BrewDog 5AM Saint

Oh yes, what a beer! Interestingly I tried Nanny State a couple days before this, and it seems to me that Nanny State is essentially a low alcohol super heavy hop version of this very beer, as the Hop flavour in this brew is almost identical. Anyhoo. Looks great in the glass, nothing overly fancy but a great deep rusty copper colour with a light tan head, which is quite creamy looking. The aroma is just sublime, perhaps not as sublime as Punk IPA on draught, but still great. Really spicy aroma with all the floral, wild strawb, orange, grapefruit notes you could ask for. The flavour is excellent, this is as close to a Stone beer in terms of flavour that I’ve ever come in the UK. It has that same blend of Spice, earth and mineral that Stone has, I’ve not tasted that harmonious blend in many other beers, or at least not as close as this. Flavour is pink grapefruit, floral, resinous, spicy maybe ginger? Some citrus but more like sour blood orange. Then in comes slate, mineral, pepper, earth almost a burnt acrid flavour in the background. Palate is great, conditioning is great, could be a little fuller bodied, but I’m not gonna gripe about that, that’s just a personal thing, body still remains creamy and balanced. Overall a great beer, quite possibly my favourite Brewdog beer so far, is it because it reminds me alot of a US beer - I suspect so - but that doesn’t detract from Brewdog, as it shows we here in the UK can Punch at that kind of weight class, it’s just a shame there’s so few Breweries with this kind of assertive, gutsy approach. The beer still tastes quintessentially British/Scottish (don’t want to step on any toes here) but has some serious power and flavour behind it. Reminds me alot of Stone’s "Levitation." This is possibly a landmark in UK brewing, have I gone hyperbole mad? Perhaps, but this is what good beer is all about.

Bottle, 5% ABV, RBNAG 2009 in Vatlandsvåg. Orange to amber colour, moderate head. Intense and lovely aroma of American hops (Amarillo?), notes of peaches, apricots and tropical fruits. The flavour is somewhat less impressive than the aroma, but still good. Notes of peaches, but quite dry. Decent hops in the finish. The mouthfeel is a bit thin though.

Gravity caak at Oxford Beer Festival. Copper red with a lively beige head. Knock your socks off aroma of fresh hops. Piney grapefruit flavours dominate the hop profile with a full bodied toffee malt backbone. My beer of the festival.

Cask (gravity) @ Wenlock Arms, 26 Wenlock Road, London, Greater London England N1 7TA.
Clear medium to dark amber color with a average, frothy to creamy, good lacing, mostly lasting, off-white head. Aroma is moderate malty, caramel, light heavy hoppy, grapefruit, orange. Flavor is heavy sweet and bitter with a long duration, and a dry finish. Body is medium to full, texture is oily, carbonation is soft. IMO a very good session beer ;O)) [20090731]

Cask handpull at The Rake. Nelson Sauvin hops all over this. Really hoppy on the aroma. A beautiful deep red russet colour too. Very drinkable, a little sweet on the malts, but then they do balance the hops pretty well. Very drinkable and the hops are lovely.

Slightly hazy amber with a small white head. Rich fruity and floral aroma. Sweet caramel flavour with floral notes and very bitter.

Bottle from James the brewer. Glowing gold/ruby beer. A fantastic hoppy aroma. Flowers, dust. The first sip confirms this – lovely hoppiness, yet there is enough malt and body to cope with it. This may be a test batch- but it does not need any adjustments if you ask me. Peaches, Jaffa oranges, dusty finish. Yummy.

A few bottles thanks to James had at home. Aroma is massivly hoppy, similar to how to disapear with the intence citrusy lemon and herbal grassy bitterness, the malt character is hidden but theres defo some american caramalt influance. Taste is far more balanced than expected, toffee caramel caramalt, big piney resiny citrus hops, good drying bitterness in the finish. Very tasty and drinkable stuff.