A Stout Like No Other- Brew Dog's Dog A

This is certainly a good start to my writing about the beers I drink. An Imperial Stout of such astounding distinction that I have no shame in telling anybody that it cost me a tasty £15.00. My Dog was it worth it though!

Appearance-
The bottle is ensconced in a box, I can only imagine to protect the divine ambrosia inside. The bottle itself is quite restrained, as Brew Dog bottles go. Far from the boisterous blue of their Punk IPA or the raucous red of their 5a.m. Saint, the label is grey with black writing. That's not to say I didn't like it, it does lend a look of...quiet quality.

When poured into a glass it has a short lived chestnut coloured head. The stout itself is as dark as I've ever seen. I tried holding it up to every light available, and nothing passed through. Even Guinness, nicknamed 'The Black Stuff' has a ruby colour when held up to the light.

Nose (note: I was toying with 'smell' or 'odour' here, but it just felt wrong)-
I may have been swayed by the writing on the side of the box, which informed me it was brewed with 'dark malts, pure cacao and coffee'. I was, however, absolutely sure I could smell that warm chocolate aroma, and hint of coffee. This, of course, along with the heady smell of a good strong complex stout.

Taste-
Starting off, frankly, like any decent stout should with a lovely creamy mouth-feel and a tingling bitterness on the sides of the tongue. In this case that cacao came through and it was like the bitterness you get from a 70% cacoa solid chocolate. Then you get a sweetness, mixed with the coffee and chocolate of before gives a pleasant feeling that you are drinking some gorgeous hot coffee with dark chocolate through it. Finally, you get just the tiniest bit of warmth from the naga chilli-also used in the brewing process.

A final note I must make is; with an ABV of 15.1% you would expect to feel it, but with the complexity of flavour, and the smooth creamy texture it went down as easy as stout with half that.

Conclusion-

This is an Imperial Stout of absolute class which deserves it's price tag (as any similar quality wine would). It's not easy to get hold of unfortunately, you must get it directly from Brew Dog, or so it says on the side of the box. It was brought out to celebrate 5 years of outstanding brewing, from this innovative and unique company, and what a way to celebrate. Here's to many more years and beers!