BrewDog Abstrakt AB:04
Imperial Stout brewed with coffee, cocoa, Naga chilies (the hottest in the world), and champagne yeast.
4.1
157 reviews
Ellon, Aberdeenshire, Scotland
Community reviews
Bottle 330ml. Pours opaque brown. Thin quickly dissipating tan head. Aroma is chocolate, dark fruits, caramel and more sweet dark chocolate. Taste is chocolate, burnt caramel, coffee and a strong roasted malty backbone. Slight chili burn but not as much as I thought, the alcohol warmth is stronger. Very creamy and smooth. Really great beer, although the alcohol is very present.
Bottle at home. Pours black, nose is light chili, chocolate, roast malts, taste is rich chocolate, liquorice, coffee, chili.
Lagrad 4år. Delade en flaska med Wihlan. Chilin träder fram i aromen, hel del sötma. Smaken är söt och chilin kommer tillbaka i slutet av smaken. Mycket mörk choklad och kaffe.
Fantastisk!!! Svart som natten och med en härlig arom av chokladkaka och kaffe med en hint av chilli. Smakar mörkchoköad och chille. Chillin har lagt sig så det är en mycket trevlig smak. Fantastisk!
Bottle from Brewdog Bristol. Pours opaque brown. Thin quickly dissipating tan head. Aroma is chocolate dark fruits caramel more sweet dark chocolate. Wonderful. Flavor is chocolate and burnt caramel. Slight chili burn but not as much as I thought. Very creamy and smooth. Really great beer. And I hate chili beers.
Backlog. Tasted at a vertical tasting of the first six abstracts released. Bottles from Systembolaget. Chili in beer is really off-putting for me, so sorry, this wasn’t a favourite.
38cl, Bottle 2385/3300, retired exclusive Scottish brew, with coffee, cacao and chili peppers, thx to Matthew!, very complex sweet Stout, roasted/sweet and slightly alcoholic/spicy, yet not too heavy, very balanced, hazy, nearly no head, top class!
Bottle. Tan black with a brown head. Sweet and roasted aroma of dark chocolate with expresso and cocoa powder. roasted flavour of dark chocolate and coffee, slight chilli spice
Bottle from a friend. Black color, brown head. Bittersweet finish with chili, nuts, chocolate, coffee, a bit of licorice, vanilla and dark fruits. Bitter finish with chili, coffee, nuts and vanilla. Exquisite imperial stout.
Bottle: Thanks Madmitch: #989/3300: Served in a Chouffe glass:
Pitch black pour. No head. Pitch black colored beer.
Aromas of soya, ketjap, liquorice, animal feeders, chili/pepper, sweat, dust, bakes malts, some coffee, brown sugars, caramelised sugars, sweet tar and some sticky sweet oil ish tones...
Flavours of soya, bitters, sweets, chocolate, ketjap, cream, brown sugars, caramel, some pepper, dust, light dry, malt and coffee roast, toffee, light sticky, some oatmeal, some animal feeders and sweet coffee roast with sugars.
Aftertaste is a mix of peppers, dust, brown sugars, roasted malts, roasted coffee, chocolate...
Low to no carbo, soft light oily light watery light spicy mouthfeel, full body and a light oily texture.
Extreme beer, extreme taste, strange! But wouldn’t say 15%ABV!
rich mocha darkness with wood. Luxurious&dense some soya in the nose. Not what it should be but what it isvis really very very nice.
bottled
Gift.. the year in best. Thank you Rob!
Dark black color, short lived head.
Aroma is heavy malty, roasted, chocolate, strong coffee, burnt, wood, alcohol.
Flavor is heavy sweet and light heavy bitter with a long duration, fantastic roasted malt character with some noticable chili heat. Chocolate, wood, light chili warm. Deeply complex. This is simply an great, unbelievable beer. Congratulation. Not every day and not every day to drink. and reasonable opportunity to be the case. Gorgeous.
World class.
Body is medium to full, texture is oily, carbonation is soft to factual.
