Beer Tasting: Dogzilla Black IPA

Laughing Dog - Dogzilla Black IPA

6.8% ABV, 18.7 SRM, 69.3 IBU

Enjoyed 7.20.2014

My lovely wife came home with this one as a surprise after a particularly annoying week at work.  She’s a keeper, that one.

Recently I've noticed an uptick in the amount of black IPAs out there.  This style basically takes the dark, roasty malt character of a stout or porter and fuses it with the hop-centric flavors and aromas of an IPA. Dogzilla pours nice and dark, but not too thick, with a lovely cream-colored head, which recedes fairly quickly.  Immediately, you can detect the floral tones of the hops in the nose. There are not much of the coffee/chocolate aromas, but perhaps they are just muscled out by the hops. From the first sip, it’s clear that the crew at Laughing Dog nailed the balance on this beer.  It’s not too much of anything.  Nor do the dark malts and the hops clash in their battle for attention.  Rather, it starts out sweet and chocolately, gracefully fades to some floral hop flavors, and finally exits with just enough lingering bitterness to leave you craving another sip.  As it warmed, I noticed some dark berry type flavors shining through as well.

If you like stouts and IPAs, but are a little wary of the whole black IPA wave, I would highly recommend this one as a good starting point.  Unlike some others I’ve had, it doesn’t assault you with malt astringency and then hop bitterness.  Instead, the flavors get along like they were meant to be together.

--Jacob