Brewdog Punk IPA Beer Review

Welcome to the Drink in the Sights Punk IPA from Brewdog Beer Review. As I write this review England is just heading in to Covid 19 full lockdown number two so I really needed something to cheer me up and what better way to do it than to review one of my favourite brewers first ever beer. You'll find Brewdog Punk IPA in pretty much every bar and supermarket in England, but until now as a hardened dark beer enthusiast I had resisted its pale embrace.

I'm sure by now you all know who Brewdog are but to cut a long story short they are a breakthrough Scottish brewer whose rise to fame began with Punk IPA and continues to this day as they continue to open breweries, pubs, and even hotels across the globe. I even gather that in the next few months a Brewdog bar will be opening my hometown of Lincoln UK so I expect you'll be able to read my review of the bar pretty much as soon as we're allowed in it. Anyway Punk IPA comes in many forms, but for the sake of this review I've gone for the 330ml bottle, the styling is less than spectacular or eye catching, but it's clearly worked for them.

Punk IPA clocks in with a fairly impressive 5.6% alcohol content meaning it packs a bit of a punch, but certainly not a knock out one like some of Brewdog's somewhat ridiculously strong beers, which having tasted a couple of them comes as quite a relief. The beer pours a fairly pleasant gold colour with a substantial white head, it's certainly a lively offering. The smell is similarly energetic with a strong grapefruit aroma topped up with mango and lime. There's certainly a tropical feel to Punk IPA which makes it stand out just enough from other IPA's to make it interesting.  

The taste is what really matters though, and this is a nice, solid, fruity IPA. This is one of those beers where the taste and smell match pretty much perfectly, there's lots of tropical fruits and just enough hops to make it interesting. Despite this been Brewdog's first and most famous beer it doesn't feel like a Brewdog brew. Sure the name is fun, and the taste is good with extremely well balanced flavours, but where's the Brewdog randomness? They have made their name by pushing the boundaries of what a beer can be, but this just feels like another pretty good IPA. 

Punk IPA from Brewdog Beer Review Conclusion

Even the alcohol percentage of 5.6% is pretty much the average for a pale ale these days so it's not exactly a ground breaking beer. There's something about Punk IPA that seems disconcerting, Brewdog beers are meant to be new and exciting, but this is just a good beer. I guess what Brewdog do have is an excellent marketing strategy which has catapulted them into the household name bracket of brewers despite only been 13 years old at the time of writing. It's hard to believe that this beer started it all, but here we are in 2020 locked down and happily still drinking it. Despite not been spectacular or ground breaking I've got to give Brewdog Punk IPA a very solid 7.5/10 it's a genuinely good drink so enjoy it.