Tasting Notes: Brewdog: IPA Is Dead: Motueka

Brewdog: IPA Is Dead: Motueka (Scotland: IPA: 6.7% ABV)

Visual: Clear amber gold. Moderate from in a loose bubbled head. Just off white head and light carbonation.

Nose: Passion fruit at a distance, gooseberry up close. Mango. Light hop character. Pumpkin. Quite dry but fruity.

Body: Good bitterness. Buttery shortbread. Malt and caramel. White grapes. Dried apricot. Elderberry. Smooth. Passion fruit. A nice tart back.

Finish:  Light bitterness and hop character. Grapes. White wine. Shortbread.

Conclusion: The last of the IPA Is Deads from the current set, and a well known to me quality hop. Motueka. Since the hop is an old familiar favourite of mine the interest here for me is more in the implementation than the familiar hop. (unlike the other beers where the discovery of news hops were paramount)

The malt is more present here than in any other IID of this batch.  Motueka, whilst flavoursome, is mellow enough to give its malt counterpart breathing room. The combination of the two give a lovely sweet shortbread element.

The hop brings in wine and grape elements, but the dry passion fruit and mango style dominate. There are tart elderberry and gooseberry counterpoints but they aren’t the main game. The result is a bitter but tart and refreshing citrus mouthful.

This beer really shows the hop to great effect, and the hosp lighter touch works much better with the new IID is dead recipe than any of the other hops did (With the possible exception of the keg only Simcoe which I’ve drunk but not reviewed). A great malt to hop balance that gives great smooth flavour and dry mouth after which leaves you thirsty for more.

The just slightly sharp and tart main body and dry smoothness makes it as refreshing as it it flavoursome. An expressive range of fruit flavour that really shows why New Zealand IPAs are making a splash right now.

So a great expression of the hop, and up there with the Simcoe hop as best of this batch of IID. I really enjoy this beer.

Background: The last of the current IPA is Dead Series, Brewdog’s single hop range.  Motueka is a New Zealand hop I’ve tried single hop a few times and so I saved to last.  I’ve always quite enjoyed it and keep an eye out for it’s use in beers. As always I am not an unbiased actor on Brewdog beers. Eagle eyed readers may have noticed that Arbor Ales single hop has a “My favourite” tag but not this. This is a better beer, but the Arbor ale was the beer that introduced me to Motueka so has that nostalgia bonus helping it out.

Tasting Notes: Brewdog: IPA Is Dead: Galaxy

Brewdog: IPA Is Dead: Galaxy (Scotland: IPA: 6.7% ABV)

Visual: Bronzed amber with a good sized set of loose bubbles that form into a frothy beige head.

Nose:  Grapefruit. Passion fruit. Moderate bitterness. Gherkin. Dried fruit. Maybe mango?

Body: Moderate bitterness. Peach skins. Fresh apricot. Gherkin back. Light strawberry maybe in the undercurrent. Passion fruit. Some almost hidden malt traces.

Finish: Hop bitterness, but smooth.  The bitterness grows easily.  Still a slight gherkin, or maybe a greenery touch.

Conclusion: Hmm, hard one to get a handle on this hop.  Originally it seemed grapefruit fresh but time soothed that to allow other drier fruit flavours to grow out of it. There also comes out an element I can’t quite put a finger on, but I’m calling gherkin for close comparison.  Unlike say the Kernel beer it isn’t an exact match, nor so blatant, but its close enough as a call to here.

Similarly the main body mixes that green touch with peach skin and apricot through into mango and passion fruit. At one point I will admit I wondered if this was a hop used in the Trashy Blond beer as it seems to have similar elements. However a quick search showed that I was way off in that guess.

By comparison the finish seems slightly simple, with primarily the bitterness showing through.  However the huge amount of character to the aroma and body means I’m willing to let that slide. Lots of clinging dry fruit flavour and that aforementioned green touch.

