Town Hall Big Dog

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

On cask - cascades to a lightly hazed copper orange, with an inch or so of soft creamy foam. Fantastic full lacing – coating the entire inside of the glass all the way to the bottom of the pint. Nice sweet tangerine and pine hops in the aroma. To describe the taste, I will start with the balance. Hoppy indeed, but there is a nice malt profile to hold up its end of the bargain too. Sweet caramelly malt, and a little bit of honey stand up nicely to all the hop flavors swirling around on my palate. For hops, there’s lots of citrus – notable tangerine and grapefruit, and then just a hint of pine in the finish. The beer is bitter enough, but not in a ragged or uneven way.

Double IPA, a newer addition to beer styles. How to compare? Some like them to blow their heads off with sharp hops, while others prefer it balanced with malt and bready notes. What makes it closer to style? This is smoother than the previous Big Ticket Double IPA Town Hall put out. I had this last night on cask, and I was smitten immediately. Strong ruby grapefruit nose mixed with some pine, the touch on the tongue slapped me then frenched me...and frenched me some more. The dry hopping at the end was a good move, giving it that round note that I enjoy so much in the "Hazed and Infused" brew. I loved it and had no idea it was 8.2%. Plan to have more today. Excellent.

Hoppy aroma with a distinctive hop variety I am not familiar with to identify. I believe it is Amarillo? ChrisPants thought he Willamette or Cascades. Beautiful amber body and heavy visible carbonation. Small, off-white head. PERFECT lace that could pass for art. Creamy mouthfeel and very hoppy. Reminds me of a hot summer day in a on a grassy field, perhaps tailgating, perhaps at a baseball game, drinking this all day long with a great, carefree beer buzz. Not my favorite hop variety, whatever it is, but I still really like this beer.

#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.

...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.

Clear golden brew/white head.Gotta’ big blast of piney grapefruit in the old nostrils from this and I wasn’t let down one bit when I took my first sip,man another great Dbl IPA and another great brew from Town Hall.This isn’t a over the top kick you in the balls IIPA but it is right in your face Nice mouthfeel.

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.

A good beer for sure. Aroma of hops. Light orange, small head. Flavor starts off with hops everywhere. The hop intensity was all over. After coming in closer to room temperature, some fruit flavors started to show. Moderate palate. A much better than average ipa, but not up to their Masala Mama, which has more fruit, and more body.