Unforgottable
Bottle. It pours a black colour with a small beige head. Sweet and roasted aroma of dark chocolate and coffee with notes of cocoa powder. Sweet and roasted flavour of dark chocolate and coffee with notes of chili peppers.
Bottled, #2730 of 3300. Poured near black with lighter brown around the edges.. nothing stuck around for head. The aroma picked up burnt coffee, licorice, and cocoa, with black pepper, more robust pepper, and spicy alcohol around.. a little oxidation set in, and it was complementary. The flavor found burnt licorice, molasses, and coffee at the core, with vanilla and dry cocoa on the edges.. a little pepper meat around there too.. picked up a touch of peppery spicage, alcohol warmth, and fruity yesat on the long finish. Heavy-bodied with very low carbonation on the palate.. slick and oily on the middle, and a tad grainy through the finish.. not a lot of Naga presence, but it really didn’t need it. Excellent brew!
Bottle many thx to Craig that digged this out from celler - took 10 minutes cons 2013-04-03 Edinburgh
AR: bourbon vanilla, coffey, dark chocolate
AP: black body, frothy beige head
F: rich chocolate flavour, wee chilli, coffey, warming feeling, white sugar finishes chocolate fontain, white sugar cubes, - unfortunatly the sugar cubes are destruering way to much. Storageing improved this beer (bottled 2010)
Will note that the chilies had dropped of considerally. Little to no heat from them. Big roast character. A touches of sweet and sherry but on the dry side overall.
Bottle 37,5 cl @ Kaj. Pours black brown with barely no head. Aroma is peppery roasted malty sweet fruity fidges raisins, yaiks so good and a touch of vanilla too. Flavor is chocolate cocoa coffee roasted velvety sweet alcohol bitter. Finishes bitter sweet alcohol and fruity.
Aroma is full of tobacco, ash, and leather with some soy sauce notes. Some dark fruit esters, especially fig and prune. Not much spice to the aroma but there is a hint. Some sherry qualities appearing with the soy sauce; this beer is showing its age. Light alcohol aroma, but not overwhelming.
Pours a deep black with brown highlights on the edges. Light brown thin head that does not last long.
The flavor has a lot of spice to it and it combines with the fruit esters to create an almost raspberry chipotle flavor. Some dark chocolate character with some roast as well. A bit of a teriyaki beef jerky note to it. Moderate bitterness, but not over the top. Some alcohol flavor in the finish. Also starting to show its age.
Mouthfeel is thick and viscous with fairly low carbonation. Very low astringency. Medium to high alcohol heat.
Overall a good beer, but it's showing it's age. The soy sauce is starting to really take over. If you still have one of these you should drink it now.
Corked bottle. Almost bleack, no head. Malt, molasses, hints of soya and pepper in the aroma. Malty sweet flavor with moleaases and hints of red pepper. No carbon to speak of. Maple syrup. Decent.
In short: A monster black beer of great complexity that is also surprisingly easy to drink. One of the best big beer I’ve ever had. Wow!
How: Bottle 375ml at The Bishops Arms Folkungagatan, Stockholm
The look: Black body topped by tiny beige ring of foam
In long: Nose is big heavy rich blackened malts, fattening cake, light spicy notes and a lot less alcohol fumes than expected from a 15% monster. With such a monster beer I could smell just about every big black beer aroma if I searched for it, like liquorice, chocolate, dates, tar, you name it. Body is as thick as they come, big viscous corpulent body with a soft carbonation, splendid mouthfeel. Taste is a big slice of black cake, a lot of rich cocoa, lots of molasses, bittersweet black chocolate, a slice of sweet raisin pie, sweet dark prunes, port wine, well integrated spicy notes. And I could go on and on, this is a monster viscous black beer that can taste just about any flavor you want if you are looking for it. Alcohol remains mostly well concealed, the beer is doesn’t feel boozy at all. I was very surprised by how excellent this beer was, certainly one of the best monster beer I’ve had, and my wife who usually don’t care for beers like this thought it was the best heavy beer she ever tasted (and she tastes most of the bottles I open). I went through my bottle quite easily, this beer is almost easy to drink!!! Brewdog have been swinging for the fences for a while now and to me this Abstrakt 04 is their first true homerun. This monster would certainly be in the ratebeer top-5 if it was made by a hyped American brewery. Unfortunately the Abstrack AB:04 is not an easy beer to find anymore, but if you can’t find a bottle but really want to know what it tastes like just drink half a AB:08, didn’t you learn anything in algebra… jesus…
Bottle from The Grove, Huddersfield. No. 1936/3300 Bottled 1/11/10 291012
Pitch black, no head, slight ruby edges in glass
Aroma - Complex aroma of rich roasted malts, chocolate, touch of soy, chillis noticeable, slight vegatative note probably from the chilli, some chilli heat on the nose, great aroma
Taste - rich chocolate malts, dark plain chocolate, mellow dark roast malts, underneath some dark fruity malts, hint of sweet red wine, so well balanced, not too much chilli but the heat gets noticeable after a while, excellent taste
Palate - no carb, medium body, lighter in body than expected. Finish - nice rich chcolately malty residue, smooth warming alcohol. Rich thicker chocolate malts strangely come out of the thinner body and coat the mouth in the finish.