Again the malt base of IID is nigh subsumed by the hop flavour. Also possibly a tad dry for my tastes but still very good and expressive. Seems like it could do with combination to really bring it out though, just to add a finish to the tropical fruit style it has.  Not a shining wonder of a hop solo then but still none too shabby.

Overall a good beer and hop. Not a shining wonder land but don’t let that put you off. It’s interesting, tasty, a learning experience and a good beer. How often can you say that?

Background: An Australian hop. That’s a new one on me.  As always IPA Is Dead is a single hop beer series with the same recipe been used for any beers released in the same batch (usually four per batch) and only the hop varying. I am not unbiased on Brewdog beers but I have been a big fan of their IID range so far and I love the single hop concept in general. I may have been in a particularly bad mood when I reviewed this, but thankfully it did not seem to alter my enjoyment of the beer.

Tasting Notes: Brewdog: IPA Is Dead: HBC

Brewdog: IPA Is Dead: HBC (Scotland: IPA: 6.7% ABV)

Visual: A quite rich amber. Good thick frothy off white head.

Nose: Passion fruit. Fresh and quite resinous. Pineapple. Malt. White grapes. Quite thick feeling aroma. Mango.

Body: Dried apricot. Blood orange. Grapefruit and resin. Moderate hop bitterness. Custard crème centres. Very crystallised fruit sugars sweet.

Finish: Mandarin orange. Fresh and sweet. Quite a clean finish initially but builds a hop character throughout the bottle. Sugared fruit sweets.

Conclusion: Now this is an interesting hop. Very fresh, very sweet and fruity with a lot of orange and apricot leanings in its flavours.  Overall the beer feels very clean. There is a fluffy hop character at the end but the traditional hoppiness isn’t highly present in the beer.

As a hop I’d imagine it would be a good one to use in combination with a hop that could counter the crystalised fruit sugar sweetness that dominates it.  It is very sweet indeed. Admittedly it doesn’t hurt the beer here. In fact it creates a fresh and different experience, but I do feel the novelty could wear off if had solo too often.

So all in all it is a hit. The sweetness actually hides a lot of the malt character of IID and this make it quite the wake up call of a beer. Not a beer I would have a lot of in one session, but one I would return to. A perfect demonstration of a very interesting hops range.

Background: Brewdog’s IPA Is Dead range each use a single hop. The malt profile is the same (per batch any way, last years had a slightly different set than this years) and only the hops used changed. The idea is to let people get a feel for what influence each hop has. So far they have been a fun batch, with the style giving the hops a lot of room to roam. I am not an unbiased actor on Brewdog as always.

Tasting Notes: Cigar City: Jai Alai IPA

Cigar City: Jai Alai IPA (USA: IPA: 7.5% ABV)

Visual: Browned bronze. Massive tight and small bubbled head of lemon colour. Reasonable amounts of carbonation.

Nose: Lemon grass and spritzy fresh. Very lemon like in fact. Coriander. Slightly wit beer in style. Pineapple and syrup below.  Honey. Ginger bread.

Body: Honey. Hops and resin. Bitterness is smooth but still kicks home. Grapefruit. Very thick but smooth texture. Peach.

Finish: Bitter. Resin and dry hops. Grapefruit.

Conclusion: You know, I’ve been trying to get more concise in my flavours listed in the main section of these tasting notes. I have a habit of rambling slightly as I try to get a range that describes the experience I have had.

Well this beer’s aroma just ruined that little attempt. Almost sorachi ace style lemongrass to begin with, it then passes through wit beer styling of lemon and coriander into a ginger bread and honey touch as it warms, All wrapped around the usual expected fruity notes and bitterness.

How then hell am I meant to sum that up concisely?

Similarly the slick body takes you on quite a run. The hop bitterness and resin elements are the main show, but it still has quite the fruity range within that.  The excellent thick texture is what really makes the body. It allows the bitterness to be subtle without sacrificing force. You find the beer coating your tongue in a lovely sheen before suddenly the hops kick forth to great effect.

