Savoury and unsavoury

The pace may have slowed, but enough beer featuring the DOT Brew name is being turned out to get it the occasional dedicated blog post. Here's the latest, with five new ones which landed over the past few months.

The first is Spin Off Series NEIPA, part of the sequence of beers DOT makes for Aldi. It's not the densest of haze, looking a little thin and vapid as it poured. The aroma tells you it's no milquetoast, though, delivering what I interpret as a west-coast vibe of dank resin and sharp grapefruit. No complaints about that. The flavour brings us back to the eastern seaboard, with a soft vanilla and apricot effect, aided by a full and soft texture. There are no sharp edges here. The finish is quick, though, and I feel that a beer in this style, and of 5.8% ABV, should have longer legs. There's also an oddly savoury off flavour lurking in the background: a bit smoky, and a bit onion-ish, but nothing good and I'm reasonably sure it shouldn't be there. Still, at the sub-€3 price point, you get a decent hazy IPA. Don't scrutinise it too closely and you'll enjoy it. It's too late for me. Save yourselves.

I trundled along to UnderDog a few weeks ago where a tap takeover was under way, and two further new IPAs were pouring. I started on Levitation, a 6% ABV job which is a medium hazy orange colour. I don't have the hop information to hand, and I'm not even sure they've been published, but whatever they are, they work brilliantly. Both the aroma and flavour have a fabulous sweet and zesty character, exactly like freshly squeezed orange juice. While that makes it a little one-dimensional, it is highly enjoyable. It's almost a shame that the ABV is so high, because it slips back with indecent ease; at once satisfying and refreshing. Complexity doesn't really feature, although I did find a little bit of spicy grapefruit peel lurking in amongst the jaffa segments. It remains to be seen whether the brightness and freshness on display in UnderDog will last if they decide to can it, but I've had my fun, and that's all that matters.

Next, the grandly titled IPA IPA Reborn, created especially for the Craft Central off licence, and a 6.5% ABV reboot of a 7% ABV IPA that they made back in 2020. I didn't like that one and I didn't like this either. The dirty dark orange colour hinted at oxidation, the beer itself resembling carrot juice in a most unattractive way. Last time round, hot garlic was the problem, mixing badly with plastic and vanilla in a worst-of-everything take on hazy IPA. This one draws on a different set of common flaws, tasting gritty and savoury, with a harshly bittersweet marmalade tang being its only fruity feature. I don't think it was actually oxidised, but it was far from clean; too murky-tasting to be any way enjoyable. If you liked the original then maybe you should pick up a can of this as well. I can't recommend it, however.

Perhaps it's a signifier of contract brewing that these were so wildly different from each other, though alas I have no way of knowing which was brewed where. Whoever was responsible for Levitation can take a bow, but I will be keeping any third version of IPA IPA at arm's length.

DOT also makes barrel-aged beers, though it has taken some time and effort to hunt any down lately. First up, though, is To Ten and Beyond, marking ten years of Dublin's Teeling Distillery (est. 1782) and one of the regular specials DOT makes for the giftshop. As with many of the series, it's a barrel-aged pale lager, this time matured in single-grain ex-red-wine casks. There's certainly a fruity element to the aroma, though all about macerated grapes, not wonky fermentation, I'm happy to report. A cleanly crisp lager is still discernible beneath. And that's all the flavour really does. I had anticipated a little bit of whiskey, wine or raw oak, but instead it's almost purely dry to the point of being a little papery. "Hop forward" says the label, and I do get a certain Saaz-like grass note, although that does little to soften it. The finish is mineral-like: a kick of zinc and chalk. I guess it does have a few extra dimensions than your ordinary 4.8% ABV pils, and the aroma is good fun, but I didn't really get it otherwise. Happy birthday Teeling; enjoy my €6.

Finally, here's the twentieth version of Rum Red Dark, the perennial barrel-aged strong red ale. This time it's 9.5% ABV and claiming to be "the boldest red in the series so far". Oo-er. It's the same murky dun colour as all the rest, and smells of warm oak and sunny rum cocktails. The wood is right at the fore of the flavour, given a slightly burnt and smoky cast, though more caramelised sugar and glazed brisket than anything unpleasantly kippery. There's a separate sticky-sweet summer fruit jam element, running in parallel to the smoky wood, and an immediate boozy heat that grows steadily in the belly with each successive sip. I drank it outside on a warm evening, but it's is very much a winter beer, and an enjoyable one. I particularly commend how it melds the sticky red malt side with the barrels and booze, keeping everything smooth and sippable, even if balance isn't a concern, exactly. This is worth picking up at your leisure, but don't be in a rush to drink it.

While I prefer to see DOT releasing the barrel-aged blends, the fact that my favourite of this set was a straight IPA shows that they're fully justified in doing the less involved recipes too. Good beer is good beer, regardless of the producer's ethos or tendencies.

Oak or nope?

Time for a regular check-in with what DOT Brew has been sending my way lately. As usual, it's a varied bunch: some going big on the barrels and blending; some not.

