158. BrewDog The Physics

BrewDog Brewery is located in Fraserburg, Scotland. We should offer some sort of gratuitous Sink the Bismarck reference, but we’re not sure we can bring ourselves to do it. We’ll also let you all in on a secret: we didn’t discover that our bottle was well over a year past the “best before” date until after we had opened it (see below). Now that makes for some drinkin’ fun!

The Physics is a hazy dirty brown with an almost non-existent head—the little bit that does exist is white and brief. The nose is malty sweet and musty with some fruitiness mixed with tobacco and paper aromas. It starts with a dry malt mixed with some fruitiness, moves into a musty middle with some oxidized fruit flavors and paperiness, and ends dry and bitter coupled with more musty and paper flavors; it also gets a bit leathery at the end as it warms. The Physics is medium bodied and very dry in the mouth; carbonation is non-existent after the first minute. While there are plenty of off flavors, this beer is not that terrible. The oxidation/paper flavors actually round out and dry out the malt in the flavor profile, and the lack of carbonation also allows these elements to come to the forefront of the beer. The Physics still tastes pretty good, even as out of date as it is, although it could use some carbonation to round out the mouthfeel and palate. The main thing to observe is that this is no longer really an ESB—the drying and oxidation/paper flavors have dried this beer out, making it taste more like a dry red ale, or something with a fair amount of rye in the grain bill. While the oxidized and paper is too much to the fore here, this would be much less noticeable with normal carbonation—the absence of carbonation has led to the oxidization and drop in malt flavor, which, while changing this from an ESB, has not really done anything that some re-carbonation couldn’t radically improve. One could interpret this dilemma as a validation of buying American and local, but that seems too jingoistic to me—we like drinking all that the world has to offer. We would just like it a bit fresher and prior to the expiration date.

Said in my best Homer Simpson faux-whisper: “I think this means it’s a bit out of date.”

From the BrewDog website: “A historically accurate beer based on the recipe devised on the 8th of February 2007. Recreated using the finest coloured malts which provide the complex sweet malt character which initially arouses the senses. Like a fine cheese cake the biscuit base has a smooth and creamy layer that both satisfies and entices. Culminating with a delicate fruit topping of blackcurrant and tinges of citrus to refresh the participant, complimented fully by the crisp dry bitter finish.”

ABV: 5.0%

I also got up at the crack of dawn to drive to Columbus for the official BCJP test—three hours of fast-writing hand-cramping neurotic fun. Cramming in the car on the way to the test was pretty fun, and, in retrospect, probably provided some information that made its way onto the test, at least for me. The tasting portion was mixed with the written portion of the test, which made for an odd balance of careful deliberation followed by more speedy scribbling. Afterwards, we swung by Barley’s Ale House No. 1 for lunch, and then back to Dayton and being able to sleep in on Saturdays. While I haven’t gotten the results of the test yet (I’ll keep all you die-hard readers posted), I have been assigned my official BJCP judge number: you can call me good ol’ B 0704.

(12/5/2009)