To celebrate their 20th year of brewing fine beers, Flying Dog brewery has released an American IPA brewed with Belgian wheat.
I first tried this one after a midnight shift and I wasn’t sure what to expect with the combination of an IPA & Belgian Ale. ( Not to mention the picture of what looks like an underfed ticked off wild dog with evil looking eyes and teeth that would scare a great white shark ) so, at 8am, I slowly opened one, poured it slowly, raised it to my nose slowly and tasted it even slower.
The first thing I noticed was the aroma, yes even before I looked at the color and the size of the head. It seemed to raise itself out of the glass and make a streamline for my nostrils. You know, like in the Tom and Jerry cartoons, when Tom puts a piece of cheese on a mouse trap and turns a fan on to direct the smell of the cheese toward Jerry, then Jerry sniffs the air until he is entrapped by the aroma and follows it to the trap? Yeah, it’s just like that. The color is a nice clear amber with a white head that left decent lacing. At first it tasted a little bitter, like a good IPA should, then the malts kicked in. Sweet, earthy, almost grassy taste, but just for a second or two then the hops took over again. It was almost like the hops and malts were fighting it out on my taste buds. Kinda left my mouth spinning and my brain looking for the right descriptive words. A dry finish with a sweet undertone. This is a pretty complex brew, so I kept sipping it to try to nail the right words. Before I knew it, I had put four of them away and was feeling pretty happy. Big mistake though. Weighing in at a beefy 8.5% ABV, I woke up that afternoon with a headache only four Raging Bitches could give a guy. (still talking about the beer here guys) It did have a small note of banana’s in it somewhere and I almost felt like I was drinking two different beers at the same time. A Belgian in my right hand and an IPA in my left, but when I burped it was a definite IPA.
The Flying Dog website says it goes well with strong cheese. I took their word for it and and fixed myself a plate of sharp cheddar cheese, pepperoni and some kind of garlic flavored crackers the Mrs. picked up. Kinda like I was having a crunchy cold pizza with an exceptionally good beer. Being an Ale kind of guy, I will definitely be buying this one again. Flying Dog does an awesome job of bringing these styles of beer together to provide an excellent treat for the taste buds. I can’t find anything wrong with this beer. Nothing like a couple of Raging Bitch’s at 8am! One of my favorites.
P-O-R-C-H Rating: H+
Posted by Mr. Porch