Name: Brewdog Waimea

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, Waimea, is from New Zealand.  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 of pine, grapefruit, and lemon zest with malt goodness and pavlova with passion fruit.  The smell of this beer feels like New Zealand; it has the feel of a subtropical rain forest about it.  The hop aroma is well balanced with the malt.  Waimea is has the capacity as both a bittering and an aroma hop, and, as this beer is quite malty, goes well as a single hop.

As mentioned, it’s a malty beer, and this is what comes up front in the taste – sweetness with a touch of vanilla.  The citrus tries to come out in the middle but is pushed back by the all in all bitterness of the hops.  Here, there’s a quick battle between the bitterness and the citrus of the hops: the citrus pushes back briefly but the dry bitterness comes back for the win.  The bitterness pauses momentarily in the back and then dissipates.  It lingers, but leaves more quickly than would be expected.  Still, the bitterness sits as would be expected in an IPA.

The IPA is Dead series is built on a very malty backbone, and this hop combats it well.  There’s some good body in the beer, but it’s thinned out a bit by the hop making for a fairly balanced beer.  Waimea is a good selection for a single hopped beer.

Check out other IPA reviews.

Check out other BrewDog beer reviews.

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