It’s been a busy couple of weeks for the beer cupboard (and my credit card) with a number of new arrivals turning on up.

First off, here are are a few I picked up when Jo and I were over in Northern Ireland last week (more about that trip in another post, all being well):

The BrewDog Paradox Isle of Arran will be the fifth variety of their imperial stout that I’ve had the chance to try. I’ve heard nothing but good things about Thomas Hardy’s Ale from O’Hanlon’s and having read last week that production is to cease, I thought I’d better grab a bottle when I saw it. It’s been known to stay healthy in the bottle for 25 years, so I might leave this one to mature a while before I try it. The D. Carnegie & Co Stark-Porter just looked far too interesting to pass up on: brewed by Carlsberg in Sweden and with a best-before date of November 2017, I’m planning on letting this sit awhile as well. And then finally, I spotted a lone bottle of Sam Smith’s Yorkshire Stingo in an off-license in Saintfield. I had no idea what it was, but at 8.0% ABV it had to be interesting. Turns out it’s a new, limited edition beer that Smith’s are brewing to an 18th Century recipe.

The second selection I picked up in the central Manchester branch of Selfridge’s at the weekend. Scaldis claims to be “the Strongest Belgian Beer” and according to BelgianExperts.com “has a memorable warming quality”. At 12% ABV you’d expect some warming, certainly, although is it really the strongest in Belgium? I’d have to do some more research to confirm. Rodenbach Grand Cru is a 6% ABV Belgian Red (also sold be BeerMerchants.com) that’s matured for 24 months in wine casks. Sounds good. Old Skratch Amber Lager is the first Flying Dog beer I’ve seen on the shelves so I grabbed one of those. And then Lapin Kulta is a Finnish lager (actually a native of Lapland) which the guy on the counter said was worth trying. With the Old Skratch and BrewDog’s 77 Lager in the cupboard I can feel a lager round-up coming up.

And then today, yet another consignment from those fine fellows up at BrewDog:

I’ve had a few bottles of How to Disappear Completely now and seem to have developed something of a taste for ultra-hopped beers as a result, hence my acquisition of a couple of bottles of Hardcore IPA, the one BrewDog monster-IPA that I hadn’t gotten my hands on yet. But it’s the two unlabelled bottles in the middle there that were the real reason for this particular order: Rake Raspberry Imperial Stout. BrewDog Paradox Smokehead, plus a tonne of fresh raspberries? How could I resist?

Which leaves me with a beer cupboard looking something like this:

Looking forward to the next couple of weekends!

Brewery: BrewDog
Loctation: Fraserburgh, Scotland
ABV: 3.5%
Version: Bottled
Source: BrewDog.com

BrewDog are billing their How to Disappear Completely as a ‘Fake-Fix Double IPA’ and an ‘Imperial Mild’ and both are pretty good descriptions. The ABV is relatively low at 3.5% – definitely mild territory – and yet the sheer volume of hops involved in the production of the beer is decidedly IPA. Weighing in at an eye-watering, tongue-scouring 198 theoretical IBUs (International Bitterness Units) compared to 20 – 35 or so for a typical English bitter, How to Disappear Completely is an absolute hop-monster.

If you’re familiar with BrewDog’s own Punk IPA and Chaos Theory – and if you’re not, then a) where have you been? and b) look out for them both in the Sainsbury’s Summer Ale promotion next month – then you’ll probably have an idea of what to expect, but even so, the end product may take you by surprise.

How to Disappear Completely certainly took my missus, Jo, by surprise; one sip earning an immediate WTF-face reaction that was pure comedy gold (sorry, love!) and I can’t say I blame her. Even fore-warned, I was taken aback myself by the sheer ascerbic force of the brew. Flavour-wise it’s probably best described as an acquired taste. Obviously it’s extremely hoppy and incredibly sharp, but there’s still just a hint of maltiness in there somewhere and it has a palate-cleansing freshness that keeps it drinkable.

Definitely one to try if you like your beers positively Saharan, or even if you just fancy trying an IPA-equivalent that won see you flat on your back and singing along with the fairies after a few bottles. I enjoyed the experience myself (good job, too, as I have another two bottles to look forward to) and I might even end up adding it to my beer-cupboard roster on a regular basis, along with Punk IPA. I’ve normally got a pretty definite malt-tooth, but How to Disappear Completely offers a massive contrast for those times when I feel like something a bit different.

At around 1.30 p.m. this afternoon I learned via my RSS Reader that BrewDog had unleashed their new and extremely limited edition Zephyr brew on the beer-buying public.

A 12.5% abv Imperial Ale. Matured at sea for 21 months in 1965 Invergordon whisky casks stuffed full of fresh strawberries. Handmade silk-screen labelling. All profits from the batch going to the RNLI.

Only 100 bottles made. Only 40 available via the website. £25 each.

Had to be done.

In the interests of spreading the p&p costs I chucked in a six-pack from their cursèd Deals for Punks page as well: three bottles of the recent BrewDog / Mikkeller collaboration – a 12.5% abv barley wine monster by the name of Devine Rebel – and three of the Brewdog How to Disappear Completely Imperial Mild.

I’ll let you know how I get on in due course.