Alpha Initiative #01
Flying Dog Brewery

Pours a straw yellow, slightly hazy color with ample white foamy head. Aroma is cannabis forward. Taste is weed forward again with some skunky citrus, I like it. MF is mild with a good balance of citrusy hops and a light sweet malt backbone. Finish is clean with a bit of skunk and a balance of hops and light malt

 

 

Best by 7/03. Poured to IPA glass on 7/29. (12OZ Bottle).
Aroma of hop exist but not so strong.
Well balanced hop and molts.
I should try more fresh one soon.

 

 

This site has been on Sunday since 2000 (EDT), it is now just past 0300 & I don't feel like waiting for somebody to start NBS (Week 694) when I have my New Flying Dog Beer Sunday (Week 694) ready to roll! It took me most of the week, but I am within three (3) CANs of being caught up on my Tavour CANs. In the process of rolling through them, I noticed that I had a number of Flying Dog bottles that were worthy of a brewery horizontal today. This is the seventh of (potentially) eight (8).

From the bottle: "The Alpha Initiative is a playground for our brewers to explore, create, and analyze all things
IPA."; "Pilot #01 combines two dual-purpose hops; Centennial, blended with the experimental variety
HBC-431. And to push the limits of their aromatics, our brew team used both in a continuous
dry-hopping process."

My self-avowed, self-described hophead mouth & cup runneth over! I am SO excited to have this one and #02 as the finale to today's horizontal that I can barely keep from Pop!ping the cap & simply sucking it down. That would be extremely poor form, however, so I will show utmost self-control & restraint & actually conduct a review.

I Pop!ped the cap, but just before I did so, I could have sworn that I saw a tad bit of lees on the kick/punt. No matter, as I would have conducted a slow, gentle pour anyway, but now, there was no way that I was going to do anything different. I debated marking this one as Golden-Amber (SRM = > 5, < 7) or solid Amber (SRM = > 7, < 9), but when The Gelt Gang of Midas, Mammon & Croseus came running in from the living room in the middle of the Pirates (black & gold) game, I knew that it was the former. Hint: I won't argue with the latter. A vigorous in-glass swirl raised just under three fingers of dense, foamy, rocky, tawny head with great retention that left loads of lacing in its wake. Nose had an oily, resinous pine quality like that of a freshly-felled tree. 8=O Why can I not control my drooling?!? I feel like one of Pavlov's dogs! Okay, I put on a bib, so things are less messy. Mouthfeel was medium-to-full, not quite creamy, but big for an AIPA. Oops! I just creamed my jeans ala Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer! Aw. 8=( This beer is just too much excitement for this kid. You might think that I was just sucking this one down, but au contraire, mes amis! This was like the one-legged pig that had rescued an entire family from their burning home - too good to drink/eat all at once! Ha. There are times when self-restraint is actually rewarding, this being one of them. Yum yum. The taste was absolutely, utterly pine, but rounded at the edges, either by the experimental hop or the biscuit-y malts. Either way, it was very minty in an evergreen sort of way & for the second time today, I was reminded of my late Pops & his menthol cigarettes. Kool! No, he smoked Carltons. :=( Man, the cool, minty dryness of this one was really literally breathtaking. Phew! Finish was cool, minty & dry. This is EXACTLY how I expect my AIPAs to look & taste! It's not even personal taste, it is by the style descriptions. Take yer hazy, tropical experiments and initiative them up yer bum, ya bums! Would yinz please make more of this?

Nice easy drinking pale ale. American hops wise but balanced with a notable caramel like malt enough to really seem more a Brit style bitter to me.
Enjoyed it.

 

Poured from a 12 oz bottle into a Dogfish Head tulip

L: Clear light golden pour. 2 fingers of foamy white head leaves a solid ring of lacing.

S: Biscuity malts and piney hops mixed with light citrus.

T/F: Follows the nose... crackery malts/grains... good bitterness. Hop profile tending towards the pine/herbal. Lighter citrus/lemon in the background. Balanced with some sweetness mid-swig. Relatively light... well carbonated. Bitter aftertaste.

O: A solid IPA... good bitterness and balanced. Pretty easy drinking.

A treat. Reminiscent of The Truth, but milder and not as rich in hop flavors.

 

I saw this in the store and either missed it before or it took a while to get here. It's definitely still great.

It pours dirty yellow with uniform, medium sized bubbles. The aroma is ample warning of a nice hoppy drink with some nice floral tones. The taste is hop forward, fresh hoppy, yet still a bit sweet. Sitting a couple months may have mellowed this hop bomb, but to good effect. After all, in the origins of IPA's hops were a preservative and the ale was meant to stand up during a long voyage. This one is very refreshing.

Recommended.

