Brewdog Punk IPA

www.brewdog.com

Brewed by BrewDog
Style: Indian Pale Ale
Ellon, Aberdeenshire, Scotland

Brewdog. The two lads from Scotland that have set the craft beer world alight. Started in April 2007 by two good friends James Watt and Martin Dickie, BrewDog is a British multinational brewery and pub chain based in Ellon, Scotland. 

Starting small to eventually becoming a bit of a sensation in the brewing world, with all sorts of high jinks and marketing bull. To their credit they have always tried to push the boat out with exciting and innovative styles, using a wide array of mad and exotic ingredients from chilli, honey, chocolate, hemp, and mustard to name but a few.  And generally they do tend to get the basics right……ie. their beers are actually quite bloody good, continuing to rake up a tonne of awards and prizes all over the globe.

Second time having a brew from those Scottish whippersnappers, having had their 5 A.M. Saint a while back which I found to be disappointingly very bland all things considering. So lets go for a more iconic Brewdog creation, their famous Punk IPA, their showcase brew, and first beer they ever produced, and also to date the most popular beer in their wide selection of beers. 

Review: 50cl can of Brewdog Punk IPA: 5.6% vol.

A “post modern classic” as they say on the can, or ” The beer that began a revolution” on the website. Yeah the usual guff from the Brewdog boys. LOL. 

On pour, get a very good frothy white head, and a clear golden coloured beer, looks very decent. Some very good lacing. A nice looking brew. 

The aroma is very good, a typical IPA smell off the beer, very hoppy, fruity and citrusy, caramels, crisp and strong on the nose, but all good. 

Taste is what you would expect from the BrewDog guys, all overloaded with hops, but they are all very manageable and well balanced, and very tasty to boot in this one. 

Get a lot in the can which is always good.

Like this a lot, very tasty, and extremely crisp and relaxing to sip. The tropical fruits are banging, the malts are there and the hops are just killing it. Very easy to drink and enjoy. A perfectly balanced beer. 

Fantastic beer, very good, typical IPA, but no fucking around, no messing, got it just right, just dead on. A perfect example of what an IPA is all about, sets the standard for sure. And topped that standard taste with the tropical fruits to produce a classic. 
Very good. The tropical fruits really add to the flavours and sets it apart from more regular IPA’s

Recommended. So good I could have drank more than the measly two I got, boy did I want to drink more of these……..

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Lapin Kulta

www.lapinkulta.fi

Brewed by Hartwall (Royal Unibrew)
Style: Euro Pale Lager
Lahti, Finland

Lapin Kulta (Lapland Gold) is a Finnish beer brand and brewery from the Lapland town of Tornio. Founded in 1873, the brewery is now run by Hartwell Ltd, a Finnish beverage company, as part of the Royal Unibrew group. 

Even though the brewery was founded way back in 1873, the name Lapin Kulta was not adopted until 1963. The brewery had to acquire a gold mining company with an identical name in order to rightfully use the name. The company still uses the line “prospecting for gold and the manufacture and sales of beer” in their business dealings.

In 2009 the brewery in Tornio was closed and since then Lapin Kulta has been brewed in the southern Finnish town of Lahti. It is the largest brewery in Finland, with its famous beer been exported to over 30 countries worldwide.

Review: 50cl, can of Lapin Kulta: 5.2% vol.

My first beer tryout from Finland. The beer uses an original recipe that dates back more than 140 years ago and brewed from the icy water of Lapland. This should be interesting! 

The information on the can makes the beer sound epic! “The golden beer of Lapland. Lapin kulta is a creation of the rugged terrain of Finnish Lapland. Finland’s premium lager comes from the purest spring water filtered naturally on its journey through a land formed by the ice age. Golden barely and pristine water are brewed together according to tradition to produce the true gold of Lapland” 

“Full malts” on the can, good. Can is also interesting in its design, looks more like an energy drink for sale than a beer.

On pour I get a very nice frothy white head with a clear golden colour. Head has a good size, and maintains well. 

Good bit of lacing too. Looks very good, nice and clear. 

A nice clean aroma from the beer, has a typical lagery smell, grainy, wheaty, sweet and malty, Overall it is a nice lovely light smell. 

Getting nice and creamy tastes at the start, also a good bit of malt.

Also getting some floral hops in the taste that were a little bit too sweet, kind of giving it a soapy taste, which wasn’t terrible just a little strange!

It is a very light tasting beer, but not like a standard lager.

Very soft n crisp.

Second can was served cold from fridge, not as nice. Nothing particularly wrong with it, but it killed the taste and I got a general blandness to it all. Hops not really noticeable, very light bitter and all thin in the taste.

Overall it did go down the hatch easy enough, solid and drinkable, but nothing amazing. I think I’d like to give it another try………… 

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