24 Bottles of Beer on the Wall

When my parents visit St. Andrews for my graduation in June of this year it will be the first time both of them will be in St. Andrews since the Summer of 2006. As such, I thought it an especially fitting time to celebrate and have been dreaming up ways in which to do so. My first idea was to put money behind the bar in Aikmans where I work. Jenny however rightfully vetoed this plan because I know too many people there and would not spend the evening talking to her and my parents, but instead to everyone else.

The plan I eventually settled on was a BrewDog tasting. BrewDog is a Scottish craft brewery located outside of Aberdeen. Founded in 2007 it makes some of the most extreme and interesting beers you are ever likely to taste. And over the last week or so I have made it my mission to acquire as many different beers as I could from BrewDog's short history. So far the list totals 24 different types of beer. Among the list are some notable bottles....


Tokyo -- 18.2% -- An imperial stout brewed with cranberries and jasmine.

Tactical Nuclear Penguin -- 32% -- Formerly the record holder for worlds strongest beer, an imperial stout that has been freeze distilled for increased alcohol content.


Hops Kill ? -- 7.8% -- Originally named 'Hops Kill Nazis' a red ale with an IBU of 80, brewed with                                   chinook and centennial hops

Anarchist Alchemist -- 14% - A triple dry hopped triple IPA

Sunk Punk -- 7.1% -- an IPA brewed in tanks at the bottom of the North Sea (no I'm not kidding)



Peter Wood at Luvians has been very helpful with my quest to acquire these beers, and will hopefully be joining us for the tasting during graduation week. During the coming two months I will be trying to find another 10 or so of their beers and attempting to devise an appropriate order in which they should be tasted. I am slightly concerned, that given the generally high alcohol content of BrewDogs beers, even tasting 50ml of each of the 24 beers so far is the equivalent of drinking ~8 pints of regular strength beer.

I have a feeling that at the end of the night there will be no beers on the wall -- but many people on the floor.