Name: BrewDog Dana

Style: Single Hop IPA (India Pale Ale)

Country: Scotland

ABV: 6.7%

Beer description: This beer is part of BrewDog’s IPA is Dead series which showcases four different single hops IPA’s from four different continents.  In this case, the hop, Dana, is from Slovenia.  Single hopped beers are a great way to show off a hop but can often be difficult. Some hops are great for aroma, others for taste or bittering.  While there are hops out there that are considered versatile, and single hopped beer doesn’t allow for any flavour interaction and the hops don’t have any buddies to lean on!

The aroma is earthy and musky with a bit of stewed fruit thrown in for good measure.  It’s an aroma that wants to come out but isn’t quite getting there.  The caramel malts in the beer bring out caramel aromas (of course) as well as a bit of vanilla.  There’s a hint of spice in there as well which goes well with everything.

The beer is on the sweet side.  The bottle says that this beer, as well as all in the IPA is Dead series are brewed at 75 IBU’s, which should amount to a fairly bitter beer.  It simply doesn’t seem to be coming through here.  It’s certainly a malty beer, but it’s hard to find the bitterness that it claims to have.  The bitterness comes through the entire mouth, rather than at the back as often happens; it spreads out instead of being concentrated which may be why it doesn’t feel like a very bitter beer.

It’s difficult to get past all the malt in the beer, and it doesn’t feel like there’s much in the middle here.  It’s just sweet up the front, slightly bitter at the back.

As a single hop, it’s seems that Dana isn’t strong enough to go up against the amount of malt in this beer.  The malt is giving the beer tons of body, but it’s just not sitting right, it feels a little thick and syruppy.

All that being said, as part of the IPA is Dead series, these need to be enjoyed together for comparison sake.  So try all of them, compare, and find a favourite.

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And for those not in the know, IPA stands for India Pale Ale. Find out why it’s called IPA.