Raging Bitch Belgian-Style IPA
Love many of the Flying Dog beers, and love most Belgian IPAs if done right, but if they're not done right they can be pretty bad. Hopefully this is a good combination of good brewery and good style. A: Creamy 1 finger head covering a very clear golden orange pink hue color. N: Nose has a very fresh spicy wet hop bite! I mean like it was freshly hopped yesterday with tons of fresh musty wet hop aromas. Some light Belgian malt aromas. Some pine and citrus as well. I think this might be too hopped for a Belgian IPA. T: Much better, a strong Belgian malt and some Belgian sugar sweetness hits first this time. Then more bitter hops hit with more fresh musty wet hop flavors as well. It starts to build with more bitter hop flavors and pine and citrus lightly. Some spicy flavors as well. Hints of malty boozy taste, but lightly. The spicy and heavy hops just way overpower any of the actual Belgian aspects after the first .5 seconds of the first sip and no more Belgian. M: Semi thick with quite a bit of carbonation. F: Very bitter again, too bitter for a Belgian IPA. Dries off quite a bit as it bitters, way over the top bitter. Spicy flavors and some lingering malt flavors. This beer would be a great AMERICAN IPA, but not Belgian. For a Belgian IPA it needs to be a lot more subtle on the hop bitterness and much less aggressive. I'm not sure why they even call this a Belgian IPA. This shows how Americans can take styles too far. Flying Dog I love most of your beers, but this is just too far!