Thicc

Getting mouthfeel into otherwise light-bodied beers seem to be the urgent issue of the day among IPA brewers. Oats are often pressed into service; likewise lactose has offered a shortcut to achieve the results that our daddies managed with mash temperatures and invert sugar. What happens if you pile all the modern techniques in together? Thankfully, BrewDog is here to show us.

Duopolis is billed as an "oat cream DDH IPA" which sounds like something hefty but it's only 4.7% ABV. It looks like a proper New England IPA, being a dense and opaque yellow, shading almost to green. The aroma is mild and mostly vegetal: a buzz of salad leaves with a splash of sweet dressing. The mouthfeel checks out, being properly smooth and custard-creamy. It is a little thin when compared against the 6%+ takes on the same style, though that does add to its drinkability: no extreme flavours or booze heat here.

The veg turns to fruit on tasting, becoming a smoothie of mango, kiwi and apple, but retaining a light peppery spice: fresh rocket and thoroughly matured kimchi. A vanilla sweetness lasts long into the finish. This is a bit of a Waldorf salad, but enjoyable nonetheless, the crazy twists restrained by that modest ABV.

Fans of The Modern IPA but looking for it in a mass-produced sessionable package obviously don't exist, but if they did they'd be all over this. Well done to BrewDog for carving out that niche.

Speaking of Modern IPA, BrewDog's first foray into this realm was Hazy Jane, back in 2017. I trekked all the way to their pub in Liverpool to try it. Since then it has been reformulated and re-released, the ABV brought down from 7.2% to 5%. You can still get the earlier one, under the name "O-G Hazy", but for the sake of completeness, and since new Hazy Jane was now on the shelves in Ireland, I thought I'd throw a review in here.

It's definitely toned-down. The texture is even a little thin, which shouldn't be happening. Tropical juicy stuff? No, not really. There's a hint of peach, some sweet red apple, and a mild lime bitterness. A certain savoury yeast-dreg is included too, but even this is low-impact. The alcohol in the first version seems to have really served a purpose and I completely understand why they brought it back because this is no substitute. Duopolis does a much better job of delivering the goods.