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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