BrewDog Tokyo*

Origin: UK | Date: 2017 | ABV: 16.5% | On The Beer Nut: June 2010

A caveat to the claim above: in 2010 Tokyo* was 18.2% ABV and that's the version I reviewed. The brewery since discovered that their yeast didn't like this high gravity work and so it was changed. By 2017, when BrewDog sent me this bottle, it had been reduced to 16.5% ABV. That's still pretty strong, I guess.

Seven years in the attic has brought some autolysis to the game, with more than a suggestion of soy sauce in the aroma. It's quite flat and, happily, I don't get very much of the savoury autolysis thing from its taste. Instead, it's chocolate all the way: an almost one-dimensional hit of cocoa-rich dark chocolate, with a backing of viscous caramel, a rapid shot of espresso, and a dusting of smoke on top. I said of the original that I found it mellow and soothing, and that's true here as well, but I think it may have lost some of the complexity, with no dark fruit apparent.

Still, it remains a beautiful sipping beer, dripping with a class which the brewery's marketing end never managed. While I don't think it has necessarily improved with the recipe change and the cellaring. it's still a very enjoyable, understated, high-end imperial stout.