A Night with BrewDog – recap and pics
As we mentioned earlier in the week, James Watt – owner/brewer/co-founder of the Scottish BrewDog Ltd, makers of the world’s strongest beers as well many other tasty beers; was in Baltimore for a one-night only, special appearance.
It all went down last night with quite a crowd of people packed into Max’s Taphouse in Fell’s Point.
Max’s had many BrewDog beers available on tap and on cask (full lineup here.)
The first beer we ordered was recommended by Max’s GM/cellarman Casey Hard. It was BrewDog’s Paradox Springbank (on cask), a 10% ABV whisky cask aged Imperial Stout. Amazing stuff. Especially after about 10 minutes as it warmed. The whisky flavors really came out in this beer and we enjoyed the heck out of it.
For the next hour or so, we were pulled in every direction – asked by many different folks to try this beer and try that beer. All BrewDog beers, draft and bottles.
One of the more memorable beers was called Devine Rebel – a beer brewed as a collaborative effort between both BrewDog and Mikkeller. BeerInBaltimore.com reader Nick let us sample some of this beer from a bottle he had purchased. A delicious barleywine style beer which was partially aged in Speyside whisky barrels.
Then came the moment many people had been waiting for. A chance to taste 2 of the world’s strongest beers. Tactical Nuclear Penguin and Sink the Bismark.
Sink the Bismark is currently the world’s strongest beer at 41% ABV and is sometimes classified as a “quadruple IPA.”
We were fortunate enough to sample the Penguin not too long ago and were excited to have another crack at it. You can read our thoughts on the Penguin by clicking that link as well.
Mike Cameron from Preiss Imports had everyone form a line and each person had their choice of a Penguin or Bismark sample. Of course many folks went through the line twice or more!
As for Sink the Bismark – by far THE hoppiest beer we’ve ever tasted. This thing was liquid hops all the way. But surprisingly, lots of citrusy flavor came through as well. And at 41% ABV, a damned good balanced beer! Not an easy task to pull off.
Another rare beer we were lucky enough to taste, thanks to James’ secret stash, was the 2010 Nanny State, an insane 0.5% ABV beer with 45 IBUs, five different types of hops, dry hopped and backed with 8 different types of malts. 2009 Nanny State. At 1.1% ABV and over 200 IBUs, this beer was in response to the uproar caused by the release of their Tokyo* beer (see below), which was then the UK’s strongest beer. Lots of flavors going on in this one as well, but holy crap! .. the hoppy stickyness lingered on our tongues for at least 20 minutes. It was like licking an entire forest of pine cones. The 2010 version has since been changed. Now weighing in at 0.5% ABV and 45 IBUs. We hope to try some soon.
EDIT: and of course, we had the Tokyo* on tap! Just an awesome, 18% ABV, aged imperial stout brewed with jasmine and cranberries. Dry-Hopped then aged on oak chips.
As far as the actual visit from James Watt, it was a fun and rare treat to not only meet the guy, but to also sit and talk beer with him. He’s a passionate dude when it comes to his beers and you can easily feel that when chatting with him.
All in all, an insanely fun evening. Everyone seemed to have had a great time. Special thanks to James, Mike and Terry from Preiss Imports, Becky from Washburn Wine Co., Max’s Casey Hard (who again came through big!) and each & every one of you who came out and enjoyed good beer with us!
Enjoy the video and pics below.
BrewDog – James Watt – Max’s in Baltimore from BeerInBaltimore.com on Vimeo.
25 Mar 2010, 3:38 pm
Very nice post Brad, a great record of an amazing evening!
25 Mar 2010, 3:53 pm
Great people & fantastic beer. The turnout was awesome, great to meet more beer enthusiasts and introduce some people to each other. Sink the Bismark was insanely delicious. I bet I could have traded my hat to James for a Bismark or two! I can’t wait to see what Brew Dog does next.
25 Mar 2010, 4:20 pm
Last time I was at Max’s–not for a special event–they served me a beer that tasted like the tap hadn’t been run in ages. Musky, stale, icky, not at all what I wanted out of my Belgian white ale. Anybody else had that experience? I guess you just can’t order anything to obscure on draft from Max’s.
25 Mar 2010, 4:33 pm
Almost all I drink there is obscure drafts and i’ve never had that issue. The worst i’ve ever gotten from there has been a soapy glass on a busy night.
and yeah this was a great night. cookie monster!
25 Mar 2010, 10:11 pm
Actually, the Nanny State bottle was mine, from an earlier shipment Mr Watt had sent over for MABN review. What we had was the 2009 vintage, which was 1.1% and 225 IBUs. The 2010 vintage is only 45 IBUs.
25 Mar 2010, 11:03 pm
Fixed. Thanks for the info.
26 Mar 2010, 9:34 am
Really sorry I missed this one, as I really had hoped to try some NTP and STB. The pictures are great and I gather everyone had a great time (what a surprise).
With respect to the comment from MJ, I have never had a problem with this (something I cannot say about certain other beer bars in town). My understanding is that Casey is a fanatic about keeping the tap lines clean, and frankly there are very few beers there that sit around for more then a few days. Most everything I’ve ever had there tasted very fresh, though certainly there have been a few occasions when I got a beer that tasted as if it had been on the gas too long… but that’s pretty rare.
BTW. Typically Max’s will put a slow moving beer on house special if it sits around for too long (which means it’s sold at a significant discount). I personally think that’s a great idea, and as noted previously, it further ensures that almost everything you’ll try on tap at Max’s is very, very fresh.
26 Mar 2010, 2:58 pm
Really enjoyed reading your writeup. What a lineup of beers! So jealous of all of those Paradoxes!! I just recently met James at Stone Brewing in California. Check it out:
http://100beers30days.wordpress.com/2010/03/22/saints-penguins-and-zee-germans/
Also reviewed the Paradox Speyside and Paradox Islay for my 100 beers. 30 days. Stouts vs. Porters challenge last November. Here are the reviews:
http://100beers30days.wordpress.com/2009/11/23/say-wow-again-say-wow-again-i-dare-you-i-double-dare-you/
Just became a fan of yours on Facebook and Twitter. Keep up the great work!!!
Cheers.
26 Mar 2010, 6:34 pm
Good stuff Laurie. Great write-ups, love the site! Talk with ya soon on Twitter.
28 Mar 2010, 9:20 pm
I had my own little Brew Dog night on Thursday. I liked the springback. Drinking that, I got the same burn on my tongue I get when drinking whiskey. I sampled the smokehead which is, without hesitation, the smokiest beer I’ve ever had.
28 Mar 2010, 10:30 pm
Smoky, for sure. But smokiest ever, would have to go to Tactical Nuclear Penguin (in our opinion)
25 Jul 2010, 12:24 pm
[...] we’re biased, since we were fortunate enough to hang out and chat with BrewDog’s James Watt a few months back when he was in town or maybe because we just love their Damn the Man attitude and [...]