My one hundreth post, so I thought I'd do a piece on IPA's.
I bottled some Motley Brew and brought it home yesterday, possibly the last time (this year) that i'll drink it. I say this year because I am delighted to say that Nick and his team at Otley Brewing decided to make it a permanent on their seasonal range, albeit with the slightly lower abv of 5.5%.
I bought a couple of bottles of Punk IPA from Sainsbury's on Sunday because Lucille and I had a couple of friends round for lunch and it was possibly the most inspiring choice in their beer range.
So why not compare the two? They are two of my favourite breweries after all and they are very similar beers too.
First of all Motley : it's now 5.5% abv but you wouldn't guess it, it does taste more like 6-6.5%. It was bottled by hand from the tap yesterday into a flip-top bottle to try and keep it as fresh as possible but it was still lacking in condition. The tasting notes are pretty much the same as they were in December when we launched it at The Rake, I wrote about the beer here, the only difference being the abv which I now believe makes it an IPA not a double IPA. There's less of the instant floral hit of the pacific gem hops but it's still there, there's slightly less of the Chinook hops that bittered it up but they're still there, it's the same beer made from the same recipe and it's still a fantastic beer in my lowly opinion.
The Punk IPA : It's 6% abv, it's a bottle and the carbonation really helps bring out the flavour, there's a bitterness that's unmistakeably Brewdog. Now I don't want to talk about this beer without first telling you about the Keg we had at The Rake recently, it's actually convinced me that Brewdog have changed the hops that they used in the brew, is this true? well only Brewdog can say I guess, but my taste buds were given a tropical treat that took me far away to an island where I could have laid in the sun sipping it all day long. There was pineapple and lychees coming through and it was immensely drinkable.
Back to the bottle, it's slightly harder work to drink because there's that Brewdog bitterness back again that ruthlessly attacks the taste buds, it's an agressive beer, it says so on the label, it must be true then!
Which is better? well, you know that's completely subjective and you good folks can make up your own minds.
2 comments:
I got a great aroma straight from the bottle of Punk IPA without even bothering to pour it. This is very rare from most Supermarket largers.
I also find that PUNK IPA has a massive citrus hop finish. However I am rating mine in the winter which is a large mistake as it is a brew which will compliment better with the summer weather.
I aim to be drinking Punk IPA and Sierra Neveda Torpedo IPA in the summer. I also hope there is more of Stone's India Pale Ales - Cali Belgique available in England for the summer. The Ruination was awesome at the Rake last Thursday.
I hope to get into the American IPA range a bit more. With the introduction of cans instead of bottling the ales we could witness easier shipping methods being introduced. This could hopefully increase the volume of the beer coming to England via the pallet capacity ratio logic.
I hope the market is ready for the 5-9& IPA's and even the heavier ones than that such as Port Brewing 'Third Anniversary'.
Btw you would love that. If you find a bottle in London buy it. I think Kris' wines is probably the best bet.
I'm fairly sure that it didn't used to have Nelson Sauvin and Chinook in there. Thank blimey it does now.
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