Laughing Dog Dogzilla Black IPA

Brewed by Laughing Dog Brewing
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Ponderay, Idaho USA

Bottle. Pours a medium coffee brown with a small tan head. Nose is milky, a little funky. Flavors off at first but grow on you a bit. Nice malty backbone, hops poke through a little with some mild spiced grapefruit. Glad I sampled but nothing outstanding.

On tap @ TFD. Fragrant citrusy hop. Smooth mouthfeel. Dark, dark ruby color. Slight chocolate-like backbone. Good bitter bite. The beer that looks like a porter, but tastes like an IPA, beautiful!

Poured a deep black color with a large white head. the head was different considering it was a black color. Aromas of biscuits and pine. taste of chocolate and cascade hops. a neat beer indeed.

Tap @ Belmont Station... Poured deep, almost opaque, brown with an off-white head. Hops on the nose with a pleasant, toasted roundness. Pretty hoppy up front. Cracker and biscuit flavors in the finish. Straight up IPA that poured like porter.

22oz bomber. Pours a deep brown/stained glass red color. Big, thick, foamy head. Sweet dark malt and syrupy hop aroma. The taste is odd, not quite what I had hoped for in the style. Harsh soapy hops with a sugary sweet malt background. A little disappointing, but the brown sugary sweetness kind of saves it. Unique at best.

Name: Dogzilla
Date: November 21, 2008
Mode: Bottle
Source: Liquid Solutions
Appearance: black, wispy tan head, streaks of lace
Aroma: roasted and dark chocolate aroma with sweet pine
Flavor: roasted malt flavor, lots of pine, dark chocolate and citrus, lots of hops and roasted malt
Overall: good, but the flavors do not really mesh together too well
Aroma: 6/10; Appearance: 7/10; Flavor: 6/10; Palate: 6/10; Overall: 11/20
Rating: 3/5.0
Drinkability: 7/10
Score: *4

very sweet smell, similar to that of fruity milk. very dark colored, mostly brown with a little bit of red and orange. has a sweet flavor as well that is pleasing but difficult to identify. has a very full, maybe even overly busy finish. has a very strong hoppy flavor and is quite bitter. B

A soft pour produces a three-finger thick, lightly browned, full tan colored head. The beer is quite dark, but there is a burnt amber hue to its blackness. When held up to the light the beer shows a brilliantly clear, bright ruby hue. The aroma has a candied citrus character to it as well as ample lychee notes and a sort of amp’d up juicy-fruit like note. The finish has some roasted grain character to it that has a toasted grain husk like character. This beer has a surprisingly fruity note to it, it is quite a bit different than in any other hoppy beer I have had; interesting, but I am not sure if I am entirely enjoying it.

Wow, very carbonated, the beer foams up as it hits my tongue. Quite soon this dry beer picks up a definite tartness and the finish has a lingering, burnt, almost fermented cabbage note to it that is just bad. The dark malt is a bit more noticeable than it is in the flavor, while the hop character provides a fair amount of bitterness as well as a citrus character that melds with the sourness found in this beer. This has an ample hop character just like one would want in an IPA and the dark malt adds a nice roastiness to the finish, but the sourness really warps the hop flavor here; it sort of reminds me of eating a tart, not quite ripe Meyer Lemon. Really though, this is just an infected mess. Hopefully Laughing Dog can clean up their bottling process as I wouldn’t mind having an un-infected go at this.

Purchased: Liquid Solutions