Beer of the Week: Brewdog – Dead Pony Club

Beer of the Week by Irish Goat

BrewDog – Dead Pony Club

I’ve been a big fan of Punk IPA for years however it’s main, and perhaps only, drawback was the strong alcoholic level (5.6%), which is a little too unsessionable when on a night out. Step in Dead Pony Club, a 3.8% heavily hopped pale ale. Happily, it’s started to appear on draught and also cans and bottles around off licences and supermarkets. On first inspection the beer pours an attractive copper gold and has the unmistakable BrewDog aroma of Simcoe and Mosaic hops which gives it a wonderful citrusy, fruitiness. Taste is well hopped, bucket loads of mango, pineapple, citrus backed up by pine and malt flavours. The finish is still light and dry enough that you’re reaching for your next gulp before you know it. In all, a fantastic example of a lower alcohol American pale ale.

Fortunately when it comes to recipes BrewDog have recently released all their recipes online. DPC can be found at page 84. Attendees of BrewCon 2015 will also remember that Senior BrewDog Brewer, Ciaran Kelly, guided us through the recipe during his talk.

Hop addition times aren’t given precisely but you could probably guess easy enough. Interestingly there are no late hop additions in the boil at all! The brewer also advises not to go too mad on extra hop additions so as to prevent the beer becoming unbalanced.

The mash temperature below is also not a typo, but I would be worried that such a low temperature would give a very dry beer. Personally speaking, I would err on the side of caution and increase the temperature a few degrees and then re-adjust if necessary for a future brew.

Recipe for 23L:

Extra Pale Malt   2.79kg

Caramalt            0.63kg

Crystal 150        0.19kg

Simcoe 5g Start

Citra 5g Start

Simcoe 5g Middle

Citra 5g Middle

Simcoe 50g Dry Hop

Citra 75g Dry Hop

Mosaic 62.5g Dry Hop

Mash at 62c for 75 mins

Ferment at 19c.