The beer is a blend of BrewDog's Hardcore IPA with Mikkeller's I Beat yoU and is all about the hops. Or at least it was. At 9.5% ABV it's doubtless robust enough to survive the years of neglect, but would there still be any sign of the pine or elderflower notes I wrote about first time round?
Short answer: no. The beer seems darker than before, and murkier too. There's a sizeable amount of yeast built up in the bottom of the bottle. Maybe it decided that the residual sugar wasn't so unpalatable after all. It smells mostly of alcohol: white port or one of those lurid Italian aperitif liqueurs. The flavour is very sweet with an almost syrupy cough mixture vibe and just a whisper of orange pith bitterness for any semblance of balance. I tried hard to pick up some more subtle elements in the flavour but there aren't any really -- anything that hasn't rotted away gets buried under the weight of raw alcohol.
It's not awful, but is very definitely past its best -- following Alpha Dawg back in January, this is strike two for the hoppy beers. Thankfully I don't think there are any more in the stash.
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