Brewdog Rogue Wave Single Malt Vodka 70 cl 40%

In Ellon, north of Aberdeen, stands a brewery that one day decided to build a distillery next door. Malt, yeast and beer were already in the building, so the question was never what they would distil. It was how far they could push it.

Expert description

BrewDog Rogue Wave is a Scottish Vodka made from Single Malt produced at the brewery itself, batch distilled and bottled at 40%.

The ingredient list is short and unusual: malted barley, malted wheat, ale, yeast and water. The vodka begins life as a fermentation closer to a beer than to an industrial grain mash, and that is the whole difference. Sugar, esters and malt are present from the start, and some of it survives the journey through distillation.

Serious money went into the equipment. Vapour passes through the world's first triple bubble copper pot still and then meets a 19 metre rectification column, with the process stretching across seven days. That sounds like a recipe for stripping out all character, but the counterweight is that the spirit is filtered only once. The distillery says it should keep its soul.

You can taste that in the glass. Rogue Wave is clean and crisp without being empty, and a streak of icing sugar and vanilla sits under the surface, which is the malt putting its head up. If you need a vodka that can carry an Espresso Martini without vanishing beneath the coffee, this is a sensible place to look.

Tasting notes

Nose

Crisp and clean with a sweet malt breath. Icing sugar and a trace of vanilla sit on top, with nothing sharp behind.

Palate

Soft attack with clear grain sweetness from the malt. Halfway through it turns dry and a light cereal tone appears, a reminder of where it started.

Finish

Clean and medium long. The sweetness drops away, leaving a dry malted tone and a little warmth.

Specifications

Name: BrewDog Rogue Wave
Distillery: BrewDog Distilling Company
Region/Country: Ellon, Scotland
Type: Scottish Vodka
ABV: 40%
Size: 70 CL
Distillation method: Batch distilled from Single Malt in a triple bubble copper pot still and a 19 metre rectification column, filtered once
Serving suggestion: Cool and neat in a small glass, or in an Espresso Martini where the malt meets the coffee.

Flavour profile

Malted · Crisp · Sweetish · Dry

Did you know?

BrewDog was started in 2007 by two men and a dog. James Watt and Martin Dickie hand bottled the first batches in Fraserburgh, and the dog was called Bracken. Fourteen years later the company had a distillery housing the world's first triple bubble copper pot still.

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Frequently asked questions about BrewDog Rogue Wave

What does Single Malt mean in a vodka?

That the raw material is malted grain from one distillery rather than a blend of neutral grain spirit from several sources. Most people know the term from whisky, where it is legally defined. On a vodka it is not protected in the same way, but here it stands for something real: the distillate comes from the brewery's own malt.

So is it just distilled beer?

Almost. The fermentation looks more like a beer than an industrial grain mash, and ale genuinely appears on the ingredient list alongside malted barley, malted wheat, yeast and water. What separates it from whisky is that the distillate here is purified far more and never goes into a cask.

What is a triple bubble copper pot still?

A copper still with three spherical swellings on the neck instead of one. Each bubble gives the vapour more copper contact and forces the heaviest fractions to fall back into the pot. BrewDog had the world's first one built for exactly this purpose.

Why is it filtered only once?

Because every filtration removes character along with the faults. After seven days through pot and column the distillate is already very clean, and a single filtration is enough to tidy it up. Run it through charcoal repeatedly and the malt notes would be gone.

Why is it called Rogue Wave?

The name is a nod to Alex, cousin of BrewDog co-founder James Watt, who lost an arm in a fishing accident in the North Sea. A rogue wave is the sudden giant wave that arrives out of nothing, and North Sea fishermen treat it with respect.

Which drinks does it work best in?

The ones that give the malt something to play against. An Espresso Martini is the obvious call, since the grain sweetness and the coffee pull in the same direction. A White Russian works too, and in a Bloody Mary it lends more body than a wholly neutral vodka would.

Is BrewDog Distilling Company the same as the brewery?

It is a sister arm of the same company, sitting on the brewery site in Ellon. They share raw materials and infrastructure, but the distillery has its own equipment and its own range of vodka, gin and whisky. To see other houses, browse our Vodka brands.