BrewDog and 200 IBU beers

[ReverendJ]

Hey All,
No, this isn't another "BrewDog posted it's recipes" thread, it's a discussion of their beers and brewing in general. As I was going through their recipes I noticed a number of their beers were 80-100 IBUs up to 200 IBUs (ignoring the crazy stuff like beer bottles made out of taxidermed squirrels in kilts) I've been told time and again after 65 IBUs you can't tell the difference. So why push it? Beers that used 8 different varieties and 400 g of hops I see as just tossing money out the window. Is there some added benefit to using that much hops? I'd think past saturation of your taste buds the law of diminishing return kicks in at a hurry. A lot of the recipes I looked over seemed good, but if I reduced the hops in some of them by a factor of 2 or 3 would anyone actually be able to tell the difference?

To make this a bit more concrete, I'll used recipe #37 Hardcore IPA which clocks in at 125 IBUs, is there any real reason why the flavor profile would be the same if Columbus extract was removed and the dry hops were cut by down to 1/4 the listed amount?

 

[iijakii]

There is a point of dim returns but it's past 65 in my eyes. Personally I think their beers are more gimmicky than good though.

 

[m1k3]

if I reduced the hops in some of them by a factor of 2 or 3 would anyone actually be able to tell the difference?

There is much more to hops than IBUs. So, yes there is a difference. If a specific wort had a theoretical maximum capability of 100IBUs, and you made several beers with 100,200,300 calculated IBUs... they would be perceptibly different beers.

Now back to your question, yes you can back down the hopping rates and made good beers (you might even like them better than the original recipe).

 

[signpost]

+1 that there is more to it than IBUs.

I'd bet most beers that are advertised as more than 100 IBUs (especially the ones upward of 200) are calculating IBUs from flame out or whirlpool hops that don't really add much bitterness. IBUs can be a good measurement tool for brewers, but it isn't quite as useful as I used to think it was for assessing flavor.