Love Good Beer

Brewdog has a pub in London now

Wednesday, January 11th, 2012 | Beer | 1 Comment

In Camden to be exact, and it’s been there for about a month.  I was really excited when I found out Brewdog opened their first non-Scottish pub in London (4th pub overall) in December.  There are few epic beer bars in London, especially when you consider the scale of London and how much time people spend down the pub.  Brewdog Camden joins Craft and The Euston Tap as beer nerd destinations in Londontown.

Erik was around over the holidays, so naturally we hit up Brewdog Camden.  I was very impressed by the look of the place, which is very clean, modern, and on brand.  I was even more impressed by the beer on offer, there were twenty odd taps and hundreds of bottles.  The bottle selection was almost solely constituted of hardcore craft beer, mostly American (mostly Californian), some Danish (mostly Mikkeller), and Hitachino Nest of Japan.  The majority of the taps were of Brewdog’s own beer, but there were also a few guest kegs from the likes of Stone and Mikkeller.  Much of the Brewdog beer on tap I’d never seen in bottles before and I believe some were experimental.  I really enjoyed the Winter Porter and the Hops Kill Nazis (a hoppy imperial red).  I didn’t love the Wasabi Stout or the Dogma, but that’s just me.

Us guys at Brewdog Camden

What I really liked was that both Tactical Nuclear Penguin (32% ABV) and Sink the Bismarck (41% ABV) were on offer, £6 for a 25ml taste.  I’d only ever come across these beers in bottles in the UK and didn’t buy because they carry a hefty price tag, so this was my first taste.  We tried Tactical Nuclear Penguin (they were out of Bismarck) and it was a delight.  It’s very syrupy in the glass and it tastes very sweet, more like madeira than beer.  It also warms the throat in a good way, like a fine brandy or cognac might.  A bottle would be dangerous in my hands.

Tactical Nuclear Penguin in the glass (Hops kill Nazis in the background)

Erik tasting TNP with an aristocratic air

London beer tourists, in this order, visit Craft, Brewdog Camden, and the Euston Tap.  My one criticism of Brewdog Camden is that  there aren’t many session beers to be had, which might turn off the casual beer fan.  I don’t think Brewdog cares though, beer for punks after all.

Cheers,

Chris

Tags: brewdog, brewdog camden, craft beer co, euston tap, hitachino nest, hops kill nazis, london, mikkeller, stone, tactical nuclear penguin

You mean some beers aren’t vegetarian?

Wednesday, June 29th, 2011 | Beer | 4 Comments

This is most definitely the case, as per the FAQ on the Fosters website.  I came across this interesting and under-publicised tidbit at BeerLeaks.org, which is a WikiLeaks parody brought to us by Brewdog Brewing.  It appears their new website was recently shutdown, probably because the giant breweries threatened to sue the pants off them (their Twitter account has also gone quiet).  Amongst their claims that many big brand beers aren’t vegetarian (and they named some big names, one of which rhymed with Guinness, I mean, yeah it was Guinness), they also let it be known that most imports aren’t actually imported and that clear bottles lead to skunkification.  The last two I knew, but I didn’t think the giant evil beer companies would stoop so low as to trick vegetarians into betraying their principles.  So much for the Bavarian purity law, eh?  At least the solution to the problem is clear, people should stop being vegetarian, or at least switch to craft beer.

I found about BeerLeaks.org through this article on the 37signals blog about Brewdog’s struggle to become a top craft brewer.  It’s really good reading and so you should read it.

Cheers,

Chris

Tags: beerleaks, brewdog, fosters, guinness, vegetarian

Brewdog: The End of History

Sunday, August 8th, 2010 | Beer | 1 Comment

I’ve written about Brewdog and their quest to brew the world’s strongest beer in the past.  It seems they now have some competition in the race to the top and recently brewed an even stronger beer.  First Tactical Nuclear Penguin came in at 32% ABV, then Sink the Bismark at 41%, and now The End of History at 55%.  In case you were wondering, 55% ABV is extremely high for any alcoholic beverage, not just beer.  You would probably drink very small amounts of this from snifters and it would taste something like whiskey.  Only twelve bottles of End of History were made, each came in a dead squirrel and cost £500.  To learn about it’s making, read here.  Be sure to watch the video too, it’s quite funny.

Cheers,

Chris

Tags: brewdog, dead squirrel, end of history, sink the bismark, tactical nuclear penguin, world's strongest beer

Brewdog Brews World’s Strongest Beer at 32% ABV

Tuesday, December 1st, 2009 | Beer | 9 Comments

Brewdog, a very young Scottish brewery, has brewed the world’s strongest beer at 32% ABV.  I really like Brewdog, mostly because they brew very interesting beers and have very funny labels.  You’ll know what I mean if you get your hands of any of their beers, four of which are available at Brewery Creek in Vancouver.

If you are into beer, or even if you’ve read the paper lately, you might have already heard of Tactical Nuclear Penguin, the new 32% ABV beer.  What you might know and might find interesting, is how they made it.  Turns out they took some of their Paradox Imperial Stout that had already aged in oak barrels for 15 months and froze it at an ice cream factory, periodically draining off the unfrozen liquid.  Alcohol freezes at a much lower temperature than water, meaning the unfrozen liquid was higher and higher in alcohol content each time it was drained.  Check out this hilarious video of the process I found on Brewdog’s blog:

The question remains, why would Brewdog try to make the world’s strongest beer?  The answer is probably because they could and were curious, which is reason enough for me.  Or maybe it was for the attention, which they have received in spades.  I, for one, am not sure I’d like Tactical Nuclear Penguin.  That isn’t to say I won’t buy some if I can get some.  I think I’d probably find it a bit too alcoholic, which is likely considering that I find some 12-15% ABV beers too alcoholic, where 15% is the highest ABV beer I’ve ever tried.

Cheers,

Chris

Tags: 32% ABV, brewdog, brewery creek, freeze beer, paradox imperial stout, scotland, tactical nuclear penguin, video