2014 Brewdog #Mashtag

I tried the previous #Mashtag (an oaked brown ale with hazelnuts), and was reasonably impressed.

I spotted the 2014 #Mashtag in the local "bottle shop" (actually just a newsagents with a remarkable bottle selection - more to follow) and had to try it. It's an imperial red ale with hefty hops and a "twist of blood orange and citrus peel". I was concerned that while we all love citrussy hops, the addition of actual citrus usually goes pretty badly in beers (witbier being the exception that proves the rule).

But as it turns out, it was a really nice beer with a great balanced flavour, nice amount of maltiness and good hoppy nose. It's 65 IBU which is probably a bit lower than they could have got away with given it's 9% ABV, but I think this works really well - red ales are normally best if you can give the malt a bit of space to shine through, in my humblest opinion.

Upon further reading it turns out one of the main hops is Amarillo, which probably explains why I like it so much as I love that hop... Pretty sure I've never had a bad beer with it in!