A while ago, after our trip to Scotland in May, I posted tasting notes to a few of BrewDog’s terrific beers. Shortly after that I bought the IPA is Dead beer pack at Drinks & Gifts and recently I was able to get my hands on a few more of their beers at Drinks & Gifts and the Bierkoning (Beer King) in Amsterdam.

I’ll be posting a few more beers this week, since my ‘tasting notes booklet’ is getting full and I have loads of stuff to review already in there. I’m starting off with the BrewDogs today, and several other brands through the rest of the week.

Nanny State
The Nanny State beer was brewed in a reaction to people complaining about the higher ABV beers being promoted too much. Its a 0.5% ABV beer with a truckload of hops in every bottle. You taste that, and you smell that. There’s hops on the nose, followed by some hops, hops after that and hops to round it off. Its a very crisp beer but quite bitter (big surprise, huh). Not bad, but something to be aware of before you taste it!

Dogma
The Dogma beer is a heather honey ale. There’s guarana, poppy seeds and kola nut in there according to the label, but what I got was a very good sweet and spicy beer. The heather is recognizable but instead of it being a bit too bitter the honey sweetness compensates it nicely. Strangely heavy, yet crisp on the palate. The spicyness is very nice and all in all this is a 5 star beer. Everything fits, nothing lacks. Terrific stuff!

Zeitgeist
A Black Lager. The blackness usually comes from roasted malt used in the brewing process. That, in turn, makes most beers quite heavy on the palate with a cereal sweetness to it. That also happens here. The taste is an interesting combination of Stout and Ale flavours. Not my favorite but neither is it bad.

5 AM Saint
Another hoppy pale ale. This is not as hoppy as the Nanny State, but I think it is a bit more bitter than the Punk IPA. A slightly acidic scent in there as well. Very crisp and no heavy tones at all. A real fresh dram that woke me up a bit. Very, very good.

Hardcore IPA
I really wanted to try this one after trying the Punk IPA. They received a high number of awards for this brew, and I can see why. Its not as crisp as the Punk IPA, but a very hoppy dram with slightly more sweet fruity tones to it. A bit darker as well. Its a full flavour belter, but I prefer the crisper versions (5 AM Saint and Punk). It is Hardcore!