Tasting Notes: BrewDog 2009 Prototypes
Brewery: BrewDog
Location: Fraserburgh, Scotland
ABV: Various (see below)
Version: Bottled, prototype
Source: BrewDog mail order
A few weeks back I placed an order for a mixed case of independent Scottish brewery BrewDog's Rip Tide Stout and Paradox Stout, partly to show my support for the brewery in their battle with the Portman Group, partly because I'm on something of a mission to find my perfect stout and I reckon these two could very well be contenders. Almost on a whim, I decided to order a case of BrewDog's 2009 prototypes as well and this is the selection that arrived a few days later:
Yesterday evening I finally got around to sorting out a sampling session (it would have been sooner, but a bout of food poisoning and then a weekend away put paid to that) and here's what I discovered:
BrewDog Bad Pixie Wheat Beer (4.7% abv)
First up was Bad Pixie, a wheat beer brewed with juniper and lemon zest to 4.7% abv (which, let's face it, is quite reserved and sedate for a BrewDog beer). I have to confess that I approached this one with mild trepidation: I have something of a gluten intolerance and whilst not out-and-out allergic, have usually shied away from anything too overtly wheat-based. Plus, Hoegaarden and I did not get on at all well, the one time I ventured there, so all-in-all, I can't say I was actively looking forward to this one...
Which is probably why I was pleasantly surprised when I cracked open the bottle and poured - the beer was a very pale, very golden colour (see photo, utilising my trusty Leffe balloon goblet) and not at all the murky, cloudy affair I was half-expecting. Aroma-wise there was a light fruitiness, although I had trouble pinning down the specifics. Mouth-feel was good and the flavour was, again, faintly fruity - the juniper and lemon, I assumed - and quite bitter. As the drink went on it developed a distinct dryness which came to dominate, along with a lingering after-taste of... brie. No, seriously. And I think it might have been blue brie at that.
In conclusion: I thought Bad Pixie was a bit of an odd one. Not as unpleasant an experience as I initially feared it might be, but definitely not my cup of tea, either. As I say, I'm no expert on the wheat beer style, so I don't know how if shapes up to other examples, but any beer with an after-taste of cheese would have to give me pause for thought in future.
Brewdog Zeit Geist Black Lager (5.1% abv)
Zeit Geist is a black lager which "takes inspiration from the Czech classics" and indeed, it reminded me very much indeed of the Herold Bohemian that I sampled a few weeks ago.
As you can see from the photo, it poured a lovely ebony colour (although with ruby highlights that you can't quite make out here) but that thick, frothy cream head disappeared in pretty short order. The aroma was smoky and spicy on the nose and the first sip provided a big hit of liquorice, which eventually settled down to something deeper, sweeter and fruitier. Jo suggested dried fruit and after thinking about it for a bit I came up with "barbecued raisins", which makes no sense whatsoever but seemed to sum up the flavour quite nicely. There was a hint of muscovadot sugar in there as well, which made me think of dark rum, and I expected to find a few coffee tones, but they weren't as obvious as I thought they might have been.
In conclusion: Zeit Geist is quite delicious and intense, but at the same time extremely more-ish. I reckon I could happily sit through a session on this one. I found it more flavoursome than the Herold and a lot more interesting than Leffe Brun - the other dark lager I'm best acquainted with. So, yes, if this one was produced on a larger scale then I'd definitely be interested.
BrewDog Chaos Theory IPA (7.1% ABV)
Described as "a deep copper IPA with insane hops", Chaos Theory really is a monster of a beer. The first thing you notice is its quite lovely colouring, which - as you can just about make out from the photo - lies somewhere between the advertised copper and a stronger ruby red. But it's the nose that really leaves a big impression: this beer has an absolutely incredible aroma, an immense fruity tang that really slaps you around the head when you take that first deep sniff and keeps on doing so right to the bottom of the glass.
Taste-wise, Chaos Theory is just as intense. A big slosh of alcohol is followed up by some incredibly complex sweet & sour fruit flavours: raspberries, stewed plums, bitter oranges, mangoes and more, all carried along by a gloriously rich mouth-feel and with a smoothness of finish that belies its strength and power.
In conclusion: Chaos Theory is one is a hell of a beer, and no mistake. A relentless onslaught of flavour upon flavour, it's definitely a sipper rather than a session beer and certainly not one for the faint-hearted. And this is the one was the eventual winner of the 2009 Prototype Challenge, has since gone into production and is available to buy from BrewDog.
To summarise, then: Bad Pixie wasn't for me, but it certainly wasn't awful. Chaos Theory is an incredible, huge beer that could give Meantime IPA a run for its money (although along a slightly different track) but I'm really not sure I could drink more than a glass or so at a time.
Instead, it was Zeit Geist that proved the overall winner for me. An interesting, tasty, highly-enjoyable variant on a style of beer that BrewDog haven't already brewed en masse, I rather wish that they'd decided to put this one into production instead of Chaos Theory. Not because Chaos Theory isn't a bloody good beer, but they already have their rather fantastic Punk IPA on the roster, so it seems a shame not to broaden their product base with something a little different. But maybe they'll relent and brew a batch or two of Zeit Geist in 2009 anyhow. In which case, they can be assured of an order from me.
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In my experience wheat beers do tend to have quite a dry finish. Can't say I've noticed any cheese though.
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Yeah, kinda thought that might be a rarity... :)
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interesting stuff. I am perhaps overly fond or wheats, and was waiting for BrewDog to get in on this style. I'll keep an eye out -thanks!
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Howdo Leigh - well, I'm not sure Bad Pixie is going to make it into production after all... Chaos Theory won the comp, so that one's being made out of this batch of three. But they might come back to the style at a later date, eh?
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Darren recently sent me over a bottle of Zeitgeist to sample and it is indeed a very fine black lager.
First up is the lovely chocolatey, slightly smokey, aroma. For me the flavour at the start was of very smooth milk chocolate, quickly followed up with a slightly bitter bite of dark chocolate which stayed through to the finish. I also detected a splash of some fruit in the background, like mango with some faint orange, but I didn't find it as obvious as it appears to have been in the prototype.
Now that you've had the production version Darren, how does it compare with the prototype?
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Chaos Theory - what can I say about this? First impression was Woah! What all is in this zingy hoppiness. I could just say hops, citrus, hop, citrus but more detail is required. So there's orange, lemon, grapefruit, mango in there as well. Like a fruit cocktail soaked in beer. It's all a bit overpowering on the taste buds though, so as lovely as it is, one is plenty. Per day. I'd happily go back to it another time or three.
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