BrewDog Camden was the first BrewDog pub opened in London and 4th in the UK, just after Aberdeen, Edinburgh, and Glasgow. For a while, when I was still living in Camden it was ma local pub, that I was visiting rather often, and now I miss it a bit. BrewDog as a brewery has changed throughout years. They have started as a typical craft brewery, two guys that gave up on their boring 9 to 5 lives and started brewing truly craft beer. After 11 years they have become an expansive multinational corporation worth above $1bln that has the second Brewery in USA and tens of pubs all around the world. One of these pubs is BrewDog Camden on which I would like to focus today. A good pub, which is not always obvious, is not only about the large selection of beers and other alcohols but it is also about atmosphere, crew and so called ,,bar furniture" known better as regular customers.

BrewDog Camden has 18 taps, out of which, a majority is from their own brewery, however, almost always there are some guest beers available. There is also a quite good selection of bottles both from BrewDog and other breweries, however, there are no pumps, but every enthusiast of craft beer will find something interesting there. The atmosphere is not bad, but it could be better. Due to the location in Camden, there are a lot of customers from ,,the street" mostly tourists, that tend to visit it only once in their lifetime and never come back. It is really good for business but negatively affects the atmosphere. Also, because of that, there are rather few locals. Too few to actually make a core of the guests.

Brewdog Crew is ,,OK” everything seems fine, waiting time is relatively short. When you are sitting at the bar and you have already finished your beer, they will ask if you want another one but there is no serious relationship between the bar and the guests. Diego, one of the bartenders is an exception. He is a lovely person with whom it is very easy to find a common language and who will always look after you. Generaly speaking, BrewDog Camden is a pub of high standards. Of course, there are some drawback, but they are only visible to ,,pub furniture” like me. Majority of people will never notice them. Time for a beer!

Punk IPA

I have started my visit with a BrewDog flagship, Punk IPA, an almost legendary beer that brought the craft to everyday Joe before it was cool. According to my best knowledge, it is also one of the first beers brewed by BrewDog. Punk is brewed in famous style of IPA, well known to all beer geeks. It is dark gold and has a nice white head with a good lacing. Aroma is mostly malts and American hops, in this particular case you can smell citrus fruits like oranges and tangerines. Taste wise, beer is really well balanced.The slightly sweet malty layer is countered by hoppy bitterness with noticeable citrus notes. Punk IPA, like other beers from BrewDog has a really clean profile and because of that is easily distinguishable in a blind test. Majority of the BrewDog beer has this common taste note. It is really refreshing even though it has 5.6% of alcohol. After more than 10 years on the market, Punk IPA is still extremely popular, which is the best proof of high quality. Personally I rate this beer at 3.5/5 but only because I have tried better beers. 7 years ago I would definitely give 4.5/5.
More BrewDog reviews are coming soon. Cheers!