Style: Imperial spiced stout
Brewery: Dugges
Origin: Sweden
Size: 33cl
Alcohol: 18%
Price: 75kr
Systembolaget: 11315
In 2005, Dugges opened just outside of Gothenburg and has grown to become one of the Sweden’s top craft brewers. In 2020 Dugges turned 15 years old and to celebrate brewed three beer s, one of which was an imperial stout called “15 Stout!”. It was called “15” as it contained 15 different spices or adjuncts: vanilla, cinnamon, cacao, tonka beans, licorice, salt, ginger, cardamom, muscovado sugar, coconut, coffee, poppy seeds, nutmeg, clove and star anise. That beer was then stored in bourbon barrels to transform it into the bourbon barrel aged imperial stout that you have before you. Dugges best known beer is Tropic Thunder, which has grown to become the best-selling sour in Sweden today. As this was an IPA and stout tasting, I knew I wanted to grab the biggest stout I could find, and there is nothing bigger in Sweden today than this! I gave this as the last sample of the night for a good reason, as it was so crazy!
Pitch black in colour, this poured with almost zero carbonation and looked extremely thick. No head formed and completely coated the insides of the glass when swirled. The aroma was big, with many of the spices noted such as cinnamon, coconut, and nutmeg coming through at the forefront. This continued into the taste, with nearly every single adjunct noticed at some stage as it was sipped. The body was like syrup and dominated the palate totally. The aftertaste was boozy, creamy and with big sweet coffee and brown sugar notes that lingered.
This was a massive, massive stout. I loved the aroma, taste and body and even the high alcohol content was hidden well. I think it would be rather hard to drink a whole bottle on your own but shared with a few friends this would be perfect. Another banger from Dugges!