The only real criticisms is the finish which doesn’t move much past dry bitterness and resin. It does at least keep the flavours fresh on each sip but other than that does not add much to the experience.

Frankly excellent. It is so easy to drink yet packed with hop character. The abv is will masked and the aforementioned aroma is massive and wide ranging. This is up there with the best in a highly competitive IPA world.

Background: Cigar City. One of those huge reputation brewers I have never reviewed.  I have drunk their beers before, I think. I’m fairly sure that I tried them at The Great British Beer Festival a few years back.  Of course from the “I Think” you can probably guess that I was not in the most fresh of tastebud and liver states by that point so I hesitate to draw any conclusions from the beers I drank then. This beer was picked up from Brewdogs guest beer section and drunk as part of a relaxing fine sunny day.

Tasting Notes: Brewdog: IPA Is Dead: Challenger

Brewdog: IPA Is Dead: Challenger (Scotland: IPA: 6.7% ABV)

Visual: Clear copper to bronze. Good solid bubbled head that’s a dirty wheat hue.

Nose: Slightly sour dough. Loose turned earth. Wheat crackers. Turmeric. Slightly tart like dry white wine.

Body: Very earthy. Peppercorn. Sour dough. Light malt influence intrudes. White grapes. Very dry. Occasional light caramel.

Finish: Dry earth and dry hop character. Very much turned earth and weeds. Herbs.   Another taster noted cheese, which was not my first thought but does seem appropriate.

Conclusion:  Goddamn I’m eating soil. Or something. English hops always seem to be a bit more earthy than the rest. Fuggles and Golding especially fit that profile, but this Challenger hop really is taking the piss with it.

This reminds me of a less dull version of Sticklegs Tendring. However here the sheer amount of hops means that while the slightly sour and very earthy flavour is not a favourite of mine, I cannot in fair heart call it dull.

It has a similarly dry character to Tendring, almost dry wine like, which does make me wonder if they use this hop in that beer.  Hmm, comparing to Tendring is never a good sign for a beer, and yeah , as you can guess this hop doesn’t really catch my imagination. A pity as last year’s IID UK hop – Bramling X- was a surprise hit with me.

The hop is probably a useful bittering hop to back up some others, but on it’s own it lacks legs. Not the greatest then.

Background: Ah IPA is Dead, Brewdogs entry into the single hop race.  Now as I have said before, I am not unbiased on Brewdog beers, also I love single hop beers as they let me find out exactly which element contributes what to a beer.   Last years four pack of IIDs were great and the prototype Simcoe release of this new recipe for the base beer was very impressive so I came in with high hopes.  On the down side the tweaked base beer means these can’t be compared directly to last years release as it has a slightly different profile. Drunk while listening to SpektrModule 8

Tasting Notes: Port Brewing: High Tide: Fresh Hop IPA

Port Brewing: High Tide: Fresh Hop IPA: USA: IPA: 6.5% ABV)

Visual: Pale yellowed hazy body. Massive thick bubbled white head.  Small amount of sediment in the pour.

Nose: Resin. Pine cones. Meringue.  Dried apricots. Vanilla ice cream. As it warms adds toffee and cream.

Body: Good solid bitterness. Apricots. Resin.   Tangerine. Nettles. Light custard cream biscuits at the front. A tingly texture.

Finish:  Growing hop bitterness. Greenery. Still resin elements. Hop oils. Thick, slick texture that hangs on the tongue.

Conclusion: This thing froths up easily, if you aren’t careful on the pour it could bring a head bigger than a damn hefeweizen. Ok maybe not the most helpful start to a review but it’s definitely a true one.

The beer is an old school bitter kick. Lots of resin, greenery and hop bitterness. I half expected to find myself munching on leaves and twigs in the midst of the pint. The hop influence is very evident. Anyone who has ever rubbed hop leaves and felt the oils on their skin will recognize the feel this beer leaves in your mouth.  It encapsulates much more of the hop experience than your average beer.

