今晚本是要安靜嚐嚐上禮拜從 Brewdog 酒廠網站買來的《新版》『硬派狗狗』(Hardcore IPA, 9.2%abv.)，牠與之前嚐過的《舊版》僅僅 0.2%abv. 之差，但成份上有蠻大的不同：用了多種不同烘培程度的麥芽，與經典的美式 Double IPA 更為接近。

但沒事手癢上上網後，讓我大驚失色啊！據『某權威性評酒網站』的資料顯示，牠竟和在 Tesco 連鎖超市能買到的自標 Finest* American Double IPA (9.2%abv.) 是狗兄狗弟？說實在，這很有可能的。許多和超市合作提供超市自標廠牌酒的酒廠，其實是拿自己已行銷出品的某款成品酒，換個瓶標，依此促銷而已…

對於這樣的『控訴』，或『命題』，要怎樣才能辨別是否為真呢？寫email去問，可能 (一輩子也) 得不到答案；看看迷你酒窖，正好有剩下2瓶Tesco版本ㄟ… 索性，自己來嚐嚐、比較看看吧~~ 但問題是，兩款酒狗兄狗弟的出生日 (指的其實是標示的有效期限) 十分不同；如果假設兩款酒確實是一樣配方，放在一起嚐去看看有多少差異，那麼這種品飲便是所謂的『垂直式比較』，看年份年紀對酒會有甚麼樣的影響。但如果《反》假設兩款酒應是不同的，一左一右比較，凸顯可能的相同點，那又成了風格內的『平行比較』品飲… 又(不)垂直、又(不)平行的、唉… 這硬派狗狗，還真是不硬派地認真對待不行啊！

General Info.:

HI (Brewdog, Hardcore IPA, 9.2%abv.): Coming in a slim 330ml brown bottle, non bottle-conditioned; BB 12/03/2014, served cool in a long-stemmed wine glass.

TF (Tesco, Finest* American Double IPA, 9.2%abv.): Coming in a slim 330ml brown bottle, non bottle-conditioned; BB 09/10/2013, served cool in a long-stemmed wine glass.

Appearance:

4/5 HI: bright copper in colour, coming with restrained off-white fluffy head retreating to a thin blanket; carbonation is minimal.

4/5 TF: almost identical with HI, here is the sign that they might be one and the same beer… at least in appearance!

Smell:

4.5/5 HI: fresher than TF, the aroma comes more uplifting as well, showing more pronounced bouquet of flowery esters and additional ripe grapefruits on top of lychee-flower honey, rich creamy maltiness and fruit esters. There’s more explicit acidity at presence, in a very good way actually. A few good swirls wake up the resinous hop elements which furthers the 3D performance on the nose.

4/5 TF: wonderful caramely sweet, nectar-ish and perfumy malts buttress the rich fruit esters and delightful hoppiness (ripe pears, juicy lychee flesh, sweet grapefruit), reaching a nice balance; in fact, on balance, it shows more signs like a rich barley wine on the nose. A few swirls bring up the really lively “biscuit” quality of pale malts.

Taste:

4.5/5 HI: effervescent, pronounced biscuity maltiness come on top of a rich, bold, fat bedrock of resinous, lychee-ish, grapefruity, ripe guava-ish and piney hops, balanced between sweetness and chewy bitterness, while a gravity constantly pulls the palate back to the malty centre. Wonderful undertones of quality malts linger, interestingly “clean” even, while ripe grapefruit-zest-like tannic aroma and estery notes stay faithfully at the back of the tongue. Very bitter in the aftertaste, yes, but surprisingly not as long-lasting as in TF…

4/5 TF: only smoothly carbonated, the foretaste is quiet at first with signs of caramel malts, then the flavour goes deep with lychee-shell like tannic yet aromatic bitterness expanding with plentiful piney hop flavour and aroma to boot, while the estery flavour goes actually attenuated, quite different than in HI. In the long aftertaste, sweetness is in check, on top of spicy undertones and restrained fruity elements. The high-octave bitterness goes long and deep, but in a quiet way, sometimes coupled with an interestingly toasty edge.

Mouthfeel & Overall:

4.5/5 HI: creamy on the texture, with just enough fizz to render a refreshing-ish palate, the body is full to heavy, but fails to taste as such. Compared with TF, interestingly this one tastes both more uplifting and colourfully-hoppy. Fresher it is, granted. But it is hard to say whether the recipe is any different here.

4/5 TF: very soft on the carbonation, resulting in a lubricating feel on the palate, while little “sparkles” of bitter hops help keep the mouthfeel fresh; fuller-than-full bodied, this Tesco version is far more… “settled” in terms of taste than HI.

Verdict:

It is possible that, IF the recipe is the same for the two, then the “freshness” issue has played a decisive role in rendering two seemingly fundamentally different performances on the nose, on the palate, and on the mouthfeel. As anticipated, the younger HI is explosively and lively hoppy, while the aged TF over time even delivers an impression of a more hoppy version of Barleywine, all to do with the malt-hop-esters balance. Both have shown a remarkable gravity of weighty malts, utterly essential to such a strong beer like an anchor to a cargo ship. I like both very much, and thus have developed an interest in stocking more of this beer so as to observe and appreciate the evolving flavour profile over the long ageing life of this complex brew!

--Yau (tasted 21/05/2013, notes transcribed 24/05/2013)