BrewDog Hardcore IPA

660ml brown bottle. Brassy/orangey/gold colour, really nice colouring. Head is comapct, creamy, light beige in colour, fades a bit too quickly. Fruit in the nose, soft citus character - light oranges. Hops are up front, orangey notes, some light malts, some sweetness. Finishes with grapefruit tones, mild alcohol is perceptable. Mid level bitteness. Has a medium smooth body, mild carbonation. Drinks like a lesser strength ale, enjoyable.

Blah....as far as IIPAs go this is not good at all. Aroma was good...but was all malt. Strong caramel and a hint of toffee. Pour was a cloudy dirty orange with a thin off white ring for a head and no bubbles. Taste was like a malt bomb. Like liquid caramel. Not much hops to speak of so the sweet malt takes center stage. This beer had absolutely no carbonation which kills it for me. Sweet almost iced tea like aftertaste. I’ll stick to American IIPAs

Happy best before date...7-7-9 - old version. Pours hazy amber into a tulip. Soapy, sickly white head with no retention leaves spiders as it recedes to bubble surface. Orange and resin aromas. Thick creamy caramel upfront and thin pine and resin in the finish. Alcohol well hidden.

12 oz. bottle. Pours a slightly hazy orange with a very thin, white head. Boozy fruit, citrus, and a touch of pine in the nose. Medium-low carbonation with a medium mouthfeel. Sweet boozy malt upfront, punishing hop bitterness on the back end. Honey, spruce, alcohol, and an aspirin like bitterness round out the palate. This one is just too over the top with bitterness and as a result, really isn’t sessionable. The bitterness is just too far out of balance. Long bitter finish.

Bottled. Dark orange thin head. Resinous heavy pine aroma. Citric hop bite somewhat still with a thin dry finish

Finally an IPA that combines the style of a classic UK IPA with slight nuances of the "new" American--style IPA. IPA originally was pale ale that was aged slightly; Hardcore IPA is a Double IPA in that style, but updated of course, with modern twists. With this said, if you are seeking a West Coast, heavy carbonated, heavily hopped IPA, this is not your bottle of beer. Hardcore, had little carbonation, no substantial head, even with a sloppy pour. The color was dark orange amber so slightly darker then most modern IPAs’. The Smell was rich; I could tell much of the flavors of the IPA from the smell. The smell is hard to describe, but has a rich malt smell to it that is balanced off with slight citrus overtones. When I first tasted a sip no bitter hop taste punched my palate, instead a bold rich creamy malty taste with a mild almost unnoticeable taste of citrus tasting hop. The after taste does hit you with hoppy bitterness though it hits in a way unlike any ale I have ever drunk. The malty first flavor seems to fully develop and then disappear as a hoppy bitterness appears. It s very sticky in the mouth and the taste lingered on my palate for around thirty minutes. Hardcore contains more malt then most IPA’s which gives it a slight barley wine type taste though without the sweetness. It seemed like BrewDog did it in the traditional UK classic way, but with more hops. Over all one of the best unique imperial IPA’s I have ever had; it truly is far different from any Imperial IPA I have had, it’s a shame I only had one bottle.

Bottle. Pours a cloudy orange copper with a paperthin head that diminishes quickly to nothing. The aroma is a light floral hops and pine. Medium mouthfeel with a dry hop and citrus taste with a nice sweet finish. Hides the alcohol well making it easy to drink. A good IIPA from BrewDog.

330 ml bottle. Finland. Batch 037. Hazy golden-orange colour with thin head. Hoppy aroma of grapefruit, pine and citrus. Dry bitter flavour with grapfruit, citrus, malts and some hints of caramel sweetness. Quite thin and hop driven.