Do we need to say how good Brewdog Punk IPA is? Even the hard-to-please Tandleman is a fan. It’s obviously influenced by hop-bomb American IPAs, but the thinner body makes it seem rawer and fresher
We thought we’d try it again, together with two other Brewdog IPAs.
Storm IPA is 8% and is aged in a whisky cask. It smells just like whisky and tastes like a bonfire. Actually, it’s quite harsh up front, but that does mellow into a nice rounded malt flavour. We couldn’t taste any hops beyond the smoke, so this is a totally different beast to the Punk. Absolutely fascinating, but we’re not sure we’d drink loads of it. Maeib wasn’t a fan either, but some people do like it.
Finally, we tried “Hardcore IPA”, an “explicit imperial ale”. It probably has the same level of bitterness as the Punk, but the malty flavours come through more. It’s 9%, but still tastes like a watered down Goose Island — that is to say, it’s not as special as a 9% beer should be. It’s jolly nice, but there are even nicer beers that do less damage to the liver…
We’ll probably stick to Punk.
10 replies on “Battle of the Brewdog IPAs”
Interesting. I’ve been itching to try the Hardcore IPA, convinced it would be a winner. They stopped producing it for a while due to the spiralling cost of the hops used in it. Another cracking pic too btw.
Punk is nice but I’ve not seen the other two about. Must look a bit harder.
Hard to please? Don’t you mean discerning? Either way, I’m counting that as a compliment – however it was intended! (-;
Hey! You forgot to mention what Evan, Velký Al and me of course.
I liked the beer, but didn’t blow my mind as I thought it would, based on what is written on the label.
I have to confess I don’t really like the Punk IPA that much. I find the hop aroma a bit harsh (reminds me of Simcoe, which I’m no fan of, although I don’t know if that’s what they used), and with a thin body with little maltiness it just fails to offer me very much of what I like.
I was very surprised by this, because I like most of what BrewDog has done, and I generally love hop bombs. Not this one, though.
I have to locate a bottle of the Storm. And the three new ones. Not counting the Isle of Arran and the Smokehead.
Like Storm, love Hardcore but I’d choose Punk every time; realy easy drinking.
Welcome Haddonsman – Punk is indeed deceptively easy drinking!
Knut – welcome back!
PF – thanks for the link – when we posted ours we hadn’t had a chance to catch up with the other blogs.
[…] first course featured a beer I don’t think works that well, BrewDogs’s Storm IPA, made by ageing the IPA in Islay whisky casks. Unlike some it’s not the Islay casks per se I […]
[…] We’ve had a few Brewdogs in the cellar for a while now, and only just got round to drinking them, having pitted the IPAs against each other a while ago. […]