Barrel-aged beers at 3.8% ABV are rare, but trust the DOT/Teeling collaboration arrangement to come up with one. This is Hoppy-Go-Lucky, a light pale ale aged in the distillery's whiskey barrels. It's the bright gold of a glass of white wine and smells of freshly pressed white grape with some bonus pineapple. The low strength makes itself felt in the texture and flavour: thin and short-lived, respectively. I get a tang of grapefruit, turning bitterer, ending up as the sort of metallic aspirin effect I often find in non-alcoholic beers. That's not a good sign. On the one hand, it's good that it's not overwrought and that the barrel element is done subtly, but it's just weak tea, lacking character and, frankly, in need of a boost in booze and body. €5.50 was a lot for this small tin.

A milk stout follows; a strong one at 7.5% ABV and named Dark Stuff, which it is. It's quite light-bodied for all that it's strong and contains lactose, avoiding any accusation of cloying, but running the risk of wateriness at the same time. I let it warm up a bit before tackling it head-on. It rounds out a little, and the flavour becomes altogether more multidimensional. So what have we got? There's milk chocolate for sure, the lactose doing its job well, in a calm and understated manner. Next to it there's a bitter element, composed of roasted grain and a mild vegetal hop tang. Taking us out, there's a pink fruit and flowers effect, bringing raspberry and hibiscus. It's really nicely done: sweet, but not overblown; classic, but unusual. I took my time over the 440ml and enjoyed every minute of it.

DOT says the latest edition of Rum Red Dark (XVIII) is the "boldest" so far. It looks to be the strongest: 12% ABV up from the usual 8.6% or so. There was a squash to the can when I picked it out of the fridge, and sure enough the beer poured headless and flat. DOT's relationship with the Teeling peated single malt project is still going strong, and this has a powerful peaty aroma, along with a suggestion of toffee sweetness. To taste, it's full-on Scotch whisky to begin, softening quickly to caramel and fudge, but returning to TCP phenols in the finish. The flatness isn't a problem: this is full-bodied and feels more like a fortified wine than a beer; smooth and slick, with a sizeable quantity of boozy heat. As a smoked beer fan, I liked it, and I present that as both a recommendation and a warning, depending on your predilections. It's loud, brash, and utterly lacking in nuance, but it works, combining smooth and sweet red ale with a very specific whisky, and ramping up the volume to palate-pounding levels. This isn't an everyday beer, but I certainly have a place for it.

The Spin Off Series that DOT makes for Aldi has had four new additions this year, and I'm beginning with K.2, an IPA brewed with Norwegian yeast, presumably kveik. I think maybe it's time that Aldi customers learned what kveik is. We don't need to hide it from them any longer. It's a bright golden colour and plenty hazy. The aroma is gently juicy, suggesting high-end lemonade with a slightly sulphurous mineral bite. Though 5.2% ABV, it's light-bodied, so presumably finished on a very low gravity. That makes it pleasingly thirst-quenching, like lemon barley water. Don't expect too much other complexity, just a little ripe-fruit funk and a dry, soda water or soluble vitamin, minerality. An explosion of flavour it is not, but as a very decent hazy IPA to throw in the basket on your way through Aldi it's hard to criticise.

My jaded old palate still gets a bit of tingle when a beer label promises southern hemisphere hops. Nova IPA does, though doesn't tell us what they are. It's very slightly hazy and a rich shade of marmalade orange. The aroma is as zesty as the beer looks, more suggesting American hops than antipodean. On the flavour I didn't really get much of either: it's all quite muted, slightly orangey (Galaxy?) with a pinch of dry white wine (Nelson?), but that's your lot. OK, it's a low-cost can from Aldi, but it's also 5.8% ABV which should provide enough of a platform for some big hop fun. This is a very short celebration, though clean and inoffensive. Were it not so strong I'd be recommending it for the ice bucket at summer parties. While I enjoyed the broad sketch of the flavour profile, I would have liked it coloured in a bit more.

A second tranche of Spin Offs in just the past week yielded Fruit Sour, a generic name for a beer with the unusual choice of white peach as the add-in. It's 4% ABV and a fruit-squash shade of opaque yellow-orange. It smells kinda spicy, with hints of pink peppercorn and matchheads. Could we actually in for a sour fruited sour beer? Not really. It almost gets there but the sour effect is stymied by an overall low level of flavour, rather than one which is too sweet. It's thin and quickly headless, oppressively fizzy with no more than a smear of sweet peach flesh and a tiny tinny tart tang. The promising spice from the aroma does reappear late on in the background, but I would need a lot more of it to consider the beer properly good. I can say I got my €2.50's worth in Aldi, but no more than that.

