grapefruit and citrus. Very smooth and nice, better then Hop Ottin.
Total: 4/5

Some vacation beer

I've been re-testing some beers from the standard supply at Systembolaget (Regeringsgatan), just to rate them at ratebeer. Since I've been on vacation I took the opportunity to do some rating.


Jämtlands President Lager (Bottle) 5,2%
It poured a clear golden-yellow liquid with a medium sized foam that lasted a fairly long time for a lager and left a little bit of lacing.

It had a noticable scent of sweet malt, hops, white bread and a hint of citrus and honey.

It tasted of malt, hops and with a hint of citrus and honey. The hops was allot more noticable as the carbonation dissapeared at the end. It was also fairly smooth with just a little bit of acidic bitterness. A very nice lager.
Total: 2,8/5



Jämtlands Postiljon (Bottle) 5,8%
This is an english style Strong Pale Ale.

It poured a very dark amber liquid with a big light brown foam that left a medium amount of lacing. It looked very appealing.

It smelled a bit sour malty if that is even a way of describing it. It also had a scent of something burned and sweet.

It tasted of caramell, malt and with a hint of something sweet and burned. I can't really put my finger on what it tastes like exactly. It was fairly smooth but also left a dry sensation in my mouth.
Total: 3,1/5

Wells Bombardier (Bottle) 5,2%
It poured a clear dark amber liquid with a medium foam that left a nice big lacing on the side of the glass.

It had a fairly weak scent of caramell, malt, grassy hops, hay and a hint of rosehip.

It tasted of caramell, butter, hay and grassy hops. It also had a quite thick and creamy body with some stingy bitterness. Not very smooth or easy to drink.
Total: 2,8/5

Cleaning out the beer storage.

I've been cleaning out the beer storage a little bit at the time. Here are a couple of beers I tried during my vacation:

Anchor Steam Beer (Bottle) 4,8%
It poured a hazy amber liquid with a thick medium sized foam with some craters. It left just a little bit of lacing though.

It had a fresh smell of pine needles and citrus.

It had a medium body with some citrus but also a bit bland. It felt stingy in my mouth. IT feels like it’s lacking something. It got some bitterness but not in a hoppy kind of way, more like overboiled tea. An ok beer.
Total: 2,8/5

Traquair House Ale (Bottle) 7,2%
I've had this beer lying around for quite some time now and I think it might have been a bit to long. It looked great and smelled pretty good as well. But once I tried it I was really dissapointed. It tasted like watered down red wine. Since I have had this beer before I'm fairly certain something has gone wrong while storing it, since I remember it as a quite good beer. So I won't rate it this time, instead hope to get a new bottle soon and re-rate it.

St Peters Cream Stout (Bottle) 6,5%
It poured a pitch black liquid with a big light brown foam that left some lacing. Looked very appealing.

It had a fairly strong smell where chocolate and coffey where the two dominant aromas. It also had a hint of nuts and something burned and toasty.

It was smooth and tasted of chocolate and coffey. It also had a hint of nuts and that burned sensation that I felt in the smell. It wasn't overwhelming though and quite easily drinkable. Very enjoyable beer overall. But it didn't stand out in any special way.
Total: 3,7/5
Black Boss Porter (Bottle) 7%
It poured a pitch black liquid with a big light brown foam. It had some really nice craters in it and when it receded it left quite allot of lacing.

It had a smell of chocolate.

It tasted of dark chocolate and coffey. It was smooth yet dry and didn't feel very complex or balanced. Felt like it was lacking something.
Total: 2,8/5