BrewDog 5AM Saint

Brewed by BrewDog
Style: Amber Ale
Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire, Scotland

(Bottled) Clear amber with a medium, frothy and lacy head. Aroma of woody cat-pee-style hops and some caramely malt. Flavor is caramely maltiness combined with citric-woody hops, and stingy cat pee. Light to medium body, medium carbonation, a bit thin. A watered-down amber ale with cat pee added - not my session brew for sure.

Reddish amber colour with a small head. Fruity, malty nose with grapefruit, pine, caramel and that fresh hoppy smell. Fruity, hoppy taste with notes of caramel, with citrussy hops in the finish. Slightly malt feel! and Very Drinkable!

Sampled from bottle@RBNAG 2009 in Vatlandsvåg, thanks to KnutAlbert. A layer of fine, tan bubbles over a orangey golden body. Beautiful aroma of sweet grapefruit, apricot and peach, backed by a mild scent of caramel. Flaworwise it is much of the same. Hoppy, with lots of inviting tropical fruits, and a refined, caramelly maltiness in the background. Light to medium body strenght. Quite filling for a 5 percenter. Lasting, citrus hoppy ending. Yummie!

(Cask at Rake, Soutwark, London, 25 Nov 2009) Reddish amber colour with brief head. Fruity, malty nose with grapefruit, pine, chocolate, caramel and lots of fresh hops. Malty, fruity, hoppy taste with notes of caramel, toffee, chocolate, grapefruit and piney, citrussy hops in the finish. More than medium body, balanced sweetness. Very nice beer with an impressive hop presence.

330 ml can sampled@RBNAG 2009, Vatlandsvåg. Amber body with a decent beige head. Aroma is American hops citric (peaches/apricot). The flavor is mild and citric fruity, very smooth with a balanced bitterness. Easy drinkable with a mild, pronounced flavor. Nice, bitter finish. Somewhere between an American amber and a saison.

Cask - The Bull, Horton Kirby. A dark, ruddy amber coloured beer with a fine, creamy, slightly off-white head. Absolutely cracking tropical grapefruit aromas & citrus hops with some peach in there. Bit dissapointed with the flavour off the back of the aroma. There’s some comparatively mild citrus notes, a bit of grass, sweet caramel tones and a final hint of nut. Thin to medium, slight carbonation, farily succinct, crisp and quaffable finish.

Cask @ Bon Accord. Dark amber colour, tan head. Aroma of flowery hops, and hints of biscuit malts. Flavour of resin hops, grapefruit. Very bitter and fairly dry. Slightly malty. Good one.

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.