REVIEW #98: Lost Dog (BrewDog + The Lost Abbey)

Pours a deep ruby red with a light tan head that quickly fades to a collar. Charred wood and baking chocolate on the nose. Redcurrants, cherries, dried fruit and sweet sherry notes up front, with damson jam rubbing up against salty liquorice. There's a fathomless complexity of flavour. The beer develops buttery honeycomb notes with an oaky vanilla, pears-in-brandy finish. Bags of alcohol. All this flavour is wrapped within a surprisingly slender-bodied frame. Its also a beer simultaneously sweet and dry. Needless to say each sip should be lovingly savoured.

Described as a rum-barrel aged imperial porter on the fancy box, this is for all intents and purposes an Imperial Russian Stout which just happens to be aged for a year in rum barrels. Lost Dog is the first collaborative BrewDog effort I've tried - they do a fair few - and happily, despite the hype, it's not left any trace of disappointment. The brewers from The Lost Abbey, California left the sunshine behind as they flew to BrewDog's Fraserburgh based brewery to help hew Lost Dog from malt, hop, yeast and water. I've not tried any of The Lost Abbey's output prior to this as it seems nigh on impossible to find in the UK, but they have a wide range of mainly Belgian-inspired beers, many of which are critically acclaimed. Spontaneously fermented beers seem to be a particular speciality. Just to let you know, I have an even bigger, meatier collaborative beer lined up for review #100... I'm enjoying this veritable orgy of craft beeriness and hope it continues for as long as possible.

• MALTS: ?
• HOPS: ?
• IBU: ?
• ABV: 11.5%

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