The Scene: Brew Dog

Brew Dog is to punk rock, what Three Floyds is to heavy metal. It's like one of those SAT questions you had to do in your prep class back in the day. Brew Dog is one of best known microbreweries in the UK and they distribute here in the US if you're lucky enough to find it in stock. They are based out of Scotland and have 13 brewpubs in the UK. It's really a neat idea that no one around here seams to have duplicated. I was shocked when Triton opened up a brewpub in Broadripple.

In Edinburgh, Brew Dog is tucked down a little side street with some great looking, artist-painted graffiti on the side of the building. Walking in reminded me a lot of Three Floyds only it was all punk rock graffiti and natural wood. The bar wasn't huge but it was very open and had plenty of seating.

The Little Lady and I picked a table and sat down. I went up and talked to the bartender (in the UK, always go up the bar when ordering at pubs). They had seven beers on tap, so I got us each a flight of four and then we filled in the last slot with one of their guest taps. I've had a few of their beers in the past, and they do a really solid job.

 

My favorite of the flight was a barrel aged weizenbock called Abstrackt AB:14 from their Abstrackt series

 

The second best brew was Hello, My Name is Mette Marit, and Imperial IPA from their Hello My Name Is series.

Along with the flights, we ordered some bottles of their Paradox. Paradox is their big Russian Imperial Stout, and they had a few different variants. We had the scotch whiskey barrel aged and the rum barrel aged versions. Paradox was good, not quite KBS good, but the different barrel aged options made them pretty fun. They were both delicious, but I was really impressed with the rum barrel aged version. It was neat to see a different barrel used to age the beer.

For food we got their cheese board. The only food options were that and some really fun pizzas. The cheeses and meats on the board were amazing! The big flavors of the artisinal cheeses really paired well with some of the great in your face beers by these guys.