Thought I'd better hurry up and review this one, in case it disappears from sight given Brewdog's much-publicised financial collapse (and utter shafting of their "Equity for Punks" small investors...)
Brewdog Punk AF
What's it like? You can see what they've done with the name there - it's alcohol-free (actually 0.5%), but also Punk AF! And that's all well and good, but what's it like to drink? Well, it majors on citrus notes (grapefruit?) but minors on tasting like an ale. Don't get me wrong, it's entirely pleasant and genuinely quite refreshing, but it struck me, half-way through, that I didn't really feel like I was drinking a beer. And that's a problem, given that this is marketed as an IPA. The fact that I was drinking it straight from the can, and so didn't have the visual reinforcement, probably didn't help. But I just felt like I was drinking a nice, light, refreshing soft drink... which makes you start to question the price, and your life choices. Or is that just me?
Would I drink it in a pub? Yes.
Would I drink more than one? Probably.
Would I drink it all night? No.
Stats: 0.5% ABV. Calories 15 kcal/100ml. Currently £5 for 4 x 330ml cans in Sainsbury's
Stars: ★★★☆☆
Does sort of feel like Brewdog missed a trick not licensing Do The Dog for use in their ads. No wonder they went bust...
I'm biased against this one straight out of the gate I'm afraid. I was given a Brewdog mix-pack for Christmas a few years ago and didn't like any of 'em, so I can't imagine deciding to try the low alcohol version, unless there was absolutely no other option.
ReplyDeleteI hear you. I'm now very anti too, after the treatment their small investors have just got. To be fair, this is alright, it just doesn't make me think "IPA" in any way. There are better alternatives.
DeleteIn spite of all my love for and close associations with it in my youth, I'm so bored, so jaded by the appropriation, revisionism, restyling and the still banging on about punk that the name alone puts me off now!
ReplyDeleteIt was very much part of their identity, to the extent that their fundraising scheme, allowing small investors to "own shares in a brewery" was called Equity For Punks. It attracted a lot of interest, and raised £75 million from the man in the street. Of course when corporate investors got involved, they got preference shares, rather than the "ordinary" shares the Punks got... which means that now the whole shooting match has been sold, asset-stripped and partially closed, the corporates have got some money back from the sale whilst the Punks have been screwed over, and get nothing. I guess it is the way of the world, but it stinks to high heaven.
DeleteOh I'm sorry, I didn't know all that as I didn't follow your links - remiss of me - and now sound like I'm whingeing about something so unimportant about the whole thing when so much good was intended. Thanks for explaining in a nutshell here. Definitely the way of the world, how things have gone from there.
DeleteNo apology necessary, C. I guess the lesson for small investors is, don't invest in something that needs to co-opt punk for marketing purposes in the 21st Century!
DeleteWise words Martin
DeleteTrouble is, you never see advice like that next to "The value of your investment can go down as well as up", do you?
DeleteThe thing that has most annoyed me is how that absolute dick of a founder keeps banging on about how sorry he is for all those who were part of the Equity For Punk side of things, while enjoying a lifestyle bankrolled by the tens of millions he got from the sale a few years ago to hedge fund investors.
ReplyDeleteYes. It boils my piss, to be honest.
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