Flavour wise it is surprising simple, predominantly hops, greenery and resin. It is much more about the texture than the flavour. The taste is good with nice apricot and tangerine, but it is the feel in the mouth that keeps me interested. The bitterness is bracing, the hop oils clinging and mouth freshening and the dry finish is thirst inducing.

I think these texture elements put it firmly in the fascinating beer group, if not quite into the fantastic grouping. It’s a very enjoyable experience.  If I compare it to Wipeout IPA it does badly, but that is being unfair to it as Wipeout IPA fricking rules and this is trying to be a very different type of beer.

This is more trying to be a hop experience, as mentioned not as much in flavour but in that it really expresses what a hop is in feel and oils and brings the bitterness in with it. For that I’m very glad I tried it. Not one I will return to frequently but I’m glad I had the chance to drink it.

Background: Port Brewing gained my respect heavily for their Wipeout IPA, so when I got the chance to try another IPA from them I jumped at the chance. This is brewed with fresh Centennial and Simcoe. Port Brewing is the American beer style side of the brewery also known as Lost Abbey. This was picked up from Brewdog’s Guest Beers selection.

Tasting Notes: Mikkeller: Simcoe: Single Hop IPA

Mikkeller: Simcoe: Single Hop IPA (Denmark: IPA: 6.9% ABV)

Visual: Hazy apricot flesh. Good inch of frothed bubbled head with a light toffee hue that leaves lace.

Nose: Grapefruit. Gherkin. Hop tingle. Apricot. Cucumber.

Body: Gherkin. Slick texture that froths up easily on the tongue.  Malt and toffee sweetness. Moderate honey. Pineapple.

Finish: Good bitterness. Pineapple. Fluffy hop feel and quite drying. Toffee. Passion fruit.

Conclusion: That Simcoe hop. I’d seen it in many good beers, and most recently on its own in a keg only Brewdog beer. That beer was sodding excellent, and the hop has always impressed me so visiting it again in a different take seemed like the thing to do. Enter Mikkeller with their intense single hop series.  Their Nelson Sauvin single hop was fantastic so this seems like a perfect match.

Here the hop shows fresh pineapple and grapefruit characteristics against that unusual gherkin element which seems to be the unique selling point of the hop to my eyes.  The only other beer with similar elements I can think of is the Columbus hop Kernel IPA. This beer has a much more restrained take on that particular element than the Columbus hop beer, which gives more free range for this beers freshness and hop tingle.

Overall the hop still impresses, and this beer interpretation is a much more balanced effort that Brewdogs IPA is dead take. Mikkeller balances the hop much more with malt and toffee sweetness.  The more rounded beer does mean that the pure hop element doesn’t seem to get displayed to quite the same effect though. I would say that the Brewdog interpretation felt much more open so you could get a feel for what the hop itself was doing.  Here the malt influence is more present creating a heavier and more balanced beer.

It is a very nice beer, but I prefer the Brewdog version. That is not a slight against this beer, as it is a firm and well grounded beer of strong malt flavour and fruit freshness.  As always Mikkeller beer balances hop and malt for a very solid beer, easily appreciatable for its gherkin and toffee mix (odd as that may sound). It’s just the Brewdog version pips it at the post.

Background: Picked up from Corks of Cotham.  As you may have guessed from the conclusion I came across this after being very impressed by Brewdog’s simcoe single hop beer. Since that one wasn’t available in bottles this seemed a good way to get a bit more experience with the hop.  Mikkeller have done quite the range of these single hops, and from my experience with previous examples they seem to use a good base IPA to show off the hop.

Tasting Notes: Bear Republic: Racer 5

Bear Republic: Racer 5 (USA: IPA: 7% ABV)

Visual: Apricot with a crisp frothy head that is just off white. The beer sparkles in a haze from not quite settling before the pour so some sediment is still free floating. Very low carbonation main body.  The head leaves a slight trail around the rim as the beer diminishes.

