Who let the dogs out?

Just over a year ago, a brewing company contacted me to suggest importing their beers. It's normally the other way around. Especially in Estonia. I arranged for some samples to be shipped over, and arranged an evening with some Estonians to sample them. The conclusion - the beers weren't ready for Estonia. My conclusion - it was a bloody good beer and Estonians weren't ready for this beer.

Fast forward to today, and those beers are now in Estonia. I don't care if they aren't ready for Estonia - Estonians should make themselves ready if they want to be considered educated beer drinkers.  A pretty famous beer writer - Tim Webb, dropped by to see me a couple of months ago. He's touring Europe in preperation for writing his new book "A European encyclopedia of beer" and had just made his way up through the Baltic states. His sum up of Estonia and it's beer culture was that it didn't really have one, and that it suprised him how much more advanced Lithuania and Latvia are compared to Estonia. He added, that he wouldn't put that in his book. I told him, that the sure fire way of getting Estonia to move it's arse, was to declare that it's behind it's neighbours - especially when it comes to beer.

The Estonian beer market is sick. Drink Bar is the doctor.

The brewery in question is Brewdog. This is a brewery that doesn't care much for anything - least of all the bland, generic beers that have smothered the UK market. They are from Aberdeen in Scotland - most people from this part of the world are pretty miserable, but these guys are just plain angry. They produce beers with such venom that people approach them  with caution. These are the brewers that currently hold the record for the worlds strongest beer. "End of history" is 55% in alcohol. And it's served inside a dead animal. They managed to piss off both the alcohol activists and animal activists in one go. I defy anyone to binge drink a 55% beer. I also defy anyone not to laugh when their beer is dispensed through the mouth of a dead squirrel.

Anyway, I decided to take a chance and bring in three of their brands. Punk IPA (5.6%), Trashy Blonde (4.1%) and 5AM Saint (5%) are the champion brands of the brewery, so I chose those to start with. Depending on how they go, then I've got the option of bringing more over. But let's get these Estonians ready first.

Here's the review of PUNK IPA.

(ratebeer.com rating 96). Pours very nicely with a huge creamy head giving off loads of unusual hop flavours. I say unusual, because a beer with this amount and variety of hops hasn't been seen (or tasted) in Estonia before...

It's certainly a taste explosion on your tongue and a scent explosion inside your nostrils! One of the hops used is from New Zealand which gives off a tropical fruit like smell. And it just doesn't end with the smell either - the hops give an almost grapefruit flavour to the beer, which ends in a dry bitterness. 5.6% in alcohol, reasonably strong - but doesn't taste like it. And smooth...silky smooth.

Finished. And just wish it was a 50cl bottle so that there was more of it. It's that good. Incredible amount of flavour that just hasn't been experienced in a beer over here yet. Liberty Ale, Huvila Pale Ale, Meantime IPA - hoppy yes..but not in this league.

It just gives you a great feeling drinking this beer. An even better feeling is giving this beer to someone for the first time. It's lovely to see their suprise when they open the bottle and the aromas come flying out like a jack in the box. It's rewarding to see their face when they take that first sip. It's like when you are a new parent and you show your pictures of your baby to someone who hasn't seen him/her before. You gleam with pride, swell up and say - actually you don't say anything, you just bask in the praise that they give you.

A local came into the shop on the day that we started selling this. We were doing a sample session of the three Brewdog beers. He took a gulp of Punk IPA. Stood for a moment, and then declared that "this isn't beer" before reaching for a bottle of Rock from the shelf.

Maybe some Estonians are too tired for another revolution.