#278 Brewdog – Royal Virility Performance

Name: Royal Virility Performance
Brewery: Brewdog (Aberdeenshire, Scotland)
Style: Imperial IPA
ABV: 7.5%
Source: The Beer Store

I’ve tried beers with plenty of weird things in them over the course of this blog (raspberry jam, tea, and sarsaparilla just to name a few in the past week) but I think this one takes the cake.

Royal Virility Performance is the first beer in the world to be brewed with Viagra – approximately 1/3 of a pill per bottle. It also contains  some other supposed aphrodisiacs, such as chocolate and, don’t even ask me what this is: Horny Goat Weed. (Wouldn’t seeing those words together be enough to make you instantly flaccid?)

I didn’t know it had any of that stuff in it when I drank it. This was just a beer that my Dad sent me (awkward right? I guess he didn’t know either), to drink on the anniversary of Will & Kate’s Wedding. You see, this beer was brewed especially for the wedding and, as it turns out, specifically for prince William to drink on the wedding night. Brewdog you dirty old rascals!

Obviously I haven’t been paying close enough attention to the Women’s Day because  the anniversary passed me completely unnoticed, but I saw it in the cupboard last week and decided it was better late than never.

For a beer that  has novelty and smut coming out the wazoo, this was surprisingly gorgeous. From the moment I popped the cap this heady scent of fragrant woods, fresh herbs and citrus wafted out – reminding me of my favorite ever perfume, Comme Des Garcons No. 2. In the mouth it was full and malty without being too sweet, with the resiny herbaceous notes balancing things out. Often I don’t like IIPAs because they’re overly sweet and alcoholic, but this one had a depth of flavour that nicely padded it out.

And of course what you really want to know is: did the beer come with a happy ending? Sadly the answer is no, as viagra doesn’t have much effect on women. I did, on the other hand, have some weird dreams about goats…