Beer of the Week – BrewDog Jack Hammer

The week ending is a sign that you should reach for your beer collection and toast the completion of another five days of hard graft (assuming you work Monday-Friday and actually do some graft, that is). But the question is, what to reach for? With dozens of new Scottish beers hitting the shelves recently it can be tough to pick one out – so this series takes a step back, and instead considers the existing classics.

Take this week’s beer – and full disclosure, I work for BrewDog – but this particular India Pale Ale was first released five years ago, in 2012. I’ve no idea how many IPAs have hit the taps and bottle shops since then; it must be a three-figure number – but in my opinion this one is still right at the top of the tree. What do you want from an IPA? Hops. Bitterness. Refreshment. A kick. This beer has it all, and then some. I’m talking about the most under-rated IPA in Scotland – Jack Hammer.

48. Jack Hammer (7.2%)
BrewDog, Ellon, Aberdeenshire
Style: IPA
330ml can

Pick it up here:
At at BrewDog’s online shop (as individual 330ml cans)
At at BrewDog’s online shop (as individual 330ml bottles)

In a sense Jack Hammer is very much a bookmark of its time. Half a decade ago, high-Alpha was what IPA was all about – this is long before New England IPA arrived and convinced hop heads that mellow and citrus was a viable alternative. Back in 2012 it was all about the face-shredding bitterness. And Jack Hammer delivers this from the colossal amount of US hops used. It’s a riot of grapefruit, enormously refreshing and a perfect beer to sit in the back of the fridge for when you (and your palate) needs a metaphorical kick up the arse.

Beer of the Week Series:
1. Fyne Ales Highlander
2. Swannay Old Norway
3. Broughton Old Jock
4. Traquair House Ale
5. Tempest Easy Livin Pils
6. Cromarty Brewed Awakening
7. Fallen Chew Chew
8. Black Isle Hibernator
9. Isle of Skye Red
10. Harviestoun Old Engine Oil Engineer’s Reserve
11. Orkney Skull Splitter
12. Windswept Wolf
13. Kelburn Dark Moor
14. Alechemy 5ive Sisters
15. Loch Ness Light Ness
16. St Andrews Eighty Bob
17. Harviestoun The Ridge
18. Orkney Dark Island
19. Williams Bros Seven Giraffes
20. Cairngorm Black Gold
21. Strathaven Craigmill Mild
22. Black Isle Red Kite
23. Spey Valley Spey Stout
24. Top Out Schmankerl
25. Cross Borders Braw
26. Williams Bros Midnight Sun
27. BrewDog Kingpin
28. Fyne Ales Hurricane Jack
29. Deeside MacBeth
30. Drygate Ax Man Red Rye IPA
31. Swannay Orkney Session
32. Fallen Platform C
33. Black Isle Porter
34. Top Out Altbier
35. Black Metal Gates of Valhalla
36. Fierce Beer Cranachan Killer
37. Loch Lomond Southern Summit
38. Tempest Old Parochial
39. Williams Bros Profanity Stout
40. Windswept Tornado
41. Campervan Pacific Zest
42. Swannay Sneaky Wee Orkney Stout
43. Cromarty Ghost Town
44. Fyne Ales Vital Spark
45. Knops Musselburgh Broke
46. Orkney Red MacGregor
47. Cross Borders Porter