That arrived alongside US Wheat, another busily fizzy one. It doesn't get in the way so much here, as there's plenty of soft and pillowy malt to cushion its bite. The beer is brightly golden and only slightly hazed, with not great head retention, but better than the previous. There's a portent of dryness in the aroma, with elements of spun wheat and black tea, but a promise of fruit as well: soft cantaloupe and apricot. The hops are to the fore in the flavour, and deliciously so, leaning in to the sweetly smooth melon notes with only a token bitterness, similar to the profile of the mighty Little Fawn. I don't know if Mosaic was involved, but the profile is quite similar. The label does tell us that the hops came in CGX cryo-pellet form, and for once the minutiae of the processed hop market does interest me: this stuff is great, at least when used as DOT's contract brewer has here. Even though it's the stronger of the pair at 5.2% ABV, US Wheat is the one I'd like to have several of to hand on a sunny afternoon.

Time for some more stout, I think. The second-newest in the collaboration series with Redmonds off licence in Ranelagh is Marsala Imperial Stout, the second Redmonds joint to use ex-Marsala whiskey barrels. The aroma is very much whiskey -- hot and honeyish -- with just a slight hint of raisin to suggest the wine's involvement. The foretaste is quite sharp: this is no big chocolate or vanilla imperial stout but one where 10.5% ABV means it has been attenuated quite far down. The mouthfeel is light and maybe even a shade too thin. I get a little of the oak spice and sour cherry of Flanders red ale, which is enjoyable but not what I was expecting. A more typically stout-like roasted espresso bitterness arrives later, but doesn't hang around, and then the finish brings us back to the fruit, this time a long echo of macerated red grapes. It's an interesting, left-field, take on imperial stout, but properly enjoyable too. The Marsala-whiskey combination brings us places we otherwise wouldn't get to visit.  

The Redmonds partnership has also, more recently, yielded a bock. A barrel-aged bock. In fact, a Barrel Aged Brett Bock, the only one of its kind I've ever encountered. The base beer is a doppelbock, giving us 8% ABV and a dark chestnut colour, while the barrel is once again ex-Marsala. It smells sour and quite funky, with similar cherry aromas to, again, Flanders red. The texture is surprisingly light, a demonstration perhaps that neither lager yeast nor Brettanomyces leave much sugar in their hungry wake. There's a small remainder of the dark caramel flavour of doppelbock, but mostly the oak and Brett are in charge of the taste: lots of port-like wine notes, tangy oak sap, finishing on a strong farmyard funk. Although it's an unlikely combination, every element here plays its part. It's an audacious experiment, but one which paid off handsomely. And at €6 for a 375ml bottle, it's a steal.

A double IPA to end on: 3-Way Idaho [7], the second in a series of hop showcases which began with Simcoe last winter. That one was a failure of a New England-style IPA, and all the better for the resulting clarity and bitterness. They've fixed it for round two and I'm not happy. It's one of those hazy IPAs which shows off their regular problems. Not much aroma I can live with, but the grittiness; the earthy, chalky, savoury crunch from saturated haze particles is plain nasty. A harsh alcoholic burn comes with it, and even though it's 8% ABV, there's simply too much booze. It does have a good side -- I could still detect apricot, peach and lychee notes under all the unpleasantness, but they were too soft and subtle to stand up to it properly. Maybe the small draught measure didn't suit it, as it did mellow a little as it warmed. I certainly wasn't drinking it fast. I'm not sure I'd be willing to take a chance on a retry, though. Let's have another 3 Way instead.

Who knows what treasure we'll get next from the magical kingdom in the lock-up behind Dolphin's Barn Tesco. But there's a reasonable likelihood you'll find a review of it here.

This must be the place

When I ran the numbers for last year, it turned out I had drank more beers from DOT than any other producer. It's possibly not surprising as they're a busy lot, utilising multiple breweries for production (mostly Hope and Third Barrel these days) and having a cosy arrangement with Teeling Whiskey for the supply of interesting barrels. Company headquarters is not far from my house and I paid a visit last month in the company of some other Beoir members. Shane gave us a look inside the maturation and blending operations, as well as a few generous samples and previews of coming attractions to complement the year-to-date DOT stock already in my fridge.

That included their new Non-Alcoholic Fruit Ale, 0.3% ABV and a polished-copper pink colour. It really lays on the fruit, and I was picking up notes of Fanta orange, raspberry jam and tart juicy redcurrants at different points on the way through. It has a softly effervescent texture and an edge of soda-water dryness to balance the fruit. My usual point of assessment for beers of this strength are whether they taste convincingly like beer. This one sort-of does, though the heavy fruit presence makes it taste like a beer which doesn't taste much like beer. A win on a technicality. Anyway, this is an interesting addition to the range of non-alcoholic beers now available, and one that is genuinely enjoyable to drink.

It has a sibling too: Non-Alcoholic IPA. This is a hazy one, looking a little wan and watery in the glass. "Fruity aromatics" are promised, and it does indeed have more than a hint of the tropics about the nose. It goes a bit more northern on tasting, with pear the main flavour, accompanied by some gentle apple and honey. There's a sharp resinous burn on the finish which helps the whole thing be convincingly beer-like; likewise a rough grittiness that tastes very New-England to me. Indeed, this is a very rare example of a non-alcoholic beer that could pass for the real thing. It's certainly flavoursome, and while predominantly sweet, not unpleasantly worty. As long as you don't mind the slightly intrusive murk, this is well worth a go.

