REVIEW: SINK THE BISMARCK

   The World’s best beer contender?

Brewdog have long been famous for pushing the boundaries of the beer world. Sink the Bismarck is the world’s highest percentage readily available beer at a staggering 41%! This beer was one I’d heard about for a long time but had always been put off by the price. My lovely girlfriend Lizzie bought it for my birthday last year and I’ve been trying to find when to drink it ever since…

That leads us to this evening, Richo and I have been trying to find a time for almost 6 months to try and drink this. In case any of you were wondering this was the Brewdog beer that was intended for post #100. Sink the Bismarck was produced as a quadruple IPA, which is frozen four times to create the staggering 41%! Brewdog claim it has 4 times the hops (I assume of a normal IPA), which is good as it’s the only way I can see the alcohol not being a huge taste killer. I’m pretty excited so we should probably get started!

One of the most surprising things for me about this beer is that it almost pours normally! The colour is a relatively dark amber hue with a small cream head. The head retention is very short lived, however there is some (very minor) lacing that can be observed. There does appear to be some carbonation, but not alot. I had no idea what this beer was going to look like so I have to say I’m quite impressed with what Brewdog have produced here.

The aroma’s that gush forth when you open this beer are simply mind boggling, it’s one of the strongest aroma’s I’ve ever smelt! The hops and alcohol are both present from the second you open the bottle. The hops are mostly of a piney nature and there is also a sugary malt underlay which is hard to smell because of the hops and the eye-watering alcohol. You wouldn’t want to breathe in too much of this as you are just about to drink from it.

Well what do I say about this beer? I can certainly say that this is probably the most intense beer I’ve ever had the pleasure of sampling. There are just hops everywhere and the only thing that breaks up the hops flavour is a bubbly alcohol taste. The beer is incredibly thin and has more carbonation than I expected. You really have to sip this beer, it’s just too strong to gulp down (and too expensive as well!) As a hop head I loved the amount of hops and bitterness in the Sink the Bismarck, is it a great beer though?

The bottle screams the “IPA for the dedicated” and it sure is that! This beer is an absolute monster, not just by ABV but also by the total sensory bombardment that drinking this beer puts on your body. This may not be the world’s best beer, but it certainly is one of the best beer experiences out there. I’m very glad I got to try this and would highly recommend it to any beer lover. The price is a little much but as a present it was pretty awesome!

Remember it’s always Beer O’Clock somewhere in the world!