BrewDog Hardcore IPA

Brewed by BrewDog
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire, Scotland

New batch: strenght is the key to give character to a beer I see. Delicious hops. Grapefruit. nice bitterness.

33cl bottle, batch #037. Pale hazy golden, tiny white head, mostly disappearing. Sweet and exotic nose, loads of sweet grapefruit, passion fruit, little resin, hint of flowery honey. Flavor has a tad more straightforward hop profile, sweet pale maltiness, clean yeast, lingering soap ’n’ sap bitterness in the finish, slighly numbing. Nearly full bodied, homebrew-like yeasty palate. Some similarities with Hopslam on the nose, sadly that soap gets a bit overpowering later on. Not the most balanced one, but alright.

Poured from bottle into Nonic Imperial Pint. Slightly cloudy but bright golden orange with very little head. If this really were a DIPA, I would dock it for lack of head. However, as I will get into below, I do not think this is a true DIPA, so I will consider the look as pretty good for an English Ale. Aroma of semi-sweet tea-like malts and English hops. Some alcohol detected. Smells like a strong English IPA. Slightly sweet malts with notes of fruit, caramel, toast and tea. Nice English hop counterbalance that is somewhat metallic. Very bitter at the end. Low carbonation and medium, but slightly creamy and chewy, body. Pretty smooth and very dry. Warming. Easy to drink, as it seems like a kick ass English IPA. Never would have known it was 9%, other than the warming sensation. As DIPA is a very American style, and this beer is not at all American (other than the level of bitterness), this is not really a DIPA. Maybe it could be called an English DIPA, but this is the only example I am aware of. Really, it seems like a cross between an English IPA and a Barleywine. Regardless, comparing it to a typical DIPA, with all of its citrus and pine hop taste, is not really fair. This is a unique beer.

Bottled 330ml. -Courtesy of and shared with Doggythedog (thanks!). Batch No. 220
Clear golden coloured, small white head, honeyish nose with traces of alcohol. Sweet malty, bitter hoppy and strong alcoholic with notes of citrus and grapefruit. Expected much better beer.

Oct. 22, 2009 On Cask at Frisco’s Cantina, Columbia, MD. Advertised at 150 IBUs: This beer poured from grafity tap with good caronation, with a golden orange color. Aroma was fruity with pine overtones. Very aromatic. Taste was a mouth full of hops, gentley at frist then spreading accross the pallet. The hoppiest IPA I have ever had.

(bottle from Veterans Liquor in Colorado Springs). Cloudy copper color. Small off white head. Floral hop aroma. Ligth malt (bread) and light hop (floral and grass) flavors. Avg duration. Smooth finish with light bitterness. Slick texture. Moderate carbonation. Fair lacing.

Bottle found at the Pivovarsky Klub in Prague
Poured a golden body. Light honeyish fruity nose. Sweet orangey fruity start ending with a herbal/grapeseed bitter hop assault. Had far hoppier IPAs, expected more.

1st April 2008 Intense hoppy beer, bucketloads of hopspiness. Slightly oily palate. Grapefruit and other bitter fruits. Very bitter finish.