Little Boy and Fatman

Imperial IPA freeze distilled to a whopping 29% ABV, though apparently the aim was to arrive at more than 40%... From tap at the Struise shop in Bruges. Creamy, mousy, egg-white, open ring for a head, quickly dissolving under influence of the alcohol, misty amberish 'old copper' robe. Aroma of Herve cheese and even sweaty feet, orange zest, 'Pim's cakes', peanut oil, cognac, methylated spirits, hop extract, bread crust. Restrainedly sweetish candied orange peel effect in the onset, softly carbonated, light umami aspects (green olive) with obviously very full, thickly oily body; bread crust- and peanut-like malt body, set on fire by an excessively burning, cheap brandy-like alcohol effect that begins way too early even at this ABV, its unpleasant wryness accentuated by a spicy, grapefruity, tangy hop bitterness, with a clearly cheesy aspect to it; the alcohol burn dominates everything else in the end. Reminded me a bit of BrewDog's Sink the Bismarck - with an equally harsh alcohol burn and hop extract wryness to it, dominating whatever else was present in the basic beer. Absolutely not my thing - I am still very skeptical about that whole 'eisbocking' thing to begin with, but within that range, it's usually the stouts that stand out as the most successful examples; IPAs were never meant to be freeze distilled and apart from Uiltje's Old Enough To Drink, I never had one that was actually pleasant to drink. I could hardly finish even a small tasting glass of this thing.

28/II/20 - on tap @ bottle share after the Blind Geuze Tasting, Struise Shop (Brugge), BB: n/a (2020-197) Thanks to Erwin and all for sharing today’s beers!

Clear amber to copper red beer, small creamy yellowish head, unstable, non adhesive. Aroma: sweaty feet, very funky, bit weird, very cheesy, dank. MF: ok carbon, medium to full body. Taste: sweet start, pretty bitter, lots of alcohol, more bitterness, hoppy, resinous, more alcohol, bit weird. Aftertaste: bitter, lots of alcohol, cheesy, bit funky, hoppy, more alcohol, hoppy finish.