Town Hall Big Dog

Formerly brewed at Minneapolis Town Hall Brewery
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
Minneapolis, Minnesota USA

...after a couple tastes at Winterfest last Saturday, and 3 10 ounce samples at the pub tonight, I sit down with a growler to encapsulate it’s essence. Let’s see if I can do it. Clear, bright orange color, with flush, full foam, nicely carbonated (some of the snifters at the pub held little head)... Aroma: big bitterness, bold piney, fruity flavors, pineapple, peach, apricot, tangerine, orange, big orange, some small traces of lemon and lime, but orange leads the pack. In all, a little more subdued than I’d hoped. Taste: bang, poppity-poppita, boom, delivers a bracket of bitterness, a brace of juicy fruit, tangy, citric, and very tasty...sticky mouthfeel, a real mouth-gripper, lays tracks and digs into the palate. Richly flavorful, and extra-ordinarily memorable, this was a beer I looking forward to at the tapping, and could not stop drinking. So tasty, just enough and not too much bitterness. There may be some question about it’s placement among DIPAS, for it’s is higher in alcohol than the typical IPA, and higher in hops, too, but not overly bitter. This one was hopped every 10 minutes during the 90 minute boil, then dry-hopped after that. My kind of beer. However, there is so much of a malt buttress, and significant caramel flavor that the hops aren’t as raw as they are in others of this style. it’s an astonishly well-balanced DIPA and if you’re looking for some caustic tongue-raper, this is not for you, go elsewhere, masochists and daredevils. It is an above average beer, and if you’re a hophead here in the twin towns, Big Dog is barking up your tree.

#100! It is quite fitting that the rating for which I will receive a crown is from the king of brewpubs. Another deftly handled IPA from Mike Hoops. This smells a lot like Hop Wallop but is not nearly as abrasive. The hops are sweet, spicy and HUGE. They are well transported on a thick blanket of caramel malt. Candied fruit, caramel apples, flowers and pine needles. This, like other pales from Town Hall, is a variation of Masala Mama. The MM is genius and the apples do not fall far from the tree. First tasted at Winterfest ’05 and currently sampled from a growler.

Gorgeous copper/amber draft pour. Aroma pungent fresh green hops (smelling willamette and cascades, perhaps, but nothing nearing pils-skunky). Flavor explodes between mouth and nose with a big ripe ruby red grapefruit. I wanted to cut this beer into sections, sprinkle it with sugar, and eat it as part of "this complete breakfast." Mouthfeel is smooth and creamy--impressive, given the mid-to-high abv and the intense hoppitiness. Thanks, Town Hall, for another tasty treat.