Brewery: Dugges
Country: Sweden
Size: 33cl
ABV: 11.5%
Price: 50kr
Systembolaget: 11659
There are some things that will always remind you about certain periods of your life. Like a certain cartoon will remind you of lazy saturday mornings when you were a child, or a song that reminds you of your first heartbreak. One of the things that triggers my memory vividly is banana flavoured beer. During my youthful (and some would say wasted) early 20s I drank a rather large number of banana beers. I still get excited when I see a beer coming out with the same fruity properties as it reminds me of so many great nights out in the company of friends. When I found that Dugges were coming out with a limited edition beer with banana, toffee and chocolate characteristics I knew I had to try it for myself.
It was deep pitch black with a coffee coloured head that held nicely. It has a luscious, thick body that rolled slowly around the glass, clinging to every inch. It had surprisingly good carbonation for it being a big imperial stout. There was big (and I mean big) sweet toffee notes on the nose along with a fresh banana aroma that didn’t smell too artificial. It really had a deep, robust smell which showed its alcohol presence prominently. You could smell the alcohol wafting up from the glass. Once sipped the big foam banana hits rolled over the tongue. It had a sticky sweetness that slowly faded into a bitter chocolate tone. Vanilla, brown sugar and condensed milk rounded off the taste notes in some sort of liquid dessert taste bomb. The alcohol hit the throat and warmed it up straight away. It coated every inch of the mouth and left a slightly oily and silky residue on the palate.
I loved this it must be said. Whether I’m biased due to the banana facets of the beer, I don’t know. I found this to a delicious imperial stout mixed with some sort of liquified banoffee pie. The main negative for me was the boozy nature of the beer. I think a slightly lower alcohol content by a couple of percent could have benefitted this beer. It’s rather expensive too, but that didn’t stop me from buying 4 of them myself. This is another winner from Dugges and I’m hoping they will reproduce this sometime in the future!