On my weekly shop this morning and amongst the almost never ever changing line up on the shelves was a new bottle. I noticed first the labeling and almost mistook it for the newish Brains IPA bottles until i saw the Tesco Finest label at the bottom.
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| Tesco Finest Brewdog American Double IPA |
I have never had any US craft beers or any double IPA's before but from the beer blogs i'm expecting massive hops and bitterness from this, and i really enjoyed their Punk IPA.
Its has the aroma of unsurprisingly grapefruit, melon and a wiff of alcohol, its colour is light amber (doesn't come across in this photo) with a small creamy white head. It also has the massive hops bitterness, fairly low alcohol warmth hit, and there is some caramel and floral aspects too. So one sided though, its all hops and nothing else, not sure i would have more than one just because its not that its not interesting, its just unbalanced to my mind. It in no way seems like a 9.2% beer though, and i just wish Brewdog put more of their other beers on Tesco's shelves.
I picked some of this up this evening and its a great beer - but paradoxically it is at the same time dissappointing - it's a strong, punchy, complex, hoppy modern ale - just as you'd expect from a good American craft beer.
ReplyDeleteAnd that, in a way, is the problem - it comes across as generic, generic in a good way for sure, but generic nonetheless and that just isnt Brewdog's style - perhaps this is why it doesn't carry a characteristic Brewdog label.
Contrast that with some of the blisteringly characterful imperial style IPAs brewdog has done - like the short-lived but spectacular Chaos Theory or the "Top shelf" Hardcore IPA, that inexplicably only ever made a guest appearance in Sainsbury's and you can see why I'm dissapointed.
But yeah - more brewdog in the shops..... and more american craft beer that isnt brewed under licence
it is Hardore IPA in a different bottle....
Deleteps - just realised that this is a south wales blog - Hi from swansea
ReplyDeletehi toby, thanks for your thoughts. I agree, and i love alot of the other brewdog beers i have tried, the punk IPA is brilliant. i have bought another 3 (for £4 currently) of the american ipa and stuck them away for next year, hopefully they'll have mellowed.
ReplyDeleteHey Arn,
ReplyDeleteI think I might have been a bit hard on the TF Double IPA first time around - I'm sucking back another bottle as I type this and its really starting to grow on me - not that it made a bad impression first time round - it was just so far out of leftfield for a BrewDog beer ( so rightfield in point of fact lol) that it took me by surprise.
Its definitely not what I'd expect from BrewDog, but then so what? perhaps this was a deliberate decision to tone things down a bit and bring in a few of the more traditionalist hopheads who are turned off by the BrewDog in-your-face style but without compromising on the artfulness of the brew or in the quality.
Ps - I was in The Uplands Tavern in Swansea the other night and they are now stocking a rather good american import in the fridge (genuinely imported not licenced) - its just a lager - and its £3.30 for a 330cl bottle! but its a breath of fresh air from the usual fare of Greene King IPA and Stella.
TOBY ITS H.IPA IN A DIFFERENT BOTTLE...............
DeleteThis is hardcore IPA in a different bottle ....
ReplyDeleteyes thats right. Must say its grown on me also, although i will say double IPA's are still not one of my favorite styles
ReplyDelete