BrewDog aren’t all about the stunt beer and over-the-top prankish gimmickry. They aren’t even all about brewing at the stronger end of the spectrum. They do happen to do both of those things particularly well, but they don’t neglect the more-everday stuff, either. I really liked ‘The Physics’, an amber ale I discovered a few years ago (and which the Malthouse imported a few cases of in our metric-tonne-haul), so when I stumbled upon a bottle of this, I snapped it up.

They’re pretty freewheeling about their range, but it looks like ‘5am Saint’ has basically taken the place of The Physics as their amber ale and so inherited its livery. The label notation has changed from “laid back” to “iconoclastic”, and that about sums it up; the fruity flavours have gone from smooth and delicious to smooth, delicious and weird — the tartness takes a leap upwards, turning the subtle curranty flavour in The Physics into berryish, plummy snap. It’s a nice little sipper — the weirdness isn’t overdone, I mean — and as it warmed up I found that the bigger maltier, bordering-on-chocolatey tones started to stand out among the amicable little gathering of flavours.

And then, when I was filing my photos ready for upload, I noticed the the photo I took of this was spookishly-reminiscent of my most-recent other BrewDog, the ‘Rip Tide’ Imperial Stout. Unintentional, but kinda neat.

Verbatim: BrewDog ‘5am Saint’ 23/2/11 from NWT, at MH after some Beer Menu v3 work. I did really like ‘The Physics’, so thought I’d try this. Replacement or companion? Not sure. Definitely weirder fruity flavours in there. Berryish, but bigger + rounder + almost plummy. Tartness in the face, rather than sweet. 5% 330ml Smoother chocolatey side emerges as it warms.