12 ounce bottle into tulip glass, best before 7/8/2018. Pours fairly crystal clear golden amber color with a 2 finger dense and rocky off white head with fantastic retention, that reduces to a large cap that lasts. Dense foamy lacing clings around the glass, with a fair amount of streaming carbonation. Fantastic appearance. Aromas of lemon, grapefruit, peach, pear, pineapple, mango, melon, berry, citrus peel/zest, mint, green pepper, pine, honey, white bread dough, biscuit, herbal, and floral/grassy earthiness. Nice and pleasant aromas with good balance and complexity of citrus/fruity/earthy hops and bready malt notes; with solid strength. Taste of lemon, grapefruit, peach, pear, pineapple, mango, melon, berry, citrus peel/zest, mint, green pepper, pine, honey, white bread dough, biscuit, herbal, and floral/grassy earthiness. Light-moderate pine, citrus peel, herbal, grassy, spicy bitterness on the finish. Lingering notes of lemon, grapefruit, peach, pear, pineapple, mango, melon, berry, citrus peel/zest, mint, green pepper, pine, honey, white bread dough, biscuit, and herbal/floral/grassy earthiness on the finish for a while. Very nice complexity, robustness, and balance of citrus/fruity/earthy hops and bready malt flavors; with a great malt/bitterness balance, and zero lingering hop astringency after the finish. Light-moderate increasing dryness from lingering bitterness. Medium carbonation and medium-plus body; with a very smooth, moderately creamy/bready/grainy, and fairly sticky balanced mouthfeel that is nice. Zero warming alcohol for 6.5%. Overall this is a very good IPA. All around nice complexity, robustness, and balance of citrus/fruity/earthy hops and bready malt flavors; very smooth and easy to drink with the mellowly bitter/drying finish, never aggressive. Interesting hop profile from HBC431, in combo with Centennial. Kind of Loral/Lemondrop feeling. Juicy and lightly dank hop complexity; sizable bready malt backbone, but not overly sweet. A very enjoyable and unique offering.

Best by 6/29/18.Pours into a mug a clear medium golden with a half finger bone white head atop.Quite floral and citric in the nose with caramel/biscuit undertones.Mellow citrusy hops on the palate with a hint of grass,a somewhat sweet caramel/biscuit base is there thru to the finish.It's light in feel and taste and seems much more sessionable than the abv. says it is.Pleasant enough.

It pours golden with approximately one finger of head. The aroma is very malty even though the bottle is 3 months from its BB date. The taste is very interesting with floral and citrusy notes and some kind of a weird but by no means unpleasant Sorachi Acesque lemony note. Medium to thin body. Mild carbonation.

This beer pours a bright orange gold with an average head. The aroma features notes of pine, caramel, orange peel, lemon peel, lemongrass, dill, and pollen. The flavor also rather distinct, starting with notes of sage, pine, orange peel, lemongrass, peppermint, and mango. The mouthfeel is fairly full with abundant foaming carbonation. Overall this is a pretty interesting IPA - a good mix of flavor, with strong herbal notes and supporting fruit

Poured from the bottle into a Spiegelau IPA glass.

Gleamin body color in the glass. Bright and shiny crystal clear body color, a beautiul pale bronze with faint orange and rusted yellows. Some fine carbonation and a big thick three finger tall absolutely bleach white bright head. Soapy and slightly fine bubbles, with very good retention and staying power. Excellent looking IPA.

Simple hop angle with some nuances on the aroma. Hits a little woody pine a bit, and has a touch of crispy caramel almost brown sugar but light sweetness on the nose. Faint amount of earth and a bit of stinky dank qualities also. Nothing dominates but I would say the earthyness tends to dominate after a bit. Solid and a bit unique with a bit of everything.

Palate seems to go in a bunch of directions. Light bodied, not quite session mouthfeel which is good. Crisp tastying though, with a mid palate that gets a little crispy syrupy sugars, touching with pine and earthy hop flavors. An almost adunct like feel on the finish and in flavor which comes out of nowhere. Bit of a candy like bitterness to this as well which I can't quite pinpoint.

Unique and experimental, unfortunately not really that impressive. Drinkable and at least enjoyable something that mixes it up a bit at least.

 

Flying Dog Brewery "Alpha Initiative #01"
12 fl. oz. brown glass bottle, "FOR OPTIMAL FRESHNESS ENJOY BY: 06:23:18" and sampled on 03:12:18
$2.49 @ Roger Wilco, Pennsauken, NJ

Notes via stream of consciousness: Interesting label. Does it say what types of hops are in here? Yes, Centennial, a solid stand-by, and an experimental variety, HBC-431. It also states that they use both "in a continuous dry-hopping process", whatever that means. It's poured a hazy deep golden body beneath a short head of creamy white foam. The aroma is limited, which is surprising if it's dry-hopped in some special fashion, and I hate to say it but it smells a little like lemon dish washing soap. Perhaps as it warms it will open up. The flavor follows with a similar lemon note, but no soap. A very lightly sweetish grainy malt supports it, and there's some grassy, floral, herbal, and earthy character in there as well. It's light-medium in body and gently crisp with a delicate bristle on the tongue that along with the citrusy notes leaves it very refreshing. And yet it's kind of pungent and earthy at the same time. Interesting. I really like it, but the aroma does remain a let down. Perhaps the experimental hops don't lend themselves to the aroma, however, kind of like Belma hops: good flavor but not so great for aroma. Median bitterness, but it lingers gently into the finish along with some residual pungent and citrusy hops. Looking back, the head dropped fairly quickly but the lacing remains fairly nice. Overall this is an interesting and charming, easy to drink hoppy IPA, albeit on the lighter side. Worth trying.