Evil Twin: Brewdog: Hello My Name Is Sonja (Scotland: IIPA: 8.2% ABV)
Visual: Burnished copper to amber, some carbonation. Carmel froth head over the body.
Nose: Resin and hops. Grapefruit. Shortbread. Light berry tart note. Gooseberries.
Body: Good bitterness. Blackberries/brambles. Shortbread. Hops. Pineapple. Gooseberry. Becomes more blueberry as it warms. Toffee.
Finish: Blueberry pie. Resin. Sugar on crumble topping. Bitter hops. Gooseberry. Caramel. Candyfloss. Barley husks.
Conclusion: Yay, another hardcore IPA with berries. You know, when I write it like that it looks sarcastic. I am not being sarcastic. These are fun, ok they don’t always work but they are fun.
For a blueberry filled beer this actually seems to give more of a gooseberry punch to the tartness for a good chunk of the time. I’d guess it is probably the berries tartness is mixing with the flavours of the hops to give that impression, but it was still slightly unexpected going in.
Now, when you get past the first impressions, the blueberries are there. When cool it comes across more in a brambles style, but as the beer warms up the blueberries become more distinct. It never quite beats out the hop’s fruitiness, leaving it as a back note, but it is present.
Now there is also the more usual elements from the base beer – shortbread and toffee for a backbone, and it is there that you tend to get the blueberry mixing in. Combined together it gives the impression of a blueberry pie topped with sugar dusting. Now that works very well, as said it is a back note for the most part, but the warmer the beer gets the more prominent it becomes, though never taking the foreground.
Overall, it works, plenty of Imperial IPA style with some fruit work adding that bit extra. Now, I prefer hello My Name Is Beastie, and later editions of Hello My Name Is Ingrid improved the beer a lot to put that one ahead as well, but this still keeps itself as a worthwhile and fun beer. I’m not going to complain about that.
Background: Made with blueberries, this is the latest in Brewdog’s oddly named IIPA with fruit range. Frankly the fact they have an IIPA with fruit range is odd enough. Anyway this one was done with Evil Twin, the other half of the Mikkeller brothers who turn out some pretty good beers. This was drunk while listening to a bit of Paradise Lost on shuffle, but considering the range their albums cover, that could mean pretty much anything music wise.
