BrewDog Releases #HomeBrewDog Wininng Entry: Tropic Thunder

There are many reasons why people choose to brew their own beer, but one of the most fascinating is the unique window that homebrewing can give you into the past. Brewers by nature are creatures of habit and documenting recipes is something that has been going on for hundreds of years – a result of which is the opportunity to become a hop-flecked time traveller and explore old recipes, trends and beer styles. And if you want proof of what that can lead to, ask Tom Doyle.

His winning #HomeBrewDog entry, Tropic Thunder, is out now.

The first running of our global search to find next-level homebrew talent ended when our judges sampled Tom’s entry, inspired by the historically high-gravity porters and stouts of the Caribbean. His throwback to times of tri-cornered hats and buccaneering amazed the BrewDog panel with its depth and complexity, and resulted in Tom finishing top of the 307 different brews that were entered into our #HomeBrewDog contest.

Tropic Thunder is a 7.0% ABV stout inspired by those historical beers of a deeper body but with a restrained bitterness. His creation achieves this via the twinned twists of a high percentage of Crystal malt in the grist, giving a roasty caramel baseline, and the addition of orange peel added at the end of the boil. This leaves a burst of citrus at the end of the finish, complementing the dry bitterness and rounding out the flavour following the initial layers of espresso and cacao.

Tom hails from Dublin and became interested in the art of creating your own beer whilst at university, eventually joining the Capital Brewers homebrew club to hone his skills even further. We had a great time welcoming Tom to Ellon to brew Tropic Thunder – and for anybody that would like to chat to him in person about his creation, Tom will be launching the beer on draft at BrewDog Edinburgh from 6pm tomorrow, Friday 27th January – complete with a tap list chosen entirely by him!

For everyone else who would like to sample Tropic Thunder, it is live in our online shop now and will be pouring from our UK Bars on draft tomorrow at 6pm. It will also be added to our bars bottle list, and from Tuesday 31st January will be listed in 200 Tesco stores nationwide!