Description
Founder of Dot Brew, Shane Kelly, has made a name for both himself and his brand over the last few years through a keen passion and love for experimentation when it comes to his brews, most notably in the form of barrel ageing and hybrid styles. The Dublin based brewer has carved out quite a niche, developing a unique style and approach which has helped put Dot Brew at the forefront of the Irish Craft Beer scene. While the beers are brewed in various microbreweries in and around Dublin, they are then brought home to Dolphin’s Barn. The site is home to about 50 barrels in a small warehouse which Kelly refers to as his ‘spice rack’, with casks ranging from French oak, Mexican tequila and American bourbon, to name but a few.
8/10
Tried
from Can
on 26 Nov 2020
at 21:14
8/10
Tried
from Can
on 25 Nov 2020
at 22:07
8/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8
440ml can at home. Pours amber orange with a medium off white head. Nose is mango, pineapple, tangerine. Flavour is mango, pineapple, some small cheddar. Soft carbonation.
Tried
from Can
on 23 Nov 2020
at 07:05
7/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 8
Texture 6
Overall 7
Can. Deep dark brown color. Malt syrup, hint of grapes, chocolate, toffee and sherry in the aroma, malty sweet flavor with Chocotoff, chocolate and toffee, vanilla, sherry and Porto. Low on carbon. Quite sweet, but satisfyingly balanced.
Tried
from Can
on 22 Nov 2020
at 18:38
6.8/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 8
Flavor 7
Texture 4
Overall 7
Can. Dark amber color. Caramel, toffee and zuurtjes in the aroma. Sour flavor, Thinnish, hint of oak, red berries, toffee. Rum, cherry, vanilla. Complex enough, but the sourness does bother a bit.
Tried
from Can
on 22 Nov 2020
at 18:21
7/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 8
Texture 6
Overall 7
Can. Deep dark brown color. Chocolate, caramel and a hint of vanilla in the aroma. Full bodied, almost. Sweet flavor, caramel, chocolate, vanilla. Hint of whisky, vinous notes, soft roast. Some warming alcohol.
Tried
from Can
on 22 Nov 2020
at 18:17
7.4/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 8
Overall 7.5
Bottle from beerclub. Reddish brown with a full head. Aroma of raspberry and malt. Flavour is light framboise, caramel malt, rye finish.
Tried
from Bottle
on 13 Nov 2020
at 22:17
8/10
Tried
from Can
on 09 Nov 2020
at 22:25
7/10
Tried
from Can
on 07 Nov 2020
at 23:48
7.8/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8
Blend of some kind of sherry barrel aged old ale with cocoa nib flavoured milk stout, issued for some or other local festival in the Netherlands (before the Covid-19 pandemic), made only in very small quantities as a one-off, outside of Dot's cellar series - thanks to the brewery for passing me that information, as there was no way to find out on the bottle itself: came from a 75 cl bottle with no official label, just the brewery’s name and a ‘stain’ of lilac colour in the middle for in-brewery identification. Thanks to Craftmember for sharing this apparent rarity. Mousy, yellowish pale beige, opening and eventually dissolving head, blackish robe but still largely translucent, hazy mahogany coloured (indeed betraying its old ale component and not being one hundred percent stout). Lovely bouquet of brown sugar melting on hot pancakes, hazelnut paste, Belgian chocolates, almond, brown rum, toffee, old brownies, candied cherries, tawny port, chestnut, latté macchiato, brown bread dough, wood glue. Sweet onset though not cloying, impressions of fig jam, candied dates and cherries, blackberry coulis; soft sourish undertone providing subtle yet important balance against the sweetness. Softish carb, slight minerality here and there, soft and full, velvety mouthfeel; thick toffeeish and milk-chocolatey malt middle, pecan-nutty and bready at its edges, with a roasty coffeeish touch – that takes on a kind of latté-like effect in combination with the hazelnut and sugary sweetness. Spicy aspects in the finish (clove, liquorice) but not overpowering, while a port- and bourbon-like alcohol glow develops, becoming perhaps a tad strong in the end, but not so much as to overrule the soft sweetness of this stout, a sweetness which indeed does seem to stick a bit in the very end. Warming, soothing, sweet and boozy winter beer with gentle, bit desserty character, but not descending into pastry stout territory; blend of sweet stout and old ale best describes it indeed, and a very good one at that, worthy of its relatively hefty price tag. Nice and totally unexpected.
Tried
from Bottle
on 06 Nov 2020
at 21:58