Brew Dog 5 AM Saint

Surprisingly for the backwater I'm currently working in, I came across a whole Brew Dog display at a liquor store this evening. So I decided to give the 5 AM Saint a shot (mainly because it was the lowest ABV of the lot). For $10 a for a fourpack of 12 ouncers, it was pretty pricey, but I was curious to see what what the British take on American beer is, and I thought you guys might be interested as well, or perhaps have some opinions of your own. So here goes:

Appearance:

Pours very nicely with a solid layer of light tan head over a very appetizing looking deep copper colored beer. Head retention was good as well, pretty much lasting to the end of the pint.

Aroma:
Strong. All hop. Probably lots of Cascade.

Taste:

Alas, this is where it all went downhill. The beer is aggressively bitter and somewhat overcarbonated. The initial effect is almost like the "pins and needles" you get when your leg falls asleep, but on your tongue. Not pleasant. The mouthfeel is way thin for what one would expect of this color and "hoppiage" and there's almost no malt or any other flavor that I was able to discern through the hop barrage. The finish was extremely dry with a faint raisiny flavor.

Now I'll have to say, it did improve as I worked through the pint and became desensitized to the hop assault. All in all, I'd give it about a 6.5 out of 10. It's kind of like a "cartoon" version of Sierra Nevada pale ale with a dash of crystal malt thrown in the mix; as if they see an American pale ale as simply an exercise to see how many hops you can jam in a beer without any regard to balance.

The worst part was probably the screed on the back of the label that starts off with "You don't know beer . . ." and continues to rail against corporate brewing in the UK. That may have been an edgy, in-your-face stance to take in the US in the 80s, but if you can't find a decent beer in Britain, you're not looking for one. No sense in alienating your customer base, and if you take that risk, you'd better have some top notch stuff to back it up. Of course, maybe they think some "Dubya" style swagger is American as well.

All that said, I'm not exactly a hop-head, so YMMV. I think I'll throw the remainders in the back of the pantry and see if my impression changes after a month or two to mellow out. I might even resurrect this post and let you guys know what I think on a second go 'round.

Until then, anyone else give this one a try? I'd like to hear what you think.

That is a great review and fair - it's definitely not to everyone's taste. My old local had it on draught a few times (The Portcullis in Clifton, Bristol), and I absolutely loved it - insanely hoppy. Their beers do tend to be extreme in hoppiness, or technique (e.g the tactical nuclear penguin, or the IPA which did actually sail the world), but I put it down to just being their way of fencing off part of the market.

Being a Brit, I think I understand where there rant comes from. You certainly can get great pints in the UK these days (and I doubt if brew dog are suggesting otherwise), but the big corporations are still behaving in what I see as an anti-competitive way by forcing pub tenants to buy in and sell their products, and by smaller breweries facing a far larger relative tax bill. Nobody's fault, just the way it is, but it still means that in just about every pub you go to you will have Carling, Stella, Guiness etc, but not necessarily get any good draught offerings from smaller companies.

On a related note, brew dogs are actually releasing four new beers at another bristol pub tomorrow http://www.dawkins-club.talktalk.net/page34.html

I'd be interested to hear how the beers turn out in a couple of months!