BOTTLEBOX tasting notes OUR CURATED EQUITY PUNK BEER CLUB
THE BEERS INSIDE YOUR BOTTLEBOX Hello there, Equity Punk! It s BottleBox time once again, and the good times roll in style with our ever-up-to-theminute selection of a dozen beers from ourselves and guest breweries we know and love. As we kick into the autumn there s still time to enjoy a huge variety of amazing beer in 2018. Such as Loka Polly Hallertau Blanc Pale Ale, direct from North Wales to you. Also in this showcase we have To Øl with a beer that could only ever be a To Øl beer - Gose To Dim Sum Restaurant, Orders One Of Each. We follow that with an ice-cream pale ale from Aberdeenshire; the mighty Pina Colada Scream from Fierce Beer. The fourth beer on board is Cube Farm NEIPA from Neon Raptor in the Midlands, and after that we move on to an 8.3% ABV Imperial Stout from Wild Weather Ales (although it could also be To Øl) I [knew who I was this morning but I ve changed a lot since then]. Finally we end on an even bigger note thanks to the intriguing (and 11%) Apfelstrudel Doppelbock from Uiltje Brewing Co in the Netherlands. But that s only half the story. BottleBox exists to showcase our own beer too so what six beers have we included alongside these amazing examples? We start off with one of our most-requested small-batch beers the triumphant return of our American Pale Ale Hop Fiction. We hook that up with a couple of fruit-forward sours, first up our brand new alcohol-free Berliner Weisse Raspberry Blitz, which rolls in at 0.5% ABV, and secondly we have included Quench Quake, a Grapefruit and Tangerine sour. The next BrewDog beer in this BottleBox is the bone-dry IPA Restorative Beverage for Invalids and Convalescents, and that is followed in the lineup by our maple stout Kamikaze Knitting Club, a perfect beer for autumn. Finally we end on a big note with Abstrakt AB:24. We hope you enjoy sampling these beers as much as we enjoyed putting them together. Until next time, enjoy BottleBox! James and Martin
GUEST LOKA POLLY HALLERTAU BLANC PALE ALE LOKA POLLY Two years ago Black Brook Beer Company started out in a converted stable near the river of the same name in the hills of Flintshire. From this base on the outskirts of Mold they produced a range of beers, until the start of this year when they changed tack and rebranded as Loka Polly. They now cast their net towards a series of New England-style pale ales, India Pale Ales and Saisons and are one of the up and coming breweries in the UK right now. HALLERTAU BLANC PALE ALE Deep orange in colour this beer is all about one fruit in particular. The German hops give a noble spiciness, but the overwhelming aroma and flavour is melon. This beer is juicy, moreish and a perfect starting point for this BottleBox Country: Wales Style: Pale Ale ABV: 4.8% Pair With: Prosciutto Colour: Hazy Orange Hops: Hallertau Blanc - 4 -
BREWDOG BREWDOG HOP FICTION HOP FICTION AMERICAN PALE ALE 4.2% THE WHY/THE HOW Hop Fiction leads with Chinook but then follows with the citrus and tropical-heavy combination of Citra and Mosaic. The resultant pale ale is perfect for this time of year; as the summer just about hangs on here is a beer that gives a lift just at the point of the calendar where one is needed. Hop Fiction does this by judicious use of first-wort, whirlpool and dry-hopping innovative brewhouse techniques that deliver the hop payload as fully as we know how. HOP FICTION There are two complementary surges of rounded citrus and light stone fruit (so think mango, lychee and apricot), with rising hop-laced bitterness. Deploying the early and late hopping is all about those fruity flavours, carrying the light stone fruit elements through the entire beer, before that bitterness arrives on the palate to round everything out. Country: Scotland Style: Pale Ale ABV: 4.2% Pair With: Waldorf Salad Malt: Pale Hops: Chinook, Mosaic, Citra - 5 -
GUEST TO ØL GOSE TO DIM SUM RESTAURANT, ORDERS ONE OF EACH TO ØL Tobias Emil Jensen and Tore Gynther almost literally learnt at the feet of the master Mikkel Borg Bjergsø was their high school teacher in Copenhagen. Staying behind for extracurricular homebrewing lessons, the man who went on to co-found Mikkeller inspired Tobias and Tore to also take the plunge, and To Øl were born. Brewing in facilities around Europe, they are equally as inventive, enthusiastic and dedicated as their one-time teacher and although Tobias left To Øl, Tore is forging ahead as ever. GOSE TO DIM SUM RESTAURANT, ORDERS ONE OF EACH Inspired by a trip to LA s Chinatown this Gose is crisp and has the trademark saline tang delivered from soya rather than salt but the added fruits give a tropical, floral aroma and flavour. As ever from To Øl, fascinating stuff. Country: Denmark Style: Gose ABV: 4.5% Pair With: Dim Sum, one of each Hops: Citra Extras: Dragon fruit, Lychee, Soya - 6 -
