Brewery: BrewDog
Location: Fraserburgh, Scotland
ABV: 6.0%
Version: Bottled
Source: Courtesy of BrewDog

Punk Monk is BrewDog‘s latest prototype beer, one that they handed out to participants in their Sainsbury’s Beer Competition competition. As far as I can gather it’s a variant of their core Punk IPA beer, brewed with Belgian yeast, hence the ‘monk’ element in the name… although I had harboured vague notions that they might have been mad enough to brew an IPA-style mead for a while there, mead being the other traditional monastic brew, but it turns out I was off the mark.

BrewDog Punk Monk was similar yet subtly different to its genetic relative; it has the same hoppy-sharpness but it’s cut through with a sweeter citrus tang, rather like honeyed grapefruit. I cracked open a bottle of Punk IPA immediately afterwards (purely in the interests of providing a proper scientific stufy, you understand) and the original had a distinctly drier, more bitter character in comparison. I thought Punk Monk had a more luxurious, viscous mouth-feel than the Punk IPA, as well.

All in all I’d say that if Punk Monk isn’t quite half way between BrewDog Punk IPA and BrewDog Dogma, then it’s definitely hovering somewhere between the two. It’s frankly rather delicious and I do hope that the BrewDog folks decide to put it into full production before too long.

A big thank you to the ever-marvellous and generous folks up at BrewDog for sending this one along for me to sample.

BrewDog Punk Monk around the beerblogpsphere:

• Mark Dredge posted an as-live tasting over at his Pencil and Spoon blog
• PartyBear posted a write-up on Beeradvocate.com