Flying Dog Double Dog Pale Ale
Double Dog Pale Ale is part of Flying Dog Brewery’s Canis Major series of big beers. It is a double recipe of their regular Pale Ale and has 11.5 ABV and 85 IBU’s. I had this in my beer fridge for a few months and decided I’d better drink it. I matched it up with some pizza that I cooked on the Big Green Egg.
Appearance: The beer pours a dark caramel color with a nice, creamy off-white head. The lacing is excellent and there is good carbonation.
Smell: There is a strong hops smell which is more floral and citrus than a resin pine. The pine is there but more flowery than sappy. The hops are backed up quickly with some good malt sweetness and spiciness.
Taste: The taste has a hoppy beginning, not too bitter but more citrus. The sweetness and slight spiciness of the malt comes through. I got some dark fruits and spice like cinnamon and nutmeg. I could taste the 11.5%ABV a bit as well. It’s hard to hide that much alcohol. The finish is fairly crisp from the hops (85IBU’s worth) but there is some sweetness as well.
Drinkability: Considering the high ABV, this is a fairly decent drinking beer. It is definitely a sipper though, not a chugger.
This beer tastes just like a “regular” Pale Ale that’s kicked up a lot. Everything seems just as balanced just times 2. I enjoyed it. The beer went fairly well with my Big Green Egg grilled sausage, pepper, and mushroom pizza. It was a good pairing. Try this beer if you can. If you are a fan of Pale Ales this double will probably satisfy.
1. Appearance- 8 points (out of 10)
2. Smell- 8 points (out of 10)
3. Taste- 16 points (out of 20)
4. Drinkability- 7 points (out of 10)
Total 39 (out of 50) Points- 4 Mugs
4 Responses to “Flying Dog Double Dog Pale Ale”
Comments
Read below or add a comment...
Leave A Comment...
Follow Me At These Sites
-
My Workouts-The More I Do The More Beer I Can Review!
Powered By Beer But Hosted Here
Mark, you often mention the lacing of a beer. In this review you said the lacing was excellent. What makes lacing good or bad? Can you expand on that in one of your future posts?
Thanks for your reviews, always enjoyable to get another beer snob’s impressions.
Haven’t had this beer yet, which is surprising because I like to try as many big IPAs as possible! Sounds like a decent match with pizza, which can be difficult to pair with (it’s the tomato sauce that causes problems I find – I’ve been pairing porters and milds with tomato sauce recently and that works quite well).
Hi Ben,
Thanks for reading and commenting!
You ask a great question. Basically lacing is how the foam “sticks” on the glass as you drink it. A “better beer” will generally have good lacing although I think that can vary based on style. Lacing also adds to the visual impression the beer gives you.
I think a post about lacing would be a good thing to do. I’m adding it to my list.
Thanks!
The beer went pretty well with the pizza. I think it might have been the sausage and stronger cheese (Romano, Parmesan) that made it work. I generally drink “crisper” beers with pizza but this one pulled it off. Give the Double Dog a try if you can. It’s a good beer.