BREWDOG BREWDOG SMALL SCREEN HERO THE WHY/THE HOW Launched as the perfect drinking companion to our new video-ondemand service The BrewDog Network we released this Small Screen Hero a classic American Pale Ale. The beer style that kick-started the Craft Beer Revolution in the twentieth century, here to launch another revolution in the twenty-first. This brand new release is brewed with a mix of classic US hops (Mosaic, Simcoe, Columbus) and a pair of relatively new European varieties (Hallertauer Taurus and Hallertauer Blanc). Drink the beer, watch the shows and change the world, forever. SMALL SCREEN HERO Rolling in at 45 IBUs, this hero of the airwaves carries swathes of fresh hoppy aromas, built on light notes of cookie dough malt character. Pine dust, grapefruit peel and mango round out the flavour and leave you wanting more. Style: Pale Ale ABV: 5.0% Pair With: Hot Dogs (on a TV tray) IBU: 45 Malt: Pale, Cara Hops: Hallertauer Taurus, Hallertauer Blanc, Mosaic, Simcoe, Columbus - 7 -
GUEST FIERCE BEER PINA COLADA SCREAM FIERCE BEER Fifteen miles south of Ellon is Dyce and the home of our nearest neighbours Fierce Beer. Dave Grant and David McHardy have only been going for two years but have already become firm fixtures with us and many other beer lovers across the UK. It s not difficult to see why; their beers are rammed full of flavour and every time you open a can or bottle you know it s going to taste exactly as the label says it will an often overlooked skill in brewing and really no bigger compliment to pay. PINA COLADA SCREAM Fierce s third ice-cream beer and their tenth small-batch canned release tastes like it should be drunk by a full moon and tropical ocean. With the two added ingredients playing off each other perfectly, it really does taste like Pina Colada. Country: Scotland Style: Pale Ale ABV: 6.5% Pair With: Getting Caught in the Rain Colour: Hazy deep orange Extras: Pineapple, Coconut - 8 -
BREWDOG BREWDOG QUENCH QUAKE THE WHY/THE HOW Our masters of mixed and alternative fermentation over at the OverWorks have been rocking astonishing beer of late, so we have decided to release this kettle sour to act as the perfect wingman to their work. Rolling in at 4.6% ABV, Quench Quake is a Grapefruit and Tangerine Sour and is the beer you need in your life when you are catching those last rays of summer sunshine. A sessionstrength sour, Quench Quake is a down-thelines citrus bomb, brewed with pale malt and wheat and then hopped with the classic German aroma variety Perle. QUENCH QUAKE Aromas of grapefruit and tangerine peel, hints of lime, and a touch of apple pie, followed by flavours of lemon juice, grapefruit, orange, tangerine, and a dry biscuity malt note supporting them. A juicy tartness gives this beer a short and snappy finish. Country: Scotland Style: Sour ABV: 4.5% Pair With: Orange Fool IBU: 10 Extras: Grapefruit, Tangerine - 9 -
GUEST NEON RAPTOR CUBE FARM NEON RAPTOR CUBE FARM Whether they like it or not, Neon Raptor will always be tied to us at BrewDog in some way. That s because the impetus needed to start the brewery began when their oak-aged vanilla porter won the 2015 homebrew contest at BrewDog Nottingham. From this single beer, they have worked it up into a fixture brewery in the city with dozens of amazing beers and a taproom open four days a week. It s been incredible to see and is brilliant for the people of Nottingham. Oh, and they still brew the porter but for this BottleBox we instead have a NEIPA. Canned unfiltered and unfined the beer is an up to the minute hazy juicebomb. The combination of Citra and Mosaic (the two take the lead here) leave a juicy, stone-fruit centred masterpiece. Country: England Style: New England IPA ABV: 6.8% Pair With: Goat s Cheese Salad Colour: Hazy Orange Hops: Citra, Mosaic, Simcoe, Chinook - 10 -
BREWDOG BREWDOG RESTORATIVE BEVERAGE FOR INVALIDS AND CONVALESCENTS THE WHY/THE HOW Back in the mid-19th Century the father of Pharmacology Dr Jonathan Pereira described India Pale Ale as a most valuable restorative beverage for invalids and convalescents. It is taken with benefit by many persons on whom other kinds of ale act injuriously. Maybe this latter point is why IPA has become the flagship style for craft beer, or maybe it isn t. Either way we have brewed this high-fermented IPA attenuated out to within an inch of its life, making it incredibly dry, sheer and bright. RBIC is brewing history brought to life. RESTORATIVE BEVERAGE Stake your claim for hops right now. Restorative Beverage is so unashamedly unbalanced it rides alone and answers only to a higher power. Savagely bitter and aggressive it has highs of citrus pith, sticky resin and stonefruit, laid over a light golden body from the Pale malt it is a powder keg of hop oils. Country: Scotland Style: IPA ABV: 8.7% Pair With: Maple-glazed ribs Hops: Simcoe, Citra, Amarillo, Centennial Dates to: 1843-11 -
