BrewDog Russian Doll - Barley Wine

Russian Doll is our latest fantastic voyage into the essence of beer. This time we’ve used the same malts, hops, and yeast - the differences are down to the ABV. There’s a great complexity when trying the beers side by side - the aromas & flavours from extra pale, cara and dark crystal malts vary from biscuity through caramel, toffee and treacle as you might expect, but the hops (simcoe, citra, cascade and centennial) present differently from style to style - from zesty to tropical through stone fruit to jammy.
The labels feature exclusive artwork by Esther McManus.

3.6

175 reviews

Ellon, Aberdeenshire, Scotland

Community reviews

3.6 from Amstein - light hazy dark ruby-amber beer with a poor foam left; aroma of tea and plums; full-bodied, pretty sweet, tasty and decently bitter; lot of residual sweetness; quite thick and sticky; moderate carbonation; long hoppy aftertaste of tea, quince and melon

3.7 It pours out a deep brown but has lovely deep red mahoganey color when held up to the light.Served in a snifter, paired with some single estate madagascar chocolate. The nose is plums, caramel, boozy heat and a hefty dose of hops. Possibly not as full on as intended as it was on sale at World Beer Market for being near the expiry date. Medium bodied the flavor is boozy, nutty, woodsy, piney hops, some tobacco and you get the sweet caramel in the finish. Pretty interesting, good for sipping but probably better in the fall/winter. Worth trying out. ap 4 p 4 ar 7 t 8 o 14

4.2 22/V/15 - 33cl bottle from a trade @ Brazilian Tasting (home) - BB: 31/VII/15 (2015-674) Thanks to teorn88 for the trade! Clear ruby red to brownish beer, big irregular aery beige head, unstable, non adhesive. Aroma: yest, that’s it! Lots of passion fruit, sweet, lots of caramel malts, very nice, this is how I like my barley wines! MF: soft carbon, medium to full body. Taste: sweet malts, honey, pretty bitter, fruity, resinous, hoppy, bit sugary. Aftertaste: malty, caramel, pretty bitter, hoppy, exotic fruits, nice stuff, this one!

3.6 Bottle at home picked up a while ago from from Bottledog KingsX. Nice bright reddy amber coloured pour with a lasting thin light cream colourd head. Aroma is toffee apple, cinamon, hot alcohol, brandysnap sugar, little vanilla and dried fruits. Flavour is composed of full sweet toffee, toast, tangy fruits, tart jam, hint of liquorice. Nice anf full and layered flavours. Palate is fairly sweet, moderate carbonation, viscous in the mouth. Pretty good.

3.8 Bottled. The aroma has caramel, raisin, some pine. Bit hazy, red-brown coloured beer with an off-white head. The taste is ligh-moderate sweet, has moderate bitterness, caramel, raisin again, bit piney hops, Warming mouthfeel. Nice.

4.0 330 ml. bottle sampled @ “Brazilian Tasting”. Thank you tderoeck! Dark ruby, mocha bubbles. Nose is light oxidation, typical BrewDog styel herbal bitter hops, thick chewy lightly herbal malts,… Typical herbal BrewDog hop profile with chewy malts, maple, sweet chewy malts, light malts, herbal bitterness finish, brown sugar,… Touch thinner than expected, touch lower carbonation,… Pleasant barley wine with herbal character & med. bitterness. A good stronger ABV malty BrewDog offering.

3.7 33cl bottle courtesy of and shared with Tderoeck and 77ships. Batch@258, BB 31/07/15. Cuivrée, col fin beige. Arôme au bouquet prenant fruité rouge de baies, malt cara pâle et crystal. Houblonné perçant en rétro-nasal offrant qcq notes agrumes et résineuses. Palais est alcoolisé malt assez prenant sur un léger résiduel de levure. Fruité rouge, caramel et une agréable amertume agrumes des 3C.

3.3 0.33L bottle, batch 258. Light citrus fruits, caramel, roast aroma. Clear, deep dark brown look with small beige foam. Taste is quite various. Raisin soup start, caramellic, soft white raisin bread, whiskey, alcohol taste. Sweet caramellic finish with very light overcooked bread bitterness. Not bad.

3.0 Bottled from Systembolaget Deep copper with a small, tan head. Fruity aroma with toffee and notes of boiled vegetables. Very sweet and vinous flavour; cough-syrup Benylan.

3.5 from bottle. poured a dark amber to brown colour with a tanned head. notes of sweet barley, caramel. red fruits, caramel syrup. peanuts, figs, fruity flavour

3.3 Bottle sample at a tasting at Max’s place. Thanks Shmupi. Pours brown to red with a nice beige head, aroma of orange, marmalade, malt, flavor is bitter, alcohol, marmalade, malt, medium bodied.

3.7 Bottle. Dark red/brown with off-white head. Dried fruit aroma, full bodied with more prunes and other dried fruit, some caramel, touch of alcohol, semi-sweet. Drinks well for the strength

3.6 Shared bottle. Reddish brown with small off white head. Looks nice. Sweet tropical fruits, honey, sweet cinnamon buns, lots of bitter herbs and raw vegetables. Medium sweet and medium bitter. Medium to full bodied with soft carbonation. Nice stuff, but slightly too bitter for me.

