Spanish Peaks Black Dog Ale

Brewed by Flying Dog Brewery
Style: English Pale Ale
Frederick, Maryland USA

Bottle, pours a dark amber color, light aroma but what there is, is hops. Taste is fairly hoppy for the style, the malts while prescent provide no lingering mouthfeel or effects. A bit watery, this brew is ok, to much malt to be thirst quenching but not enough malts to have complexity.

Copper appearance, well laced, with a small tan head. Floral hop aroma, some citrus, along with an understated roasted malt scent. Hops overshadow the taste at first, before turning more earthy and malty. Medium bodied, decently carbonated mouthfeel with a fairly short lived finish.

Pours a deep reddish-brown with a thick but not persistent head. Aroma is pleasantly malty and fairly strong. Malty flavor has some nutty undertone to it. Finishes very smoothly with minimal bitterness.

Nutty brown in color and fairly transparent. Lots of grapefruit/citrus caramel aromas initially, but they quickly tail off. A grainy mouthfeel doesn’t do much to show off the toffee and caramel malts in the beer. Just as offputting is the thinness. Some citrus hangs around the palate, but it seems out of place in this beer with the dark toffee and even coffee flavors on the rough malts.

Appearance: Pours out a chestnut brown body with a small, near-white head. Smell: Fairly light aroma of toasted malt, notes of cocoa, and a musty sourness. No real discernible hop presence in the nose. Taste: Weak, sweet toffee base followed by a slight grassiness and metallic notes. The citric taste of spent lemon wedges drives the flavor forward to an ultimately dry finish. And, again, there’s that sourness. Ugh. I’ve so overdosed on the wonders of craft beer this past week that I am hardly able to contain my disappointment at this so-called "English Style Amber Ale". Mouthfeel: Thin-bodied. Lightly carbonated. Drinkability: Dull and lifeless. Where the hell’s the flavor? My kingdom for some flavor!!

Mahogany orange red body with a fluffy uneven one-finger head...hops are confident but not annoying...fleeting taste (a certain thinness) to the back of the mouth...warm, low alcohol notes...strictly speaking on a personal level, these ambers cannot class themselves with any imported ale of note and generally cannot decide which glass to serve themselves in... as an American invention, not tasty, but useful for a night in, take out and a movie on.

old rating: 6/4/8/4/16 - 3.8 pours a clear dark copper with a large white-yellowish head, and very good lacing. smell of earth, caramel, some coffee, and a little wood. taste is creamy, some spice, a little bitter, caramel, earth, malt, and a few hops, end is a little oily.

Bottle. Dark amber color. Toasted malts and caramels with a hop presence. Flavor is malty with a pleasant finish. Nothing spectacular, but deffinately a beer you could drink on a warm summer day.