From virtually no alcohol to just a bit: Bad Behaviour is a micro IPA of 3.2% ABV. No compromise is apparent. Ordinarily I would be expecting a thin body and a harshness in the hopping but here it's full and rounded and proper, while the flavour is a multilayered mix of tropical pineapple and mango on a sweet vanilla base, spiced with clove and nutmeg A sprinkling of earthy, murky grit finishes it. I like what it does. Except for that slightly rough closing move, it's a clean and bright-tasting modern IPA. That the ABV is in its boots is to the good.

That arrived at the same time as Sour Smash, a mixed fermentation beer with raspberry and cherry. This is 4.4% ABV and properly red, like the Belgian summer-fruit beer of your choice. The base is very, well, basic: a dry and crisp wheat-cracker effort with minimal sourness, more like what passes for Berliner weisse in the craft world. On top of that is a thick and rich fruit-gum flavour, presenting the two advertised berries in abundance. It's simple summery fun, not at all a complex multi-strain Brussels-style job. It just misses the mark on being palate-cleansing because of the plentiful residual sugar. Perhaps something more voracious in the fermentation mix would improve it. 

Simply Simcoe proclaims the brewer, in an experiment with Cryopop hops: a lightly hazy IPA of 6% ABV. It smells very dank and weedy, but fresh with it, promising lots of tropical juice into the bargain. Orange-fleshed varieties come to mind on tasting: cantaloupe, guava and papaya. Although, quickly after the initial sweetness it turns very dry, with a chalky minerality in the finish. The soft texture that's typical of hazy IPA is absent, and in fact it's a bit thin. As a showcase for the hop, I'm sure it's doing its job; as an IPA for drinking, however, I found it quite severe. It needs bulking up with something to balance those hops.

The next IPA is a step down in strength to 5% ABV. It's called Thiol Toll so presumably uses that fancy new hop-boosting yeast. The hops in question are Nelson Sauvin and Idaho 7, so well worth boosting. It's an eggy yellow in the glass and smells quite hoppy but not very hoppy, of mango and red apple. The flavour is similarly understated, but clean, and the overall impression is of something refreshing and sessionable. There's a hint of Nelson's white grape and diesel on the finish, while the middle is a dry tannic effect, more like you'd find in English bitter than hazy IPA. Were it not for the specs I would be pleased with this, but I think I expected more of a hop boom from it. Where's the boost?

Before we go dark, a double IPA called Closing Time. This is hazy, 8.2% ABV and hopped with Centennial and Idaho 7 -- nothing there we haven't seen before. The aroma is nicely juicy, mandarins specifically, with only a faint brush of white onion to disturb it. My first impression on tasting was surprise at the light and drinkable texture and lack of heat. Even letting it warm up a little it doesn't get hot or any way boozy. I approve. The taste is still juice-driven and very low on bitterness: orange sherbet and mandarin pith. The alium hasn't gone away, however, and there's still a garlicky buzz in the finish. The cleanness saves it, however. Some may complain that it's a little bland for a powerhouse IPA; this snowflake appreciated its soft touch.

Brown not black and almost completely flat: the early signs weren't good for the Banyuls Barrel Aged Imp Stout that DOT produced for Redmond's of Ranelagh. Neither is a problem, however. The beer, a full 11.6% ABV, is still thickly textured and strongly flavoured, just as it should be. I have limited experience of Banyuls wine, preferring my dessert wine to be pale -- though I was still surprised how savoury and herbal this beer is, showing notes of rosemary, basil and wild garlic. That's not dessert at all, but I'm not really a dessert person. It's more like a vermouth-based aperitif, and the special effects are much more pronounced than the underlying beer: don't expect any coffee or toffee. It's quite delicious, though, and is a very grown-up sort of barrel-aged stout, avoiding all the clichés and heading in a direction of its own. DOT's Redmond's series have mostly been stellar and here's another which is.

Similarly flat was the eighth iteration of Joël's Barrel Aged Vietnamese Coffee Stout, produced each winter for Blackrock Cellar. This is 10.2% ABV but doesn't provide the richness which should come with that, being a little on the thin side. The coffee is front and centre, mixing sweet fondant with notes of cherry and hazelnut to begin, turning savoury and herbal late: cola and chicory. It's a bit strange how the low density also means little alcohol heat or sticky sweetness, but both of those are in the beer's favour, letting the ingredients do the talking. It's best to leave your expectations behind when opening this, and simply enjoy where it takes you.