Nose: Fresh apricot, pineapple and custard cream biscuits. Shortbread as well. Slight gooseberry sharpness. The apricot seems more dried apricot on a deep lungful. Custard slices. Cream.

Body: Bitter hops and sweet peaches. White grapes, pineapple. Toffee sweetness. Solid in its bitterness, but never too strong. Elderberry or tart gooseberries.

Finish: Very buttery shortbread into growing bitter hops. Light honey. The bitterness really hits here and dries the tongue. White grapes again.

Conclusion: For some reason I always think this is a Canadian beer. It isn’t. It’s a Californian beer. I’m guessing neither place would appreciate the mix up.

So here is a beer of the old favourite style, the IPA.  The beer is very much USA style. Big and bursting with fruitiness. This beer comes in with a touch of sediment at the bottom to make it bottle conditioned, which may or may not make the CAMRA real ale fans happy. For me its welcome as it seems to bring a bit of extra thickness to the beer.

So this thing is apricot, bitter, fresh and fruity. It’s got a massive aroma, great range on the nose as well. The body is a touch simpler but balanced great. Its got a similar style to the Sculpin IPA in the fruitiness, but its touch thicker body makes a lot more grip for the apricot flavour to fight the bitterness To my mind this makes it work a touch better.

It’s probably the best apricot flavour based IPA I’ve had. Yes I have had so many good IPAs that I need to make my praise that specific.  It’s all in the balance. Too many IPAs ratchet up the bitterness without counterbalancing the flavour well. This keeps it just on the correct side of the razors edge.

Now as the curiously over specific complements earlier may have hinted at, I have had better IPAs.  Wipeout IPA and Hopwired for example.  However this is still a great beer. Tart enough to refresh, bitter enough to kick and sweet enough to enjoy. Even better the bottle conditioning has stood it in good stead on its long journey.

A beer you should race to get (ho fucking ho ho)

Background:  I first became aware of Bear Republic in Japan where an American Navy man at the bar recommended it is a true taste of home.  At the time I went for a Hair Of The Dog beers instead but it has always stayed on my radar since.  This was picked up at The Brewdog guest beer section and due to a problem with the new delivery partners took a damn age to turn up.

Tasting Notes: Brewdog: Sunk Punk

Brewdog: Sunk Punk (Scotland: IPA: 7.1% ABV)

Visual: Clear browned amber. Good inch of beige head. Very loose bubbles in the head, but a thin head remains throughout the beers drinking.

Nose: Slight rocks and hops. Sea breeze. Prickly like gherkin jars. Passion fruit. Pickled chillies. Mandarin orange. Gingerbread. Warms to strawberry touch.

Body: Hops and rock salt, Malt loaf. Spirit like touches. Cherry elements. Custard and malt back. Grapefruit. Spirit soaked raisins. Greenery – seaweed? Nettles.

Finish:  Pickled gherkin. Charring. Salt. Clean vodka touch. Smoke. Very dry bitter hops to the end.

Conclusion: The? Fuck? No seriously. The fuck? What is this, I don’t even…Ok start again. This beer is all salt and gherkin and hops and spirit and at least two of them I thought I would never use to describe a beer. Underneath you have the hop fruitiness playing well in a much more comprehensible fashion. Still, the heck? This is not something I was expecting in a beer.

This is a beer that takes its nautical styling seriously. Distinct saltiness that leaves you more thirsty than before after each sip. Some seaweed like elements.  If a beer can tell a story then this one is a novel.  Oddly I couldn’t sense the declared rum used in making it, Then again with rum being so sugary possibly it was mostly attenuated during fermentation. Maybe.

Interjection: God damn that saltiness is odd, I’m half way through the bottle and while it isn’t overwhelming I do feel the need to rack up a water chaser for the end. The beer is really tingly as well, then dry and bitter at the end.  You get nettles and chilli style tingle for most of the beer.

