Saturdays Are For The Brews
Lead Dog Brewing

This is one of the few Lead Dog beers I actually like, cool name and label too.

Pours a light amber meets dark gold color. Cloudiness, but not gravy thick territory. 1/2" white head, good retention. The aroma was actually hoppy. Usually they fail to make a pleasant dry hop aroma, or they inundate the beer with tons of lactose or vanilla. Here it actually works. Might be Zeus, Amarillo and Citra I'm smelling here, tough to say, they only brag on their use of lactose and vanilla on their labels from what I can tell. Notes of light weed and tangerine.

Tastes like a Saturday. Chores done in the morning, rest of the day is for partying with these hops. Nice hazy use of what I suspect to be flaked wheat. Smooth, but with a bittering hop that keeps this from coming across as flabby. Light citrus and weed note, keeps the alcohol from stinging. This is the best ipa they make up there with Hop Gods.

I have a hard time ever recommending Lead Dog to anyone, but this is the exception to that rule.

 

 

 

Type: 16-oz. can
Glass: Firestone 16-oz. Spiegelau IPA glass
From: Bill
Price: N/A
Purchased: N/A; Received June 1, 2019
Consumed: June 8, 2019
Reviewed as: New England IPA
Misc.: No canned on date

Thanks, Bill!

Got this from Bill at the 2019 Firestone Invitational in one of our beer exchanges. Had generally been enjoying Lead Dog’s beer. Bunch of words on the back that didn’t describe the beer so not going to put that in here. Going into it blind, but did give a taster a 4.25 on Untappd previously on a trip to Reno.

Poured a golden hazy color with 2-to-3 fingers of uneven off-white frothy head. Lots of bubble streams coming up along the sides of the glass at different speeds. Excellent spotty uneven lacing. Almost perfect retention. (Sight - 4.75)

Smelled Citra, melon, cantaloupe, pineapple, mango, papaya, orange creamsicle and Amarillo. Even better out of the can with Amarillo and juicy orange and peach coming through. (Smell - 4.00)

Tasted even better than the nose. Got Amarillo, Citra, papaya, mango, orange creamsicle, melon, cantaloupe and El Dorado (?). (Taste - 4.00)

Medium body. Creamy texture. Average carbonation. Juicy finish. (Feel - 4.25)

Really liked this. Outstanding. (Overall - 4.00)

4.07 | 91 | A-

This ale pours a hazy yellow with a quickly dissipating head. Aroma of pine, citrus, and candied malts. Nice balanced taste. ABV is well concealed.

Appearance - Pours opaque dull yellow with a big fluffy white head, excellent retention. Spotty lacing around the glass.

Aroma - Slightly musty, big overly ripe cantaloupe and pineapple. Oats, wheat, citrus peel mostly sweet nose.

Taste - Lots of really ripe mango, pineapple and cantaloupe. hint of grapefruit and citrus peel on the end again mostly sweet flavors.

Feel - Medium bodied soft carbonation nice dry finish.

Overall - Really well done NEIPA, spot on in every aspect, great flavors soft feel.

Fresh can, yellow hazy straw. Big fruity and tropical aroma.
Flavor has waves of tropical fruit and citrus over some toasty grains. Nice bitter and earthy layer keeps all the flavors balanced .
Moderate carbonation and dry medium body.
Great overall. Clean and balanced. Not sweet and noticeable grain and bitterness

No canned date

Appearance - Pours hazy and pale orange with an off-white, near two-finger width head. Fair retention before dying down to a thin, broken layer of suds and a ring around the edge of the glass. Fair lacing, mostly consisting of a few dozen small spots.

Smell - Non-descript fruity sweetness; best guess would be candied mango, orange and a hint of melon.

Taste - Follows the nose a bit, but not as sweet as led to believe. Definite fruitiness, but hard to pick apart because of its tight cohesiveness. It's really nice though. So good. Balanced finish, with a bit of pineapple acidity adding some color.

Mouthfeel - Medium-bodied with fair carbonation. Slick, easy drinker before a slightly dry finish.

Overall - Lead Dog continues to churn out quality beers at a fair price point. This reminds me of a previous hazy DIPA they released, but the smoother, single IPA version. I just can't quite put my finger on which one.