Overall - Well the hype was right with this one. Maybe it would be better it had bit more body and it was not as flat. All the AB beers should be around this quality though. Excellent Imperial Stout.
Bottle at Craig’s. Thick, inky viscous black, almost no head fades to nothing. Big capsicum, wood, roasty coffee, open alcohol nose. Big sweet dark chocolate front, sweet coffee, tiniest touch of warm spice underneath. Lots of woody roast and a warming bitter finish. Silky, soupy, viscous mouthfeel. Amazing.
Silky black with no tint with a dark brown quick disappearing head. Like a black hole it absorbed everything. Smells of deep heavy roasted malt, chocolate, smoke, and coffee with wood and clear alcohol. May need to be aged to get the alcohol smell and taste out. Full oily body. Smooth as velvet. Perfect body. Very sweet taste of chocolate and malt with bitter dark and roasted malt with a woody almost spicy dry finish.
Flaska 872 av 3300. En kraftig och välbalanserad Imperial Stout. Massor av smak av choklad och romrussin. Portvinskänsla med chillihetta och kaffenyanser.
En flaska som snart hunnit bli tre år. Massor av romrussin i doften plus de vanliga IS-dofterna av kaffe och choklad. Munkänslan är len med något lite vasst som gradvis växer till en viss chilihetta. Otroligt bra balans, maffiga smaker av romrussin, cherry, kaffe och chili. Fantastiskt god!
Aroma: The smell is powerful, cured meat, some smoke, licorice and soy sauce. Rather black!
Appearance: A black/brown brew, really no head, some faint tan bubbles, no lacing of course, surprisingly small curtains.
Taste: The taste starts wit brown sugar and sweet licorice, fried sugar, cold coffee and soy sauce with a hint of wasabi, sherry and lemon zest.
Palate: No carbonation, very soft and oily, a coarse quick dry finish.
Overall: A spicy sweet digestive, enjoy responsibly!
Note: Bottle at De Klomp BMD.. Reviewed 2011-09-20.
Bottle at home 60/200. Chocolate and orAnge peppers. Very thick, sweet, chocolate, chili heat, chocolate toasted marshmallow, warm end
375ml bottle pours an oily opaque black with zero head. Nose of raisin, ancho chile, toasted bread, vanilla, malty, coffee. Flavor is sweet, dark chocolate, light licorice, vanilla, raisin, prune, malt. Full bodied, sticky finish.
Bottled on 1.11.10, number 974 of 3300. Dark beer out of the bottle with only the smallest of bubbles. Big bitter coffee nose. Lots of coffee flavors in this beer sweet molassess and a big warming heat. The 15% is well hidden. Really good coffee stout.
Bottled. Pours black with a smalltanhead. Nose of roated malts, chocolate and coffee. Sweet flavor with burned malt, coffee, soy and alcohol notes. fuull bodied, oily texture and soft carbonation. Ends up with some malt bitterness and a alcohol touch. A very well brewed imp. stout.