So with all that I can’t say it is a classic beer, its just too damn far removed from what I would call a beer drinking experience. I mean I dig the rocky salty style of Islay whisky, but they don’t leave me parched like this.   Its interesting for all it’s oddities it is so dull on the eye.  Despite that they have a solid fruity hop beer at the base and then just shoved the most unusual stuff they could in there.

I can’t recommend picking it up for the taste, as you can get a lot better for the cash.  Heck of a unique experience though, rough and kinda mental.  Great texture, good background flavours, but not my favourite beer. Glad to have tried it, but not one I will try again.

Background: Well I say IPA, this thing is a real oddity in every sense. Despite everyone calling it an IPA it was made with lager yeast.  Dunno if that makes it an IPL. Anyway the reason lager yeast was used was to allow it to ferment at lower temperatures. By lower I mean under the water. Yes, this, Brewdog’s latest headline grabbing stunt was brewed at the bottom of the sea.  To keep the theme they used buckweed, sea salt and rum in the making of it. No I’m not making this shit up. They really did this. For reference here is their, somewhat mental, promo video

To think I was jealous when I heard about Rogues Voodoo Doughnut Bacon Maple Porter, as I knew that madness would not hit the UK. Little did I know Scotland was going to do its own insanity. So With less than a thousand bottles made I thought I would have to give this madness a try.

Tasting Notes: Ballast Point: Sculpin IPA

Ballast Point: Sculpin IPA (USA: IPA: 7% ABV)

Visual: Massive head on a hazy light apricot flesh body. Very lightly carbonated.  The head is solid for an exceptionally long time, and for a while it seems it will never die. When it finally does it leaves many lace traces around the glass in an off lemon and egg white colour.

Nose:  Light lemon sherbet, bitter hops and some dry wheat. Light apricot. Slight bread crusts. Peach skins.

Body:  Huge bitter front. Peach melba. The body seems very crisp initially.  Light plain yogurt. Nettles. Hop oils and lemon juice. The head has a great silk like texture as it touches the lips.

Finish: Dry bitter hoppiness. Light lemon curd and whipped cream. Dry bread. Peach. The bitterness grows slowly.

Conclusion: The very first thought that came to mind for the is write up occurred nearly immediately after pouring “Damn, that head looks so smooth you could think it was one of those evil smooth/cream flow beers. Thankfully, unlike said cream flow beers this is not utter shit.

The head sticks around, and before I move on to the rest of the beer I would like one final comment on it. Specifically its texture.  Since the head is so long lasting you sip roughly half the beer through it and it results in a sensation not quite unlike what I would imagine sipping hops through silk would be like. A very unique and expressive sensation.

Anyway enough talking about the head, if only to stop the nigh inevitable innuendo that will end up in the comments section. The beer itself is the thing!

Well like a lot of the USA IPAs it comes in heavy on the bitterness over a quite dry and crisp body. Subtle peach and lemon flavours bubble up, though without the force to completely contrast.  The lighter peach and lemon flavours feel like it would need a more IIPA weighting to them to properly fight the hops.  Oddly a lot less sweet that I would expect.

It does work though, and the crisp body gets creamier over time, again in a flavoursome way not a cloying cream flow way.  Despite the build up though the back never does properly scrap with the hops.  It does very well for, if somewhat more subtle than expected.

A very crisp creamy and just slightly sweet IPA. Near the end the crispness is hurt slightly by the growing creaminess. It adds to the roundness of the beer but at the cost of the drinkability it has been working on.

Overall a very full force IPA with well made flavour to it despite my criticisms, not a favourite but enjoyable.

Background: Drunk to celebrate finally 100% completing the computer game “Super Meat Boy” a game of quite evil difficulty and fun.  IPA falls pretty heavily into my favourite beer style, though I seem to tend more towards the NZ interpretation of the style currently.  This beer was picked up from Brewdog’s guest beer section of their store.  I’ve been hearing rumblings about Ballast Point for a while but never tried them before. On investigating this is currently rate beers third highest rated IPA.