Experimental IPA
Flying Dog Brewery

 

 

Poured from a 12 oz. can. Has a golden color with a 1/2 inch head. Smell is mild, some fruits. Taste is light tropical fruits, malts, a touch of dankness. Feels medium bodied in the mouth and overall is a mediocre beer.

 

12 fl oz can from a Flying Dog variety box nabbed at Target of all places.

6.2% ABV. Hopped with Sabro, Citra, and Simcoe.

Tangerine, tropical fruit peel, mango, guava. Sabro dominates to the detriment of the beer's overall hop profile (Citra or Simcoe would have been better at the fore).

Another shrug of a beer from Flying Dog.

C- / BELOW AVERAGE

Poured from the can into a Spiegelau IPA glass. Best before November 26th 2023.

Bright brass amber color, gem shining with West Coast like looking clarity. Rich white tall billowing head, bright with easy three fingers plus height. Thick retention and even big bubbles with a creamy top. Great looking beer.

Hop delicious forward with gum drop like candy and fruit juice aroma. Hits with soft malt but has almost a sweet dank mix as well on the nose. Mild sensing sweet and almost candy floral too. Quite impressive.

Palate takes a bit of a back seat to the impressive appearance and nose. Neutral malt flavor but a supportive malt backbone, but minimal hop sensing flavors in the mid palate. Touches a little bit of juice like fruit quality but nothing that is easily to distinguish. Slightly smokey in flavor too, with a bit of hinting pine and washing weak caramel.

Kind of an odd tasting IPA, Sabro seems to have some unique qualities, but it still makes for a passable if somewhat odd palate.

 

The pours that emptied two twelve ounce cans into a clear glass liter mug produced something that looks more like a overly carbonated Pilsner than an AIPA. The liquid is bright and shiny light amber and it's close to translucent. What makes this a believable new age IPA is the now too common stark white foam on top. It's receding unevenly, leaving irregular lacing inside the glass. It ruins what could have been a pretty sight. It smells white bready and only mildly hoppy. Its taste isn't much better. The starch backbone, guaranteed to not be all barley malt, is superficially sweet, bringing no depth, nor character. Perhaps that's not such a bad thing, as there's little hop bite as a counterbalance. How can a brew include Simcoe hops and still taste so blandly? There's just enough there to satisfy the ale category; but, not enough to meet expectations created by the label's mention of Sabro, Citra and Simcoe hops. The body is almost as light as the amber color. That might be a good thing, for this can go down very quickly and a search for a tastier beer can begin all the sooner.