Review: BrewDog Dogma

Brewery: BrewDog UK
Beer: Dogma Original
Style: Spiced/Herb Ale
ABV: 7.8%
Character: Brewed w/ guarana, Californian poppy seeds, kola nut and Scottish heather honey
Metal Connection: LOCK UP – Vomiting Evil

BeerMetal Rating: 4/5

First thing first, I had the hardest time finding information about this particular beer online. If you go to the BrewDog website and look up “Dogma” you get an orange labeled heather honey infused scotch ale. On to Google… “Brewdog Dogma”… found a few websites calling the one I purchased the Brewdog Dogma Original. OK, I’ll go with that then. Oh yeah, and I just read that this one used to be called BrewDog Speed Ball. Awesome!

I poured the beer into my trusty Star Wars Darth Vader pint glass. The beer poured a very nice burnt orange color with a small light tan head. The head quickly disappeared on this one, thus not leaving any residue (“Brussels” lace) on the glass. The aroma (and taste…more on that in a bit!) of this beer is a chameleon, as the first sniff of the glass the honey seemed to really pop at me. As the contents of the glass is magically disappearing, the aroma seems to be more focused on the spices and malts.

The taste of this beer as mentioned is also a chameleon, but it also could be that I am looking for certain flavors to pop out at me while drinking this one. At first, just like with the aroma, I get a heavy honey taste. The medium-to full mouth feel also helps characterize the honey on this one. Funny thing here, knowing there is guarana, and kola nut in this beer, one could not wonder what exactly that will do to a beer, since these items are mostly used in Cola, or soda. Well for me, nothing really! Haha! I’m sure in the complexity of the taste here, there are hints of everything in it, as some of the drinks of this beer, I get, at times just a mouthful of spices. Funny thing is, as I type this and take another gulp, I can’t help but notice an almost flat soda taste there. Hmmm, maybe the kola nut in there really does work. The finish or after-taste of this beer is spicy. The taste lingers for a while leaving a spicy, tingly feel in the throat, and a very complex flavor of spices.

Overall, I highly enjoy this beer, and I recommend that if you find this in your local craft beer store to buy it and give it a whirl! My Metal Connection is the band Lock Up based in the UK, which is a super group of musicians. This is the reason I chose this band for a pairing to this beer. All these flavors inside this beer met perfectly with all the great musicians within this band. Lock Up consists of Shane Embury (Absolute Power, Bent Sea, Brujeria, Insidious Disease, Napalm Death, Venomous Concept, ex-Azagthoth, ex-Blood from the Soul, ex-Intestinal Infestation, ex-Meathook Seed, ex-Unseen Terror, ex-Warhammer, Hicks Kinison, Mutation, ex-Anaal Nathrakh (live), ex-Drop Dead, ex-Malformed Earthborn), Nicholas Barker (Ancient, Brujeria (live), Noctis Imperium (live), ex-Monolith, ex-Catalepsy, United Forces, ex-Atrocity, ex-Cradle of Filth, ex-Dimmu Borgir, ex-Leaves’ Eyes, ex-Sadistic Intent, ex-Anaal Nathrakh (live), ex-Benediction (live), ex-Borknagar (live), ex-Cerebral Fix (live), ex-Criminal (live), ex-Exodus (live), ex-God Seed (live), ex-Gorgoroth (live), ex-Nightrage (live), ex-Testament (live), ex-Cancer (live), ex-Driven by Suffering, ex-Twilight of the Gods), Tomas Lindberg (At the Gates, ex-Grotesque, ex-Infestation, Ben-Hur, Disfear, The Great Deceiver, ex-Nightrage, ex-The Crown, ex-Necronaut (live), ex-Liers in Wait, ex-Sacrilege GBG (live), ex-Skitsystem), and Anton Reisenegger (Criminal, Inner Sanctvm, Pentagram Chile, ex-Fallout, United Forces). So as you can see, this band is just as complex as this beer. Enjoy this beer if you can find it in your area, and enjoy the killer tunes of Lock Up!