Laughing Dog Devil Dog Imperial IPA

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

22 oz bottle- Pours reddish amber with a nice thick creamy head and very good lacing, the aroma is all citrusy hops and spruce, very nice. AlphaDog was all hops, this is more balanced, big malt flavor in this, but don’t get me wrong this beer packs a hell of a bitter bite. I would have to say I liked Alpha a little better but this is more than well worth the effort.

Bottle sent to me by ditmier, thanks Eric for the brews and shared with Shawn: Coppery reddish hue with a very good head and lace. The aroma has notes of resiny and grassy hops, pear, peach, clove, pepper, caramel and bready malts. The taste starts with pungent and resiny bitterness that is in your face with some acidic fruits. The difference between this and the Alphadog is that the malts seem to balance the finish far better. Light spicy and ashy finish. The mouth feel is lush and oily yet aggressive. A darn solid DIPA, yummy.

A: Really cool looking beer. Pours the reddest of red, just like a true devil dog should. This is amber DIPA by the looks of it. There is very little head. As the contents go into the glass there is a swirl at the top of tiny bubbles. These band together to form a small lily pad type head that dies down to a small island in the middle of the glass. S: Big malty sweet caramel aroma. This is going to be a sweet beer no doubt about. I have smelled less sweetness in a candy store. There is some pine and citrus in the background, but sweetness reigns supreme. T: Very nice brew. Starts off not surprisingly with a rush of sweetness. Rock candy baby. Just as the sweetness settles in it is overtaken by mass amounts of hops, bottle says 98 IBU’s. Ahhhh Yesss, the bitter has arrived. Notes of pine and orange rind are present. The bitter overload fades and leaves a nice small tingle at the back of your tongue from what’s left of the hops along with a slight burn of booze.. M: This is a full bodied brew. Very thick. I drank it warm and it was still very maple syrup like. I couldn’t imagine the thickness at 39 degrees.

Courtesy of ditmier. Pours deep clear gold with copper hues and tan head to go along with some lacing. The aroma has some malts mixing with pretty solid citrus to resiny hop bitterness. Very nice. The taste has firm assertive citrus to pine hop bitterness with a modest amount of hop flavor and malt building up to tepid levels by midway. Very nice brew with pleasing hop head levels of hop bitterness.

1 cm think head of infinitely small bubbles. Moderate carbonation. Big hops aroma with lots of grapefruit, caramel malts, dried leaves and some roastyness. Color is a dark copper. Woah, bit astringent bitterness up front with loades of dry roasted red peanut skins, unripe citrus, a bit of sweet caramel and some dusty grains. Chalky palate and BIG on the alcohol. From the first sip on this stuff burns. I guess it could use a bit more malt backbone to offset the big alcohol. Finishes hot and dry and bitter. An over the top IIPA. Not bad though.

THOUGHTS: Nice. Really nice. A little heavy on the resinous hops, but still nice. Lots of hops and fairly well balanced. Not very unique, though. TECHNICAL: Bottle. Poured a clear, medium amber with an average, off-white head that mostly diminished and left good lacing. The aroma was moderate to heavy caramel malt; citric and resinous hops; and a little Band-aid. The initial flavor was sweet and a bit acidic; while the finish was very sweet lightly acidic and bitter with an average to long duration. There was Caramel malt, lots of citric hops, lots of resinous hops and a little hint of chocolate and expresso. The medium to full body was oily with fairly fizzy carbonation and a alcoholic finish.

Pours a red brown. Nose is big grapefruit, citrus, sticky pine, dank hops and sweet malts. Flavor is big floral hops, grapefruit, candy, caramel.