Laughing Dog Dogzilla Black IPA

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

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

Wow, wasn’t exactly sure what to expect. This is the first time I’ve had something like this and my palate kept getting confused. Smells exactly like I would expect, a hoppy beer with a strong malty profile. Tastes very hoppy and smoky at first, but immediately assaulted by what I initially thought was a sour tang, for lack of a better word. This takes some getting used to. After a few sips, it becomes much more palatable. Just remember, it’s a Northwest IPA, not a porter!

On tap at The Front Door Dark reddish brown with an almost non-existent beige head. Interesting aroma with citrus from the hops and caramel from the malt. Not something I’m used to in a beer. It took about half way through the beer before deciding it was great. My palate kept getting confused on what I was drinking. A porter? An IPA? It was like mixing the porter that’s on tap at my house, and the homebrew IPA in bottles. Doesn’t sound like it would be all that good. It is. But it definitely has to grow on you.

Pours a darker reddish glowing brown with a small sudsy gray froth on top. Funky aroma, buttery, quite sour, perfumy, tropical fruits, burnt popcorn. Odd odd odd odd odd.... Turdferguson seems to have nailed it by saying it really does taste like two beers mixed together. Flavor is perfumy, tropical fruits, burnt crystal malts, resin and finishes like sour burnt popcorn. Medium body with lighter carbonation, pretty oily stuff. Strongly hopped, but the wrong kind of hops for a "black" IPA. This beer really tastes like someone put a CIGARETTE out in my IPA!