BrewDog Avery Brown Dredge

Posted by on May 30, 2011 in Scottish Beer | No Comments

Reviewing a beer brewed by other beer writers is a new one for us here on the BeerCast – and something of a minefield too. Not that we’re putting ourselves in the category of the three chaps responsible for BrewDog’s Avery Brown Dredge (7.5%) – the multi award-winning trio have the pageviews and Wikio rankings we can only dream of. But the dilemma still stands – love the beer and it sounds suspiciously like the ‘bloggerati* boys club’. Hate it and it’s because we wish it had been us raking out the mash tuns in Fraserburgh instead.

In case their work hasn’t reached you – Zak Avery is the spirited proprietor (and now owner) of Beer Ritz in Leeds, Pete Brown the respected author and 2009 Beer Writer of the Year, and Mark Dredge is the New Media writer of the year 2009 and 2010. Clearly, these guys know what they are doing – and they also know their history. So when BrewDog approached them to make a beer, the style they chose was an Imperial Pilsner – a re-imagining of the classic Czech beer that started so many of us on our beer journeys.

You can debate the merits of selecting the three most affable and engaging beer bloggers of the moment to brew a beer – clearly there’s plenty of free publicity in it for BrewDog. But free publicity is what BrewDog do so well – and any blogger would give their left arm and favourite tasting glass to see their name on a beer label. Not me, I hasten to add. MrB smashed it during one of our podcasts (the glass, not my arm – but that’s another story). A beer like ABD creates a terrific buzz. Bloggers are never shy of a bit of self-promotion, and as the Fraserburgh outfit aren’t either, everybody wins.

Until they get to the beer, that is. It looks lovely, a clear gold with a perfect peaky mid-European head. The aroma is bitingly strong – ABD showcases the Saaz hop, and with 50kg used per brew it strips the nasal passages. There’s some sweet malt in there on the taste, but from start to finish you get sharp, bitter hops. It’s seriously oily at the same time, which combined with the alcohol burn results in something like grain alcohol at times.

Thankfully there’s a fruity edge that helps cushion this, but it’s puckering like lemon juice, packing one hell of an oily punch on the aftertaste – I can see why Glyn at Rabidbarfly christened it SpecialBrewDog. I can understand the reasoning of Zak, Pete and Mark – when let loose in BrewDog’s hop store I’ll bet the sky’s the limit – and I really wanted to like it. I promise this isn’t bloggers’ envy, but for me Avery Brown Dredge – lovely chaps that they are – was too much.



* ™Colin Valentine



Pencil and Spoon (Mark Dredge)
Are you Taking the Pith? (Zak Avery)
Pete Brown’s Blog (Pete Brown)

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