Amped up beers - what are they and are they any good?
During last year, Tori noticed that several breweries were creating amped up beers.
What do we mean by that? Breweries were taking popular or award winning beers and making imperial versions of them. But does this make a better beer? We decided to investigate.
Our lineup of beers to try from Brewdog and Hammerton.
We first took a look at Brewdog’s Hazy Jane family. Hazy Jane was the first beer in this series, however the one we have today is not the original recipe and now comes in at a lower abv of 5%. Fans were not happy about this and after complaints, Brewdog brought back the ‘original’ recipe (this is disputed by fans) in the form of O-G Hazy, coming in at 7.2%. The Hazy Jane family was born! Triple Hazy was our final example in this podcast, coming in at 9.5%. There is also a Hazy AF at 0.5%, which is actually my favourite Brewdog non-alcoholic beer that I have tried.
From our tasting, Hazy Jane was my favourite. It has juicy pineapple notes with some resin and vegetal aromas from the hops. It’s very drinkable and a real summer beer. O-G and Triple had too much of the alcohol burn and bitterness for my tastes, however I can see fans of DIPAs and TIPAs enjoying these.
The Hazy Jane family of beers from Brewdog.
Next we compared Crunch and Crunchier from Hammerton. I have previously had Crunch in can and Crunchier on draft - Crunchier being my favourite. Crunch has been declared by some beer fans as the best peanut butter beer available. I, however, prefer Tailgate’s Peanut Butter Stout, then Belching Beaver’s beer of the same name, with Crunch coming in third.
Having both of these in can made my tasting experience very different. Crunch (5.4% abv) has a lovely peanut aroma with some caramel and biscuit. I found the carbonation to be lighter this time around, but I would like a little more body from this stout. Crunchier in can however (9.1% abv), is not as good as if you can get it on draught! It had more carbonation and more of a coconut wafer note in the aroma and taste than I remembered. The draught version was more chocolatey, a bit like Ferrero Roche. Perhaps they have changed the recipe slightly? They are both very good beers however and Hammerton have created a family of these by adding a new alcohol free version - listen to our Dry January episode here, to find out what we thought of that one!
Hammerton’s Crunch & Crunchier - peanut butter milk stouts.
Our final comparison was another set from Hammerton, this time City of Cake and Cake Metropolis. I was excited to try these as I had seen them many times in the numerous beer Facebook groups I lurk in and some had said City of Cake was their stout of the year.
City of Cake (5.5% abv) does what is says on the tin - you get aromas of chocolate fudge cake with some nuttiness. There is a light carbonation tiz when you sip, then it’s all fudge cake and walnut. My only minor complaint would be that I want it to be a smidge thicker on the mouthfeel. Otherwise, this is a beer to get hold of!
Cake Metropolis (11% abv) also gives you fudge cake vibes, but it is much sweeter. I got more sweet chocolate and praline on the nose from this one, more Fererro Roche than walnut, maybe some hazelnut. It was thick, rich and sweet, but a bit too much for me. City of Cake won my heart.
City of Cake and Cake Metropolis from Hammerton.
My conclusion from this tasting was - I don’t think the amped up beers are as good as the originals. But, I hasten to add, I’m not a fan of beers where the alcohol comes through. I don’t mind a higher abv beer, but I like the alcohol to blend in with the malt, hops and other flavours so it’s more well balanced (and arguably more dangerous that way!)
I think there is a market for these amped up beers though because there are people that enjoy the flavour profile that includes that high alcohol note. But it’s not for me. I’ll take your City of Cake’s though, if you want to go get more Cake Metropolis!
Have you tried any amped up beers? Do you think they are better than the original? Let us know in the comments below. And if you enjoyed this episode you can listen to more of our episodes here. Or watch us here on You Tube. You can also find it on all the big podcast platforms or ask your smart speaker to play A Woman’s Brew: The Podcast.
