BrewDog Mail Order Martian

 

Well this was an unexpected surprise; I think it's the first time I have awarded full marks to an IPA.  Yes, that's a full 50/50 and I don't hand that score out very often.

I usually try to keep the sediment in the can but this is a milkshake IPA so I just poured it all in the glass.  It looks like orange juice with a thick cream coloured head.

It smells SO fruity with a combination of tropical fruits and citrus.  I picked up notes of mango, peach, lime, grapefruit and lychee and it smells like there's a full and varied bowl of fruit crammed into this can.

The taste is DIVINE!  It's sweet and juicy with tropical fruits and citrus combining with the lactose and oats to give a smooth and perfectly balance flavour.  It's definitely one for the sweet toothed beer drinker, but it's not too sweet and it has a lovely bitter finish.  There isn't even a hint of raw alcohol taste, despite the stonking 7% ABV.

It's full bodied and well carbonated to give a nice tingly mouthfeel that reminds you it's beer not juice that you're drinking. 

I couldn't fault this beer at all and it was well deserving of a perfect score from me.  I'll be stocking up on this if BrewDog brew it again and hopefully, Ale Be Seeing You again!

Brewed by BrewDog, Ellon, Aberdeenshire
7% ABV

My rating:

My Untappd score: 5/5

Find out more at BrewDog Brewery

BrewDog Puppy Love

 

A milkshake IPA containing lactose, Puppy Love is a limited edition Valentine's Day beer from BrewDog.

It's a hazy deep yellow colour with a small, loose, rapidly vanishing off-white head.  Once the head has gone, it looks like a glass of orange squash.  It has the most amazing aroma of fresh, juicy raspberries with a hint of zesty citrus.  

The flavour is quite light and it's very refreshing.  It's citrussy but there's no bitter pithiness at all, there's a definite hit of sweet not tarty raspberries and there's also a slight hint of tropical fruit that's almost perfumy like lychee.  Lactose gives an overall creaminess to the taste.  The body is thin and ever so slightly watery with low, firm carbonation.

With a lower than usual ABV for an IPA of 4.7%, it's very easy to drink and I really enjoyed it.  It's limited edition for 2022 but I hope it's brewed again next year.  Ale Be Seeing You again!

Brewed by BrewDog Brewery, Ellon, Aberdeenshire

4.7% ABV

My rating:

My Untappd score: 4/5

Find out more at BrewDog Brewery

BrewDog 5AM Saint

 

It's a bunch of fives from BrewDog with their American red ale 5AM Saint: 5% ABV, 5 malts and 5 hops (actually 6 but I like the pattern they're going for).  Doesn't it look stunning?  It's a beautiful slightly opaque red/brown colour with a small, loose cream coloured head that vanishes quite quickly.

There's nothing subtle about the aroma with a huge hit of malt, caramel and orange marmalade citrus so I couldn't wait to dive in.  With a wonderful mixture of malts and hops, this really tingles the tastebuds.  Sweet malts and caramel make are followed by a bitter citrus tang but these conflicting flavours are seamlessly woven together on a biscuit base.  

The only thing that lets it down is the body.  It has a very watery mouthfeel and relatively low carbonation so it feels quite light despite the amazing flavours.  With a bit more body and a longer lasting head this would have been a five star beer without doubt.  I'd still have another one, so Ale Be Seeing You again!

Brewed by BrewDog Brewery, Ellon, Aberdeenshire
5% ABV

My rating:

My Untappd score: 4.25/5

Find out more at BrewDog Brewery

BrewDog Clockwork Tangerine

There are a lot of fruit infused beers around at the moment and I find them lovely and refreshing, so let's see what I thought of Clockwork Tangerine, the citrus session IPA from BrewDog.

This pours a beautiful deep golden or light amber with a lovely orange hue.  If it didn't have the frothy cream coloured head, you could almost mistake it for a glass of Irn Bru.

I was expecting a huge whiff of tangerine when I popped the lid off the bottle but instead got more of a light hoppy aroma.  It does have a hint of tangerine when it develops but if I wasn't looking for it I wouldn't really have noticed it.

On to the taste and there is a definite flavour of tangerine, although it isn't overpowering, coupled with hops and caramel.  The tangerine hint adds an initial bit of sweetness followed by a bitter pithy aftertaste.  The bitterness lingers slightly too long for my liking and builds up over time, turning into more of a grapefruit than orange citrus.  It's fizzy but a bit thin-bodied and watery, but that's what you'd expect in an IPA.

Crisp and dry, there's a little too much pithy bitterness to be refreshing but I have to applaud BrewDog for getting the tangerine flavour absolutely spot on.

Brewed by BrewDog, Ellon, Aberdeenshire

4.5% ABV

My rating:

My Untappd score: 3.75/5

Find out more at BrewDog Brewery

Original Stormtrooper Galactic Pale Ale

May the force be with you

My second beer review for Star Wars Day is this Galactic Pale Ale from The Original Stormtrooper.  I bought this one from the amazing House of Trembling madness in York before I picked up the gift pack with glass from B&M.

This pale ale pours a traditional deep golden yellow colour with a tight off-white head.  The head holds surprisingly well for a while before dispersing to a thin foam.  The aroma isn't terribly strong but it is mainly hops, biscuit and straw with a hint of orange citrus and honey.

Moving on to the taste which disappointingly isn't that strong either.  I could only really taste hops and honey before getting a dry and bitter aftertaste.  A weak taste coupled with soft carbonation and a thin almost watery body meant it wasn't an out of this world experience at all.  It took me a while to drink it and I found that the flavour does develop slightly over time into more of a bitter which I liked.

I honestly thought I would have preferred the Galactic Pale Ale to the Lightspeed Pilsner but the pale ale was just a bit too weak on flavour for me.  Don't get me wrong, it's not a bad beer but it only just scrapes a 4 pint rating, sitting right on the fence with a score of 3.5 out of 5.

Brewed by St Peter's Brewery, Suffolk
4.2% ABV

My rating:

My Untappd score: 3.5

Find out more at The Original Stormtrooper