Blog o’ Beer

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.

Tasting Notes: BrewDog Punk IPA

Brewery: BrewDog
Location: Fraserburgh, Scotland
ABV: 6.0%
Version: Bottled
Source: Tesco

I first heard about BrewDog's Punk IPA over at The Beer Diary and then a few days later spotted a bottle in Tesco, which I duly grabbed. I've said before that IPA isn't really my first-choice when it comes to beer-style, so when I do venture out of my comfort zone, I'm looking for something special. And I'm glad to say that Punk IPA, like the Meantime IPA I tried not so long ago, is pretty damn special indeed.

I didn't chill this "post-modern classic pale ale" before trying it, wanting to make sure that I got the full range of flavours. There was a huge hit of hops, hops and more hops, which is exactly what you want from an IPA, of course, as well as a bone-dryness that was positively Saharan. But there was also a velvety smoothness - great mouthfeel - which helped to keep both the sharpness and the alcohol nicely balanced, making this big IPA a very easy drinker indeed. I think that was the main difference between the Punk and the Stateside that I tried at Wetherspoons the other week: the Stateside (also 6%) seemed to be all about the spiky dryness. All in all, a definite hit with this non-IPA expert. I predict that I'll be drinking this one again someday.

I've been reading on the BrewDog blog that they've been having a spot of bother with the Portman Group - the self-appointed guardians of the UK brewing industry's moral high-ground / a cartel of major brewers determined to stamp out originality and keep the smaller guys from achieving any sort of lasting success [delete as applicable] - and as Joe pointed out they're not the only ones.

Personally, I think any brewery that shows a bit of imagination and creativity in the face of the shelves upon supermarket shelves of mass-market blandness and bog-standardism should be applauded and lauded, not castigated and taken-to-task for the originality of the wording on its labels. As for 'incitement to anti-social behaviour'... WTF? it's cans of cheap, super-strength cooking-lager the yobs round our neck of the woods are knocking back on a Friday night, not 330ml bottles of micro-brewed craft beer, for crying out loud! A little perspective from the Portman Group, please? A little common sense? Too much to ask for?

Anyhow, I've decided to show my support for BrewDog in the best way possible: I've just this minute placed an order for their Stout Special mixed box (6 x Rip Tide, 6 x Paradox and I do hope I get the Caol Ila version...) with a side-order case of 2009 Prototype Special selection: three great-looking beers (including another mega-IPA) that they're testing at the moment.

I'll be letting you know how I get on in due course...

BrewDog - brewing up a beer revolution

Quite possibly inspired by recent events on the far side of the Atlantic, Fraserburgh-based BrewDog have recently announced that they're plotting something of a revolutionary development in the field of micro-brewing in the form of the world's first democratically elected beer.

I'd better let them explain the idea themselves, by nicking a chunk of text from their website:

In a ground-breaking move, BrewDog will be the world's first brewery to ever brew a completely democratically designed beer - by the people for the people! We are giving up complete control of every single decision which will shape the final beer that the Beer Rocks project produces.

We want to take you all on a journey and let you fully determine the destination.

In order to ensure that the eventual winner is properly Obama-like and prevent the process devolving into some sort of horrible Floridian nightmare of re-counts and acrimonious law-suits, they'll be doing their best to educate us - the voting public - on the key facts before we join in, by posting a series of video blog manifestos explaining the key characteristics of the sort of beer they're looking for and arguing the case for their own personal favourites.

The vblog instalments will be posted one-per-week, starting this Saturday (Nov 15th), with voting on the key characteristic in question open for 5 days afterwards. At the end of the 5-week process, the beer style will be decided upon, the BrewDog blokes will go off and brew the beer and the bottled version will be made available via their regular distributors in early 2009.

Sounds a whole lot more fun than Xmas shopping to me. Count me in...