Take 5 - new guest beers!

The New Beer Carousel never stops, here at BrewDog HQ. Admittedly, it's not actually a carousel – sweeping in circles on an intricately decorated wooden horse would probably make it tricky to pop the cap off the latest bomber from Elysian, or To Øl. Nevertheless, we're constantly looking to refresh our guest lineup, bringing new beers in for your drinking pleasure; either from our online shop, behind the counters of one of our bars, or – of course – now direct from the shelves of BottleDog. Here are five recent arrivals that you should be seeing very soon; if you get to try any of these, leave us a comment below! Likewise, let us know if there are any other breweries you'd like us to get hold of. Saddle up.



Victory Prima Pils (5.3%)
Clear as a bell, sweet and lozengy; it's safe to say that if Victory Prima Pils was at the fairground, it would walk away with all the prizes. When you take a long pull on a beer that is this near-perfect, the only response is a simple 'Das ist Prima!' - a fitting utterance of pleasure and happiness. Victory brewmasters Bill Covaleski and Ron Barchet both trained in Munich, and bring countless years of German-influence to their Pennsylvania beer making. Prima is just a wonderfully balanced, florally hopped delight.

Oh, and if you're one of Victory's many UK-based fans, you might want to keep a gap in your beer-drinking diaries for the middle-end of this month. Just saying...

Mikkeller MAD Salt (4.5%)
Mikkel Borg Bjergsø doesn't like to sit still for long. Or, at all, judging by the number of Mikkeller beers that tips through the doors of Brew HQ. The ultimate collaborationist, Mikkel recently joined forces with Copenhagen überchef Jakob Mielcke to produce the MAD series - a selection of food-friendly beers themed around the five basic tastes. You can try them all at BrewDog, looking stunning in their 750ml helter-skelter livery.

MAD Salt is brewed with pickled and salted plums (umeboshi), then zapped with Brettanomyces. The result? A flash of salt at first on the finish, then a rising, refreshing saline focus. More salty lick than salty kiss - fascinating, divisive, fortifying as ever.



Clown Shoes Brown Angel (7.0%)
Proving you can't have a fairground big-top without clowns, Clown Shoes Brewing don't take themselves too seriously for one moment. Based in Ipswich, Massachusetts, Brown Angel is one of their best-sellers - and deservedly so. 'Not your old-school brown, but rather a sexy American interpretation', they declare, it is hopped with Columbus, Amarillo and finished with East Kent Goldings.

Essentially, you can sum it up in two wonderfully-related words. Easter Egg. That's what it tastes like - until the hops arrive, that is, and the crossover completes to the orange zesty finish. The overall expression is something akin to fruity fudge - which is one of the more unusual take-home beer flavours, but none the worse for it.



Cromarty 2^nd Anniversary Barley Wine (9.0%)
Roll up, ladies and gents - this is a big beer indeed. Double dry-hopped, the brew for Craig Middleton's second anniversary at Cromarty Brewing is a can't-miss, crowd-pleasing barley wine. Single-hopped throughout, it's a love letter to Columbus, and produces one of the best aromas you're ever likely to uncover in a beer. It's staggering - sweet, turbo-honeysuckle; candy floss in a glass. Yes, there is a touch of bitterness on the finish, and it verges into IPA territory, but the rich, sweet, lazy-day flavours are just spellbinding. We're not sure if 'unctuous' has ever been used as a tasting-note before, but it has now.



Great Divide Hercules Double IPA (10.0%)
Finally, we have the muscle. Striding up to the High Striker, sledgehammer cocked over the shoulder, is Great Divide's 10% double IPA Hercules. Sure, Hercules has been around these shores for some time now, but this particular one is super-fresh and ready to go. A modern classic, it is sappy and almost biting with resin, but has a huge creamy sweetness from the malt bill; the other rippling bicep, working in tandem with the hopload. Great Divide are masters of the big beer, and this is one of the very best. Enormous of finish, with a distinctive alcohol burn, you know when Hercules swings that mallet, that bell is going to ring.

So! What did you think of these brews? Any other guest beers that deserve a mention? Hit us up in the comments!