liquid sunshine: whisky at its most personal - In the Doghouse, Glasgow

In the doghouse.
Again?

Still!
But today I have company.

The Brewdog Boilermaker Series of whiskies.
Resurrecting the hauf’n’hauf with a Brewdog chaser??
Now THAT sounds like a match made in heaven for a Glaswegian with time on his hands.

I’ve been blown away over the years by the success Brewdog have had with their craft beers from a remote base in the far north east of Scotland. These days you accept amazing stuff can crop up in the strangest of places, but the ‘death of distance’ is usually a digital phenomena, so for James and the Brewdog team to have built such a successful global brewing venture on the fisherman’s jaggy-jawed coast of the North Sea is simply remarkable.

Since their beginnings, Brewdog have never been afraid of making bold statements:
I applauded their technical skills in brewing Tactical Nuclear Penguin at a 32% ABV, I laughed at their 55% ABV End of History coming in a stuffed animal bottle, and I can happily sink a 0% ABV Nanny State iPA zero alcohol brew to regain my equilibrium in the middle of a session.

Now they have collaborated with three innovative whisky makers – Zuidam, Compass Box and Duncan Taylor – to craft a set of BoilerMaker whiskies to cuddle up to their awesome beers. What could be finer?
(As a side note, I love Zuidam, if only for the fact it lets you appropriately bookend any whisky A-Z.)

Now it may not be the standard modus operandi of the whisky connoisseur, but at Liquid Sunshine we favour road-tests. I wouldn’t buy a motorbike without taking it for a blast down some winding highway in the wild, so we like to do the same for whisky. As BrewDog felt the need to release a range of three colour coded no-age-statement Boilermaker Whiskies designed to complement their ales, I felt the need to roadtest them in their own habitat as nature intended, in the Doghouse in Glasgow’s Merchant City.

The bar

The Doghouse. bar and grill, Glasgow Merchant City

Brewdog’s central servery in Glasgow, a custom bar with grill, is as hipster and happening as its more traditional-pub cousin in Glasgow’s West End across from Kelvingrove Art Gallery. The Merchant city area of Glasgow has undergone much gentrification in recent years, restoring it to the glories of its tobacco-baron heyday and it’s a fine location to spend a lazy afternoon. Where better to meet the re-imagined love-child of craft brewer and distiller than among the rebirth of Glasgow’s architectural past.

The Doghouse sits neatly on Hutcheson street, in a traffic-calmed zone with civilised outside tables beckoning the sun. It features post-industrial chic, glass and distressed wood, grill dining and beer. It’s a quality re-purposing of imposing Victorian stone architecture for the 21st century plate-glass urban achiever crew.

As for the Boilermaker, the mixing of whisky and beer is likely as old as… well, whisky and beer. The hauf ‘n’ hauf was a staple of the Glasgow pubs of my youth, a dram with a half pint of heavy (bitter/Scotch ale) on the side to wash it down. Over in America I saw many a boilermaker sunk in my Chicago days, guys hunched at the bar in dusty dives and biker joints across the Midwest spicing up their frosty beers by adding a shot.

Brewdog boilermaker, pint of beer and glass of whisky

The sweetheart spirits in the Boilermaker Series have been individually crafted to bespoke recipes to cuddle up to their matched brew as a boilermaker or hauf’n’hauf. There’s no coyness here. These drams are full-on partners to the pint. And they all make great couples, either dancing together or hand in hand.
They’re pretty damn good on their own as well.

After some discussion at the bar, the course was set. The session would be kick-started on Torpedoed Tulip paired with a Dead Pony Club Pale Ale, followed by a lap on Transistor with Punk IPA to cross the finishing line on Skeleton Key with Jet Black Heart stout. The barista mentioned the Skeleton Key also works well with the Zombie Cake porter so I decided to fire that up for the lap of honour. Weirdly enough for such a popular, trendy joint, this would all be accompanied by the piped soundtrack of my schooldays, a bit of Nick Drake, Bob Dylan, the Stones, and, even some Neil Young.

The pairings

The approach was simple. First, sip the shot and ‘swallay’ some beer half and half style, then finish by adding the whisky to the remaining half pint of beer (without the theatrics of chugging a depth charge) for a standard boilermaker. (To see the detailed tasting notes for each dram follow the links.)

Bottle of Torpedoed Tulip Dutch Rye Whisky from Zuidam

Torpedoed Tulip is a 100% rye whisky from Millstone, made at the Netherlands’ Zuidam distillery, matured exclusively in ex-oloroso Sherry casks and bottled at 46% ABV.

Dead Pony Club is a great summer pint and a session ale that holds its own all year round. Hoppy, fragrant with a slight citrus froth, it’s a light pint, as good as you’d expect from the punkmeisters of craft beer.

This is a well-matched couple. The citrus notes tango cheek to cheek while the bitter-sweet sugar whispers sweet nothings to the fragrant hops.

Transistor is a blended Scotch by Compass Box marrying malt and grain, bottled at 43% ABV. Light amber with sweet creamy notes giving way to tropical fruits.

Punk IPA Brewdog’s first and flagship brew. The implausible rebadging of a quintessential British Empire classic ale reimagined with the ironic twist of new world hops, that set the new standard, kickstarted Brewdog and fuelled the global craft beer revolution.

Skeleton Key is a blended Scotch whisky created in collaboration with Duncan Taylor, containing peated Bunnahabhain with a high ration of single malt, bottled at 46% ABV.

Jet Black Heart is a pitch-black milk stout, full-bodied and offering the promise of dark delights. Smooth, lovely and mild, with cacao, roasted coffee and berry fruits, you’d take it home with you any night of the week.

Zombie Cake is a dark-as-night praline porter. Bitter nutty chocolate, layers of smooth roasty character with notes of vanilla and coffee, closing in a quick finish with little aftertaste.

And the winner is…

Torpedoed Tulip with Dead Pony Club was without a doubt my favourite boilermaker.

Transistor with Punk IPA, reminding me of the lick-trading twin guitars of Thin Lizzy, was my favourite hauf’n’hauf.

Skeleton Key was my favourite whisky of the night, the peated Bunnahabhain steering the flavour without dominating. Jet Black Heart and Zombie Cake were both delicious, but overwhelmed the dram on my palate.

What can I say?
As a cask-matured Glaswegian of a certain vintage, I’m fairly sure the brewer and distillers would recommend not rolling through the entire Boilermaker series in a single sitting, but this was a wonderful way to spend an evening. I have enormous respect for what the guys at Brewdog have achieved, and in the Boilermaker Series they and their partners have done a fantastic job in matching beer and whisky. Another great scene-setting move by Brewdog, and their innovation roots are still showing.