Tasting Notes: BrewDog Hop Rocker
Brewery: BrewDog
Location: Fraserburgh, Scotland
ABV: 5.5%
Version: 330ml bottle
Source: The Vineyard, NI
As I said in my Brooklyn Lager post, lager is not a style that gets much coverage here, for the reasons highlighted in that piece. I do tend to pick up any new lagers I see, all in the interests of finding the very good ones, but invariably I approach the tasting with little enthusiasm and come away predictably disappointed by the unadventurous blandness of them. With Hop Rocker from BrewDog however it was different. I was fairly sure the boys wouldn't be producing such mediocrity, I doubt the word is even in their brewing dictionary, and that this would be one to file in the "lager worth drinking" box.
Hop Rocker is a deep golden/amber colour, no washed out pale yellow here, with a quite tame aroma, hints of citrusy hops, honey and some floral herby notes. The taste however is not so restrained. Appropriately named, there's plenty of hops, giving a citrusy grapefruit flavour, with a hint of toffee maltiness adding a touch of smoothness, before giving way to a dry finish with more grapefruit. This is a fine, lively lager (like the Brooklyn offering it's closer to an IPA) and admirably lives up to its "statuesque" description. Another winner from BrewDog. If only all lagers were this good.
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