Laughing Dog AlphaDog Imperial IPA

Brewed by Laughing Dog Brewing
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
Ponderay, Idaho USA

Serve in Snifter, Tulip

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Clear amber with a modest off-white head. Relatively mild aroma of pine, grapefruit, caramel and biscuit. Taste is quite bitter with a much milder, sweet malt backbone. Good flavor though. Medium bodied (a bit thin for the style) and slick with a long bitter finish. I like it, but it’s so hop heavy that whatever complexity there might be gets diluted.

Gusher. Translucent gold with huge foamy beige head. Medium body with explosive carbonation.

Aroma: harsh astringent hops, dusty stoney minerality, and acetic sourness.

Taste: acetic acid, harsh hops, some caramel malt.

Well on its way to becoming a nice malt vinegar.

Fräscha dofter av citrus och smörkola, och efter att bitterheten lagt sig i smaken framträder grapefrukt och banan. Inte alls dum, inte dum alls.

22 ounce bottle purchased at Total Wine and More in Sacramento. The aroma on this is lightly grassy, herbal, with stale hops. Seems about right for these big box places. Not much else. Transparent golden body with a smallish, quickly dissipating off-yellow head present. Starts fairly sweet, with a little sugary character. Followed by some herbal, earthy, and generally stale hop flavors. Finishes dry with lots of tannins, resins, and without much subtlety. Incredibly harsh. Pretty disappointing. Put a fucking bottled on date on your bottles.

Bottle sample at a tasting at Dancing Camel. Thanks kerenmk. Hazy dark orange-amber color with a white head. Slightly acidic and somewhat hoppy aroma of flowers, citrus and slightly funky olives notes. Flavor has light acidic notes, light sweetness and a lots of citric and floral hops bitterness. Medium-bodied. Overall nice and easy-drinking. Surprisingly seems a tiny bit infected, but it works well and the big hoppiness is still there.

This poured a semi cloudy darker yellow to orange color with a beige head. Aroma was a mixture of gassy and fruity hops, caramel malt and butter. Flavor was stale hops drizzled with butter. Bleh.

Bottle shared at a tasting session at the Dancing Camel. Thanks to my little brother for the birthday gift. Pours cloudy golden with mild foam. Aroma consists of maple candy, honey, some grass and citrus. Taste is EXTREMELY bitter, very edgey and unbalanced. Finish is long and dry and carbonation is medium. I loved it but I may be bribed - my little brother is an awesome gift giver.

OK, I think I have reached my hop limit with this beer. And Perhaps, that was the goal here. But this beer is so bitter that the aftertaste destroys the experience. The only way to put out the fire is to drink more. But eventually one reaches the end of the bottle and must face the relentless bitterness. With a name like Alphadog, I guess I should have not expected less. Pours a hazy dark golden orange color with a 1.5 finger frothy white head. Good retention, slowly fading into a lasting ring that leaves chunks of lace behind. Very earthy hop aroma with a strong pine and floral presence. There might be a small grainy component to the aroma as well. Texture is medium-full with average carbonation. Huge resinous, sticky pine needle flavor that dominates lingering over the sweeter notes. Lingering finish. If you love hops for hops sake, this is your beer. For a more balance brew, look elsewhere.

It poured a hazy amber color with a large off-white head. The aroma was floral and herbal hops with a hint of toasted malt. The taste was floral and pine hops with some esters. A decent beer.

ALERT: Pour this with EXTREME care. When I poured this from the 22oz. bottle, it foamed like a Belgian on steroids! I had a glass full of foam with about 1/8 of an inch of beer at the bottom, it took over 10 minutes for the head to subside to the point where I could finish pouring. It turns out to have a cloudy apricot hue with the head settling into a rocky, pillowy lace. There are a couple of strings of bubbles rising upwards, but the carbonation seems low-key. The aroma is a strong blast of grapefruit-y, piney hops. 1st sip is a massive blast of hops...dry, citrus, pine flavored hops. There’s also a slight hint of lemon rind. Malt flavors are pretty much non-existent. Carbonation is modest, leaving a pleasant sparkle on the tongue. The alcohol is pretty well hidden, or it may just be beaten into submission by all the hops. Overall, while i’m more malt-centric, I can see where this beer would be a hop head’s delight!