Coming to the end of its in-can maturation time was Rum Red Dark Batch XV. As usual it's a strong red ale, and although the ABV varies, this one's 8.6% is shared by several previous iterations. Rum barrels feature in the blending, as do Teeling barrels of the regular and peated whiskey sorts. It does look a little young, quite opaque, a bit like a sample from the tank. The aroma is mildly sweet, offering glimpses of caramel and herbs, but nothing very loud. Despite the tall head it's quite smooth, full-bodied as befits the strength but not hot or heavy. The flavour is surprisingly subtle. Rolling it around I get the dark malt base of soft caramel and milk chocolate, studded with some fun summer fruits, strawberry in particular. And then gently seasoned with spices of oak, nutmeg and white pepper. I was expecting a crazy powerhouse of crystal malt and whiskey but it's much more genteel than that, one for slow sipping and patient exploration.

We finish back at the barrel store, and a sneaky taster of a beer destined primarily for export: Oak Conditioned Extra Milk Stout. Many a brewery would call this "imperial" rather than just "extra" as it's 9.2% ABV. For all that, it's not the most complex of creatures, opening with a straightforward coffee aroma and tasting sweet and smooth, as one might expect, though without any heat from the alcohol. The wood does add a little character of its own, by turns a fresh and sappy wood tang, but also an old-leather buzz in the aftertaste. On the one hand I'm not sure these are positive additions; on the other they do prevent you from drinking it too quickly. For the most part, this is a decent and unfussy beer, doing what it says in the name without going overboard.

A huge thanks to Shane for accommodating the visit, and on this showing I wouldn't be surprised if DOT is my most-drank brewer for 2023 as well. I will certainly keep buying the beers.

Where do they all come from?

The downside of being a DOT beer drinker is that you really need to keep your stash under control. This one ended up taking over most of the fridge before I set aside the time to enjoy them. I've done that daft thing of turning my leisure activity into a chore. So... what's in there?

We start very small with Good Behaviour, an IPA at a teeny tiny 2.5% ABV. Vic Secret and Citra give it quite an assertive aroma, with lime marmalade and matchhead spicing in the mix. Oats are used too, presumably to bulk out the body but I don't think it quite works: it's still very thinly textured. Luckily the flavour is bold enough to compensate, turning the wateriness to an acceptable, refreshing, quaffable character. Said flavour begins sweet and tropical, and I get mango in particular from it. I would have liked that to continue but it decides to take a sudden and sharp turn towards bitterness and ends up a little harsh. It's not one to sit about crying over, however. There's plenty of hop buzz to enjoy, and then it's gone and no harm done.

Before that landed, the record for DOT's weakest was held by Martin's Micro IPA created for Martin's Off Licence in Fairview, one of DOT's many frequent collaborators. This one is 2.6% ABV and is a happy white-gold colour. Nothing small about the aroma, however: it's bright and tropical, suggesting all the joy of pineapple and passionfruit to come. But come it does not. The flavour is plain to the point of non-existent; fizzy water with very little on top. A tiny pinch of metallic bitterness on the end? Maybe, but I had to work hard to find it. I'm all in favour of the low-strength genre -- plenty of breweries do great work in this space and I know from the above that DOT can too. But while inoffensive, this beer is not a good example of what's possible, certainly when compared to Good Behaviour.

The theme continues somewhat with High Note, claiming to be a full-size session IPA though with only 3.5% ABV. In the glass it's a sickly shade of pale yellow, misted with some half-hearted murk. Things pick up in the aroma which is fresh and peachy with a light spritz of citrus zest. While nowhere near as watery as the above, it's still slightly unpleasantly thin. Turns out that oats don't magically create body in a low-gravity ale. Vic Secret is one of the principal hops, and there's an enjoyable herbal bitterness stemming from that but not a whole lot else going on here. Once again, the aroma is a triumph but the rest just seems compromised. I have a feeling that, with occasional exceptions, this genre doesn't suit DOT particularly well. 

To Blackrock next, and the second batch of Joël's Gold Blend, the tea-infused pale ale blended with stock that's been aged in French wine barrels. I really liked last year's and am happy to report that its intrinsic character hasn't changed much this time around. There's still that beautiful mix of ripe white grapes, cool refreshing tea and a seasoning of oaky spice. Between the fruit and the vanillin, it veers towards turning too sweet, but the tea does a fantastic job of pulling it back. While not quite an easy-quaffing thirst-quencher (it is only 4.6% ABV) it offers an accessible sort of complexity that I really enjoyed. DOT seems to have cornered the market in barrel-aged pale ales, as we move on to...

The next collaborator, another of DOT's regulars, is Teeling Whiskey, and it's another barrel-aged pale ale, this one called Sunshine In The City. The misshapen can is my own fault; it was entirely normal when I bought it at the distillery and then I dropped it. That said, there's plenty of carbonation in this 5.6%-er. It literally crackled in the glass the whole way through. I get a subtle pear and lychee effect from the aroma while the flavour is white grape and gooseberry, finishing on a sweeter clove-rock stickiness. It's all done with bourbon barrels, it seems, and frankly it makes better use of them than all those vanilla-laden imperial stouts. The fizz in this is definitely overdone, however: a busy champagne sparkle that I found interfered with the fruit fun a little too much. Letting that subside, I found a happy, approachable-yet-complex pale ale, and one that does something different with barrels compared to most breweries.

