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03-01-2012, 19:39
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The first time I ever bought beeronline was to buy three BrewDog prototypes (http://www.pencilandspoon.com/2008/11/brewdog-prototypes.html). I’d only just started this blog. I’donly just discovered BrewDog via a couple of bottles bought from Utobeer. Thedeal was: three bottles each of three new beers; you buy them, drink them, votefor the best and they make it. Those bottles cost about £6. I ordered them anda few days later a case of beer arrived at the door. Beer being delivered to myhouse was revolutionary in itself – I can sit at home and beer comes to me –but so were the flavours in those bottles.


Those three beers were Zeitgeist, BadPixie and Chaos Theory. The best two eventually got made. When I first hadChaos Theory I ‘discovered’ hops. It was rasping, bold, bitter and so full ofaroma that it irrevocably changed my drinking. Those three beers and the factthat they’d made them and were asking people to vote for them – that I had somekind of input into the choices made – were exciting. Different. Cool.


I love BrewDog. They’re at theforefront of a change in British beer. I look out for the new beers withexcitement, wondering what’ll come next and how it’ll taste. That excitement iswhat I love. They also do stupid stuff which I don’t love. Sadly, the stupidhas overtaken the exciting. Of all the beers they released in 2011, only onereally excited me (apart from Avery Brown Dredge, of course): Sunk Punk. It hadstory, it was fun, it wasn’t just a beer made for column inches and it wasn’t amiddle finger rammed into someone else’s face.


We have this awkward relationship nowwhere I love them but feel constantly disappointed by them. It’s just a breweryso it’s irrational to feel this way but it’s like a first-love kind of thing,and like a lover hooked I still follow them around waiting, hoping, for thegood moments to return.


And so when they announced the 2011 prototype challenge (http://www.brewdog.com/blog-article/the-2011-prototype-challenge) I had to get the four beers. It was the thing which got mehooked in the first place. This was a chance to bring it all back again. I getto drink four new beers, I get to taste what 2012 might bring, I get to vote.


Blitz! Is 2.8%, made with just caramaltand then lavished with West Coast hops. It’s a dark caramel colour and it’s gotthis mad, brain-teaser of an aroma which keeps you puzzled throughout: it’slike walking into a cake shop with a sack of open C-hops in the corner -marshmallows, sweet caramel, candy and toast, then tangy American hops, pineyand pithy. The bitterness is nicely done, it’s balanced and it’s easy drinkingand the body is really good. A 2.8% triumph.


Prototype 17 (4.9%) is a pale ale(Trashy Blonde?) plus Belgian yeast and raspberries. BrewDog like raspberries, don’tthey. It smells slightly funky with cloves and berry fruit. There’s not toomuch going on, which is a shame. The raspberries aren’t big, the yeast detractsrather adds, the hops seem to have disappeared. Disappointing.


Scotch Ale (7.5%) looks incredible inthe glass: a deep red-brown, like embers just about to burn to black. Take amouthful and it shocks: sweetness, caramel, an over-powering aniseed andliquorice, as if some bastard mate tipped Sambuca into your other-wisedelicious beer, then some peat, a medicinal twang and something floral waftingin the background. The body is full which makes it really satisfying to drinkbut it feels discordant with loads of stuff going on and none of it really comingtogether.


Hops Kill Nazis (7.8%) is like 5amSaint’s badass bigger brother. Deep red in colour, toffee, flowers, red berriesin the nose and a bitterness which builds in the background. It doesn’t tastesuper-fresh but that’s probably because it isn’t. It’s a fine beer but I expectmore from BrewDog when they add lots of hops to things – it’s just a littleinelegant.


None of the beers made me jump up andshout wow, which is what I want from BrewDog now. Blitz! is the best and itsurprised and teased me in a good way and I like that (so I voted for it), but the other threearen’t beers I’d buy again. But that’s almost not the point. It’s not what Iwent into it looking for. I went to see if we could work things out.


And we can. These beers are whatBrewDog thinks are potentials to add to their range for 2012 and that’s interesting.One is low-ABV, one is all about the malt, one is about the hops and one isabout experimenting with what they already have. That’s four beers coveringfour very different areas and all of them are approachable. They are allprobably first-time brews; if brewed again then they’d no doubt improve.


I always look forward to what BrewDogdo. With a bar 10 minutes from work, it’s where I’ll drink most in 2012, I’msure. And in 2012 I’ll be looking at what BrewDog do: how they grow, develop,deal with the challenges they faced this year. With over 6,000 Equity for Punkmembers they’ve got to think about more than just themselves now. I also hopethey make a few new beers which make me go wow and which get me excited. I’mpretty sure they will.


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