Tasting Notes: Brewdog: IPA is Dead: Nelson Sauvin

Brewdog: IPA is Dead: Nelson Sauvin (Scotland: IPA; 7.5% ABV)

Visual: Cloudy amber with a resolute bubbled off white head,

Nose: Pineapple and really fresh sour grapefruit. Malt riding underneath along hop waves. Sweet cream, toffee and rose petals.

Body:  Grapefruit, massive bitter back. Custard sweet and huge malt to balance. Pineapple. Bit free orange juice middle and light strawberry near the end.

Finish: Dry bitter and hops, clinging texture. Orange and hop oils. Lime juice.

Conclusion: So, shortly after the encounter with the Mikkeller single hop of this style, we come across the Brewdog contender of the same NZ hop.

Now this one is actually the more balanced of the beers, quite shockingly considering its massive kick. The grapefruit is evident, and dominates the conversation, but is not quite as overpowering as the Mikkeller beer.  It dominates the conversation rather than shouts down a loudhailer directly into your ear, to continue the metaphor.

Instead this beer is mixed into a rock solid malt backbone and bitter kick to contrast the insane amount of citrus grapefruit freshness.  Now because of this I’d say that technically this is the better beer. It’s easier to dink and as mentioned far more balanced.

However it doesn’t showcase the hop quite as well, and for all it was unsubtle the grapefruit attack of the Mikkeller version was damn impressive.  Anyway, I’m falling too easily into a Vs comparison here. This is a tasty beer with obvious signs of its Hardcore IPA roots, and good example of the superstar hop it showcases (I still must give the edge to the Mikkeller one though despite all that)

Background: Another of the single hop range from Brewdog (of which as always I admit I am a biased actor). This pack was a kind gift from Martin (thanks mate).The Nelson Sauvin hop from New Zealand is one of the best respected hops I am aware of and one I have encountered in many beers of high renown.  In fact before this I drank another single hop version from Mikkeller which was very good. Considering that and the fact this is based on the Hardcore IPA base beer which I love, this was expected to be a great beer before I even take the first sip.

Whilst drinking this I was listening to the geeky joy of The Wingless: Silent Hill: There was a hole here OC Remix and Zircon: Super Mario Brothers: Monstrous Turtles OC Remix. Available from http://ocremix.org/