DOT's collaborations with Redmond's of Ranelagh have yielded some absolute gold over the years. I'm a fan of Tokaji wine, too, so when I saw that the latest was Barrel Aged Tokaji Pale I was very keen to try it. It's only 5.6% ABV and quite a pale yellow shade. From the high-filled can it frothed out enthusiastically, making pouring a bit of a chore. On the nose: nothing special, some happy citrus and stonefruit but nothing to suggest wine-barrel action. It's no palate-pounder, instead showing gentle notes of pear and lychee on a clean and sorbet-like base. I don't get any of the sticky-sweet honey taste of Tokaji but don't mind its absence. What's there is light and deliciously refreshing while still extremely flavourful. Another top-class Redmond's/DOT two-hander, then.

Craft Central is not being left out of the Cool Offies' Club. For it, DOT has created Central Station, a pale ale but a big 'un at 7.8% ABV. Armagnac barrels became Single Malt barrels became beer barrels but their contribution is subtle in the end, and this is still very much a hop-forward beer. At the centre of the flavour is a spritzy citric sweetness, reminding me of Loop-the-Loop ice lollies more than anything. The texture is light and summery, making for a dangerous sort of cleansing refreshment, given the strength. The sharp and sappy oak effect is pretty much limited to the aroma, and it smells a lot like a whiskey sour. Actually, a hybrid of whiskey cocktail and American-style pale ale is a pretty succinct way of describing this. And that may sound busy and a bit overblown but it's straightforward, flavourful and enjoyable on whichever level you take it.

There's one more Blackrock Cellar special to come: Taking Liberties, a red ale aged in peated whiskey casks from Teeling's. This poured thickly, refecting the 7.9% ABV, and settled almost like it was nitrogenated, a thick off-white foam over a dark brown body. It goes very much for the straight malt character: big and rich and wintery-warming. There's a tiny tang of barrel-derived acidity and the faintest wisp of peaty iodine but it's all kept on the down-low, a subtle seasoning rather than a blast of whiskey. What's left is a comforting sipper, hiding its big alcohol well and offering lots of sumptuous chocolate, coffee and brown sugar.

We step away from the barrels for a couple of moments, to go back on the straight-up IPAs. Heading West gets us going, a classic west coaster at a modest 5.4% ABV. "Classic" here means Cascade, Centennial and Citra hops, as well as an amber-coloured body from Vienna malt. There's a palate-sharpening grapefruit aroma right from can-pop, and lots of foam too, making me glad of my oversized glass. It's very well balanced in the flavour. A big and pillowy texture carries medium-sweet caramel and fudge qualities which provides a perfect foil to the hops' citric bite. It's not sharp and punchy, as some of these can be, but smooth and gentle while retaining the classic characteristics of American pale ale. I found myself thinking of it as a softer take on Sierra Nevada's iconic flagship, something I would be very happy to see more of.

A double IPA named Calling All welcomes us to the upper reaches, at an even 8% ABV. Vermont ale yeast is billed on the can which had me lazily expecting a yellow emulsion but it's only slightly hazy and very much orange coloured. There's a sweet tropical candy aroma, thanks no doubt to all that malt, in conjunction with Mosaic, Citra and BRU-1 hops. I think I would place this closer to the old fashioned American double IPAs rather than any new-fangled juice. It's not bitter, sure, but neither were the old guard, solely: they had a big caramel sweetness supposedly balancing the daft macho hops. This is an altogether more mature and nuanced take on that. The hops bring a distinct zesty spritz, mostly sweet and tropical with just an edge of Citra's citrus. This sits on a soft bed of marmalade and candyfloss: all nicely warming and comfortable. It's a gentle sort of DIPA, no audacious claims or sensory extremes, so the hazebois might be disgruntled, but that just makes it taste better.

Our first barrel-aged big-boy is Two Rights Dont Equal A Left, described by the brewer as "a barrel aged sour, aged in PX sherry and bourbon for 12 months" and by me as a dull-looking, dun-coloured affair, smelling of sweet fruit salad with a sharper acidity behind. There is zero indication that it's 8.2% ABV but it is. It's dangerously smooth and refreshing, and I was a couple of mouthfuls in before remembering the wallop it packs. The flavour, which by rights should be roaring with whiskey, sherry and vanilla, is actually a clean blend of pear slices, lime juice, mandarin segments and champagne toast. 440ml went indecently fast. I'm not sure whether to love this or disapprove of it, but I thoroughly enjoyed my time drinking it.

The penultimate is version VI of Rum Red Dark. I reviewed VII back in June but VI was largely shipped to the Netherlands except for a small quantity which Yards & Crafts got hold of and sold on, so I have them to thank for letting me fill the gap. As with all the recent iterations they've used Teeling's peated whiskey barrels for some of the blended constituent beers and it's very apparent from both the aroma and flavour. It's a sweet sort of smoke, the peat mixed with warming toffee and caramelised sugar. Its body is surprisingly light for 8.6% ABV though the quite intense flavour means it's no easy-drinker. You need to really like that peat smoke taste to enjoy it. I think I'd prefer it if it were richer and heavier with more malt to bring the smoke into balance.

