Beer Blog & Beer Reviews

Continuing our quest to conquer the box of BrewDog’s finest, we have for our perusal a bottle of Dogma. At 7.8% it’s a strong one, with some unique ingredients bringing a wide palate of smells and tastes. BrewDog themselves describe it as “A conspiracy of transcontinental ingredients infused with some devastatingly BrewDog imaginative thinking.” Excellent.

BrewDog Dogma

Upon opening and having a hearty sniff, the main impression is a back of the nose smell which is sugary and has that warm quality that a good, malty ale always has. There’s plenty of hints of the main ingredients of kola nut, poppy seed and heather honey, and one can almost smell the effort put in to the brew. The aroma is pleasant rather than overpowering, and the clean purity of the scent and colour of the poured item encourages you to take a sip.

The smell doesn’t carry over to the taste, like so many ales which can seem to spend more time in the nose than in the mouth. Those kolas and poppies bring natural, leafy tones to the taste, and the other main ingredient of guarana gives an added pep to the already strong cola-style experience. Because the smell is not overpowering when drinking, this ale is a wonderful thing to quaff, leaving your mouth clean and refreshed after every mouthful. There is a definite thickness to the taste, which comes from the strength of the brew, but the flavours are so good that you don’t notice any unpleasant, back-of-the-mouth style antics normally associated with highly alcoholic beverages.

During our exploits with the BrewDog ales, everyone has had an opinion on each brew. I personally - being a fan of heavier beers - loved Paradox Smokehead, while the other chaps were more appreciative of the hoppier pales such as Trashy Blonde and Punk IPA. This was the beer we most agreed on, being variously described as “awesome” and “the best beer we’ve had all evening”. If Trashy Blonde is the ultimate session pale ale, Dogma is the ultimate strong ale in BrewDog’s arsenal.