BrewDog/Three Floyds Bitch Please Islay Cask

Good afternoon all. Being back at home for various holidays is always great fun, as it allows me to catch up with old friends, reminisce about the halcyon days and drink a lot of good beer. Naturally there's the underlying theme of completing coursework and revising for exams, but right now I'm in the first week of the Easter break so that's not really phasing me. Onto the beer now, and last night I decided to have a special release from a brewery whose sole intention seems to be to bankrupt me over the course of this month with all of the new beers they're bringing out. That's right, it's the scamps at BrewDog with Bitch Please Islay Cask, a barley wine made in collaboration with Three Floyds that's spent the last 18 months residing patiently in Laphroaig casks. Unfortunately I don't have a bottle of the original Bitch Please, that spent 8 months in Jura casks, to compare to this new offering, but I was able to try it last year and it was very interesting indeed. One can only hope that this will take the experience to another level, so let's see what it was like. Review after the pic....

Bitch Please Islay Cask (13.5% ABV) pours a dark red colour with an off-white head that retains itself well throughout drinking. The aroma is pretty incredible, with peated malt, smoke, candy sugar, tobacco and a hoppy fruitiness in the background. If anyone reading is a pipe smoker, it smells exactly like Cornell & Diehl's "Epiphany" with the plum notes and underlying sweetness. The taste is slightly medicinal- just like Laphroaig- with peat, candy sugar, hoppy citrus fruits, blackcurrants and some sweetness. The finish is warming and lingers long after drinking, and there's a slight alcoholic burn that cuts through the other flavours without being too imposing. The mouthfeel is thick and the beer is well carbonated despite the high ABV percentage. Overall, another great offering/collaboration from BrewDog- the sweet, fruity and hoppy barley wine base works very well with the generous helping of peaty, medicinal Islay whisky, offering an interesting dichotomy. The mouthfeel elevates the flavours and the finish is velvety smooth with a decent amount of intensity. Highly recommended, get it whilst you can!

Until next time....