Finishing the set, and also the latest DOT beer to come my way, is Kiss of a Barrel -- not DOT's first double IPA but I can't think of another that's been barrel aged. At 9% ABV we have a bit of a bruiser on our hands. It looks hefty: a deep orange-red colour, and barely translucent with it. It smells heavy and boozy and sweaty and loud, with a concentrated clove-rock spiced sweetness, plus sticky toffee and one of those oozy antisocial cheeses. That's a lot from a mere noseful. There's a fruity side to the flavour, a sharply autumnal damson and blackberry effect, leading on to a dry splintery wood tang. That cheesey funk shows up again in the aftertaste. This is a beer to be taken seriously and taken slowly. The various characteristics just about hold together into a single entity without clashing too much with each other. It took me a while to decide if I like it or not, and in conclusion I think I respect the wallop but the tangy sweaty thing is a deal-breaker. I can't say it's flawed, but it's missing the good points of double IPA and of strong darkish barrel-aged beer. 

That's probably enough DOT produce for today. My main question at the end of the thirteen is: wot no stout?

The sweet, the sour and the smoky

DOT has all the bases covered in today's selection, from light and breezy IPA to the densest, darkest, double-digit barrel-aged blend. I suppose we may begin at the beginning.

A micro IPA called Catches starts us off at 2.5% ABV. This is a clear gold and smells deliciously fruitsome with peach and apricot. Oats and wheat are there to offset any wateriness but don't quite cover the beer's nakedness as it's still rather skinny on the palate. Those juicy aromas fade to a pithy and metallic sort of bitterness on tasting: watery grapefruit juice and a little damp paper. Naturally it fades quickly and, pleasingly, the peaches come back in the finish, albeit briefly. This isn't a great example of the super-low-strength IPA, but it is at least easy-drinking and thirst-quenching. I guess it's my own fault for trying to analyse it too much.

DOT pays tribute to new wave bad boys The Stranglers with a peach-laden sour ale. No skimping on the fruit here: it's a dense breakfast juice orange and has a huge tinned-peach effect, in both the aroma and flavour. They've added a modicum of passionfruit as well, which contributes a tropicality that increases the impression of a blended breakfast juice concoction. For all the pulp that must be in there, it's quite light of body, though the ABV is a substantial 4.8%. That helps it be refreshing rather than sticky, as does a significant tartness which has an almost funky, smoky side. I'm guessing there's some serious mixed fermentation action going on under here. This is the very essence of summer. For maximum impact, wait for the very hottest of days before opening it.

There's even more of a fruit vibe to Sour Ballad: 15g of cherry per litre, boasts the can. The result is a deep dark blood red, pouring thick and flat. Ripe and squashed cherries are the aroma, unsurprisingly: real and tart rather than sweet and, er, cherry flavoured. There's a little bit of a sparkle on the tongue and the body is much lighter than it appears, especially given 6.4% ABV. It is extremely sour, but not in a harsh sour-beer way. It's the sourness of a black cherry, or a fistful of them: there's a certain juicy aspect as well, but no sugar. As with the aroma, there's no cherryish flavours, it's much too intense for that. Instead it's dry, tannic and even a little savoury or herbal. I quite enjoyed the punchy extremeness of it but couldn't shake the impression that this is merely the first stage of something else. I hope there's a quantity of it mellowing in barrels somewhere. Mellowing would do it good.

The first of today's barrel-aged pale ales is From the Vine, 6.2% ABV and aged in a Sauternes barrel. While it's another fruit-forward one, I'm not sure it got the full benefit of the wine, lacking the rounded lusciousness I associate with Sauternes and Sauternes-derived products. It's quite hot, with pear drops in the aroma and a slightly rough solvent character in the flavour. Thankfully this is offset by a clean acidic pinch which the label calls gooseberry with which I wouldn't disagree, and would add lemon zest and whitecurrant to the descriptors. The texture is very thick, which doesn't suit it, taking away any possibility of crispness and adding a woody muddyness. This is another where a little more time, in the tank or in the can, might be beneficial.

31 words are used in the description of Farmhouse Limoncello and three of them are "zingy", which sets expectations before the tab is pulled. We also learn that this is a pale ale, aged in white wine barrels before further ageing on "limoncello chestnut cubes", something neither I nor Google Image Search can picture. It's 7% ABV and a hazy ochre colour, smelling quite heavy and dense with oak and syrup. The wine is first into the foretaste, followed by a slick and oily coconut effect. The lemon is something of an afterthought, but it's present and I will even accord it a certain amount of zing. This isn't the spritzy refresher I was expecting, but a much heavier, more involved glassful. It's inarguably good though: the succulent white grape vibe mixed with vanilla oak is quite quite delicious. The name is gimmicky but the beer is not.

