A Black Belgium-style Double IPA. Yes, you read that right.
Stone Brewing from the US and BrewDog from Scotland 8.6% ABV. Systembolget Article Number 11726. 38.40 SEK (330ml bottle)
For those of you that don't know BASHAH is an acronym that stands for Black As S@*t Hoppy As Hell. Couldn't really have put it better myself. Pitch black body under a frothy yeasty tan head.
Odd. There's the familiar waft of American hops with their pine and citrus smells. So far so good. But then comes chocolate, weak coffee and earth.
Schizophrenic tastes of chocolate, liquorice, tar, smoke and grapefruit. Nice sweetness in the middle that's quickly and brutally replaced with a whiplash bitter finish that leaves an unsettling salt and electrical sensation in the mouth. I get the black, I get the double IPA but I get very little of the Belgium element in this beer.
I don't know. Your guess is as good as mine.
Nerd note
This is a Burtonesque beer and I'm not talking Burton-on-Trent here, I mean Tim Burton. It's modern day gothic, an anti-hero, twisted, conflicted and dark. The result of a collaboration between the original bad boys of US brewing Stone and the UK poster boys for experimental beer BrewDog it was always going to be different. The problem is as a beer drinker somewhere among all the conflicting tastes and smells I lost my way, emerging at the end of the glass dazed and confused. BASHAH is a fun ride everyone should take at least once.
Rating
3.5 of 5
I felt something that I would describe as freshly ground black pepper in the afterfaste, which was a bit weird (just like the rest of the beer).
A food pairing that might work (or fail miserably) is a a grilled lamb or beef steak marinated/seasoned with some ”bright” spices like coriander, lemon zest and cumin, or served with a sauce with that kind of seasoning.
Oj vad sugen jag blev att sprätta min nu. Frågan är en nybörjare som jag kan uppskatta ett sånt här experiment. Blir verkligen intressant att se…