3.5 33 cl systembolaget. Jag sparade denna till sist och det var inget misstag! Söt, stark och besk på samma gång!

3.5 Bottle@Amsterdam. Copper color, off-white head. Strong, sweet, hoppy aroma. Full, syrupy flavor with coppery notes, chocolate. Full body, medium carbonation. Nice, but heavy.

3.5 @ Stordirren 15-4-13: en tydlig doft malt, torkat frukt ock lakrits. Smaken är fin och fyllig med stora toner av frukt, malt och humle. Fin balans men skulle varit ännu tyngre ---- Soberness not garanteed!

3.4 Bottled. Pours copper with a small light brown head. Smells nutty, spicy hoppy, a bit spicy. Tastes nutty, spicy, alcohol, herby hoppu with a similar finish.

3.5 Bottle at Systembolaget. Clear amber beer with a small beige head. Malty caramel aroma, vinous, raisins, figs, citrus, caramel notes, biscuits, some toffee. Malty caramel flavor, hay, toffee, figs, raisins, some warming alcohol.

3.8 Flaska från Systembolaget. Dimmig mörk bärnstensfärgad vätska med ljust skum. Välbalanserad med stor maltkropp och tydlig amerikahumlekänsla.

3.2 Flaska från SB. Fyra öl, samma malt och humlesorter. Nr4, deras Barley Wine. Doftar markant mindre än både IPA:n och dubbel-IPA:n. Söt smak där torkad frukt spelar förstafiol. Fänkålen återkommer i orkestern.

3.9 Bottle (33 cl) from Systembolaget. Clear mahogny, medium beige head. Caramelly and nutty malt aroma, intense piney and perfumy hops. Medium to full bodied, medium carbonation. Semi sweet backed up with a firm biiterness. Thhe bbest in the Russian Doll series.

3.2 The aroma of dark fruits. The taste is of dark fruits, berries and bitter. Okay bitterness that fills the mouth forever. Not good, not bad. Follow me @ Kung av öl @ Facebook for more pictures and ratings. Follow me @ Kung av öl @ Facebook for more pictures and ratings.

3.3 Bottled: A typical barley wine: Sweet, malty, some hops, some caramel, some raisins, some alcohol,on the verge of beeing booozy. There are many similar examples out there. Good, but not unique.

4.6 ASPETTO: ambrato scuro con riflessi rubino e da whisky. Schiuma abbastanza fine, poco abbondante e non molto persistente. AROMA: fantastico. Si sente del caramello, dalla caramella mou, un lievissimo liquoroso, del fruttato (soprattutto pesca), del floreale (mughetto e gelsomino) e anche tanto erbaceo da luppolo. GUSTO: l’attacco è tipico di una barley wine: caldo, caramelloso, con un lieve tocco di liquoroso (meno di quanto mi sarei aspettato). Nella seconda parte del sorso emergono anche le note del luppolo, che ripuliscono la bocca dalle note dolci e fanno sentire tutto l’amaro di questa birra, senza però mai essere invadente. Il contrasto tra i due sapori è forte ma ci sta, non dà fastidio. Corpo strutturato e carbonizzazione media. CONCLUSIONE: una birra marca Brewdog...una garanzia. Sicuramente molto particolare, e il contrasto tra il dolce e l’amaro può non soddisfare tutti. Non è infatti tra i miei gusti preferiti. Ma questa birra me la sono goduta tranquillamente, anche contando che i suoi 10º si sentono pochissimo. Grande lavoro!

3.9 Bottle from Burg Bieren, BB 31/07/15, large sample. Clear copper color, short frothy off-white head. Aroma of sweet malt, cookie, biscuit, some white wine, citrus, pine, marmelade. Quite sweet in taste, molasses, bit bitter, fruity white wine. I like the whole series actually.

3.8 29.12.2014. Dark red colour, sweet malty aroma with raisin and fruits, toffee. Flavour is malty sweet, caramel, toffee, also some hops present.

3.7 Bottle from SB, part of 4 pack cons 2015-03-26 Duved To celebrate my 100.000 m downhill this ski season;) AR: citrus, dried tropical fruity very sweet marmalade. pine AP: dark ruby, wee fizzy deminshing beige head F:dried tropical fruity, orange marmelade, pine, wee caramel waffels, full bodied, sugary feeling, great warming feeling, nice brew

3.3 How: Bottle. Where: Systembolaget. Appearance: Hazy amber colour with an off-white head. Aroma: Caramel, malt, some citrus, some tropical fruit. Body: Full body, low to medium carbonation. Flavour: Caramel, malt, some hops and tropical fruit.

3.6 Ausgewogener süßlich herber Malzantrunk. Süffig, die Malzigkeit steigt. Getreidig herb, Bitterschokolade, würzig. Würzig süßer Nachgeschmack, harmonisch. 9/11/9/12/11/12

3.4 Mörk bärnstens/koppar färgad öl med lätt kaffefärgat skum. Malt med karamell i doft men även sötma, viss fruktig/syrlig humle. Smak i samma bana med en bra beska, alkoholen märks av men tar inte på något sätt över.