GUEST WILD WEATHER ALES WILD WEATHER ALES I [KNEW WHO I WAS THIS MORNING BUT I VE CHANGED A LOT SINCE THEN] I [KNEW WHO I WAS THIS MORNING BUT I VE CHANGED A LOT SINCE THEN] On the border between Hampshire and Berkshire is the old Roman town of Silchester, complete with the remains of an amphitheatre. Just outside the town, at the very end of 2012 the first batch of beer from a new brewery appeared, brewed during a monsoon with thundery crashes and bangs. Wild Weather Ales have gone from strength to strength ever since, with their distinctive branding (created by a London punk band) standing out on whichever beer shelf they appear on. This oatmeal stout takes inspiration from the one and only Lewis Carroll. Deeply dark and resonant the stout starts off dry but the oatmeal richness arrives and is joined by cocoa, chocolate and mocha to leave the aftertaste rich and rewarding. Like Alice, it really does change as you progress Country: England Style: Imperial Oatmeal Stout ABV: 8.3% Pair With: Shepherd s Pie Colour: Black Quote from: Alice in Wonderland - 12 -
BREWDOG BREWDOG #MASHTAG 2018 THE WHY/THE HOW Our exercise in democratic beermaking took a year off in 2017, but #MashTag has returned with a vengeance this year. As ever, we take every step of bringing a beer to market and dissect it, with each stage put to a public vote. From the initial style right through to the final artwork. It means that you guys routinely select a fascinating mix of twists and turns, and 2018 s #MashTag release is no different. A US hopped, UK malted pale ale with two hugely floral additions. #MashTag is back. #MASHTAG 2018 One of the main flavour profiles that comes across is snappy resin from the Chinook, and this piney element acts as a perfect foil for the intense citrus and floral aromatic notes from the yuzu and hibiscus. Maris Otter the king of malts then yields a toasty edge that gives the same effect as croutons in a zesty summer salad. Style: Pale Ale ABV: 5.0% IBU: 45 Pair With: Steamed sea bass Hops: Chinook, Citra, Mosaic Malts: Pale, Maris Otter Extras: Hibiscus, Yuzu - 13 -
GUEST HET UILTJE APFELSTRUDEL DOPPELBOCK BROUWERIJ HET UILTJE Three years ago, crowdfunding was the name of the game for a would-be brewery in the Dutch city of Haarlem; the centre of the multi-billion Euro bulb industry. Alongside 300 funders, a bank was also approached all said yes. Het Uiltje (the owlet) started in 2016 with a 40HL system producing all kinds of modern craft beer styles (they don t do soft weizens). For a case in point, check out this monster of a Doppelbock par for the course for one of the best and most consistent breweries in Europe. APFELSTRUDEL DOPPELBOCK Apple strudel in a Dopplebock. Why has nobody thought of this flavour combination before? This beer is a masterpiece cinnamon toast, apple jam, bread and butter pudding, chocolate and booze. All just under 12%. Enjoy this one. Country: The Netherlands Style: Doppelbock ABV: 11.7% Pair With: Apple Turnover Colour: Deep reddishbrown Hops: Citra, Cascade, Mosaic, Centennial - 14 -
BREWDOG BEATNIK BREWING COLLECTIVE RASPBERRY CHEESECAKE IMPERIAL STOUT THE WHY/THE HOW Like #MashTag, when the calendar flips over to Beatnik time all bets are off. This annual shareholder showdown pits you, our Equity Punks, against one another in a very special beer battle. For 2018 we moved away from a #MashTag-style hops, malt, twist vote and instead challenged you guys to simply suggest fully-formed final beers. We selected 32 that were then pitted against one another in a battleroyale format to crown a victor. That beer was a Raspberry Cheesecake Imperial Stout. Welcome to the coronation. RASPBERRY CHEESECAKE IMPERIAL STOUT This luxurious stout has aromas of chocolate powder and roast coffee beans with biscuit notes and subtle dark berry fruit. The taste has sweeter ganache and honeycomb elements with a hint of cheesecake tanginess and that berry fruit on the finish. Style: Imperial Stout ABV: 8.9% IBU: 45 Pair With: Raspberry Cheesecake Hops: Cascade Malts: Pale, Maris Otter, Crystal, Brown, Chocolate, Wheat, Chocolate Wheat, Oats Extras: Raspberry, Milk Sugars - 15 -
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