Rum Red Dark VII is the *counts on fingers* seventh outing for the iterative barrel-aged red ale, this one blending the previous three. Like VI, which I didn't get to try, this takes advantage of the Teeling Distillery's recent interest in peated single malt whiskey, and the spare barrels which result. It pours quite flat, and the aroma suffers as a result: not much going on here but a plain roasted malt vibe. The turf really leaps out on tasting however, bringing a lovely comforting phenolic warmth, buzzy and cosy, not harsh or antiseptic. It's flanked by gentler caramel and aniseed balls. The flatness doesn't bother me as the resulting smoothness suits it well. It's a beautiful and mellow mature sipper, perfectly suited as a sundowner on the unseasonably chilly evening I drank it. If that huvvy Scotch vibe is to your taste, don't miss this.

And once you're in a boggy hole, keep digging. Next is Stacked, a stout of 8.2% ABV making serious use of those peat barrels. I would be quite prepared to believe that they used peated malt directly in the grist, but apparently not. My reasoning is the big, almost fresh, phenolic twang at the front. And the middle. And the finish. Balancing the busy peat, to a certain extent, there's a chocolate and coffee richness, imparting a complementary sweet side. I tend to like some hop bitterness and dry roast in export-style stout, but I don't miss them here: there'd be too much danger of ashen acridity. You really do need to like your stouts peated to enjoy this as the barrels have added much more than a seasoning. It's almost, but not quite, one-dimensional, but I certainly liked the way it goes about its business, for one small can anyway.

DOT's advancing age -- five years now -- means its birthday cake is getting weaker. Barrel Aged Birthday Cake on its second outing is down to 10.5% ABV from 10.7%. The formula seems pretty much the same as last year -- an imperial milk stout aged in cognac, sherry and single malt barrels, with cocoa nibs and coffee -- but the result is quite different. Gone is the heat and acidity of the 2020 vintage and instead, as I'm sure was intended all along, it actually tastes like cake. There's a little bit of spirit, but it's entirely in keeping with those desserts that have a glug of brandy or whiskey in them; likewise the coffee is real and roasty, but is no more involved than what you'd find in a high-end coffee-flavoured sponge. It's creamily textured, filling and warming, yet clean and not cloying. I mentioned barrels-as-seasoning above and that's what you get here, adding a fun extra dimension to a tasty imperial stout without pushing it to any extremes.

Doubtless there will be eyes rolled at DOT's new found love of peaty barrels. Me, I'm excited to find out where it will take us next.

Casks from the Cellar

2021's doubtless plentiful sequence of DOT beers begins with this bunch, all launched in the dying days of last year. No IPAs this time -- we're going all-in with barrelly darkness.

The first is an exclusive to Blackrock Cellar, picked up on a sunny pre-Christmas spin to the coast. The big can is Taking Liberties, a barrel-aged red ale of 7.9% ABV. It needs a strong light source behind it to appear red, being otherwise stout-black. The aroma is sweet and slightly vinous: a touch of port and maybe some dark sherry. A lovely smooth texture and faint carbonation helps that sense, though the silky, creamy, milk chocolate foretaste brings us back to beer. The whiskey barrel elements are on the down-low, bringing a mild oak and toffee-pudding warmth to the second half, with a touch of sweet smouldering turf. While it's maybe a little plain given the heft and density, it can't be accused of being overdone. A nice bit of mellow winter fare.

I thought it would be interesting to compare this immediately with a more established DOT red. Rum Red Dark is now on edition number V. This is a blend of III and IV, neither of which I'd tasted, plus some fresh beer. The barrels are whiskey again, but ex-rum, of course. It's still pretty dark but a fair bit paler than the previous. And despite being stronger -- 8.6% ABV -- it's lighter and much more easy-going. There's a freshness to the flavour, a summery hum of strawberry, raspberry and sweet cherries. The age only really shows in the finish where there's a mature and musky oak spice, and that's what the aroma offers too. There's an almost sour briskness of a Flanders red in the smell. Neither whiskey nor rum make any obvious contribution to the picture, though I'm sure they play a part in a more subtle way. This wasn't what I was expecting, and I'm glad I wasn't hoping for a fireside sipper. I was quite content with some unseasonal summer sunshine in my glass, however.

It's back to Blackrock for the finisher, another annual reiteration. Joël's Barrel Aged Vietnamese Coffee Stout first appeared in these pages in 2018 when batch II was 6.9% ABV. Batch VI sees it grown to a strapping 8.95% ABV. The coffee is much more pronounced, though it's still smooth and sweet, with creamy vibes of Irish coffee and tiramisu. The wine thing is back: drier this time, more grape skin than flesh. Throw in a gin and tonic and you'd have all the drinks for a three-course meal. Again it's light-textured for the strength, and this time I would have preferred a bit more dessertish weight. Nevertheless, it's a fun beer and makes good use of both coffee and barrel ageing while still not going overboard on either.

This was a fun session, and showed lots of different things barrel-ageing can do, even in broadly similar strong dark beers. That my palate wasn't clogged with booze and vanilla by the end is a testament to DOT's skills.