Brewdog: Hello My Name Is Holy Moose (Scotland: IPA: 5.5% ABV)
Visual: Amber to red. Thin reddened head. Some carbonation.
Nose: Prickly. Pineapple. Tart white grapes. Light cherryaid. Vanilla toffee. Light hop character.
Body: Strawberry. Brown bread. Tart cherries. Cider apples. Cherryaid. Lightly spicy. Raspberries. Slight syrupy middle in a fruit syrup style.
Finish: Malt drinks. Light bitterness and greenery. Pineapple. Light cherryaid. Brown bread. Gooseberry. Raspberries.
Conclusion: More berries in IPA action, this one going a little lighter on the IPA base than previously in the series, probably due to the lower abv. You get a light hop character outlining the beer, but very little of the malt base. Instead the fruit takes it over, giving the impression of a lightly hopped sour fruit drink.
So, how is that sour fruit drink? Good enough to make up for the diminished beer character? Well, it is pretty nice – a mix of fruit from gooseberries though to slight sweet cherryaid character at the opposite end of the scale. You can walk a range of sweet, tart and spicy notes, all whilst keeping in the fruit milieu. Ok gratuitous misuse of milieu there, but still…
Anyway, the IPA part is the weak part. The fruit really deserves a bigger backing to help it stand out as an element rather than the whole beer. The lack of a decent malt base keeps it from feeling rounded, and the muggy feeling bitter hop character means that it doesn’t have that IPA tingle.
A pity as the actual fruity flavours that the hops impart seem to merge nicely into the fruit – hard to say where one ends and the other begins so the beer does focus on what it does right – the fruit. It ends up refreshing and fruity, but with a better backing it could have been a lot more
Background: Ok, so I have had my disagreements with Brewdog, but also I do potentially benefit from them doing well. So, erm bias warning both ways I guess. Anyway, another in their “Hello My Name Is” Series. This one made with lower abv and made with cloudberry, lingonberry, blueberry and sea buckthorn. because there is no kill like overkill I guess. Drunk while listening to some Scroobius Pip Distraction Pieces. It is a good standby
