Breakfast Beer Tasting: Brewdog HBC

And so to the last in the IPA is Dead range. Surprisingly this is not named after HSBC’s stock symbol on the New York Stock Exchange, but a new type of hop. So new that it hasn’t got a proper name yet, but is called Hope Breeding Company after the guys who brought us Simcoe. 

It poured light amber with good carbonation and a very small off-white head. The aroma was very pleasant: plenty of tropical fruit-passion fruit and pineapple in particular. The body seemed quite light and the mouthfeel was tangy. I got plenty of passion fruit, mandarin and mango in the taste with a medium bitterness level and a good, dry resinous finish.

I liked this. It was full of juicy flavours and delivered a clean tasting, interesting IPA. More fruity and tangy than bitter, the fruit sugar element does very well in disguising the alcohol level. I can see this working in combination with other hops, but here it stands proudly on its own.