Flying Dog Snake Dog

First off, why does Outlook suck? It is taking 3 minutes to download a photo sent from Jennie's phone to my email. Before Hotmail became under the Windows Outlook umbrella, it took about a second, now it's 3 minutes to download a 2 megabyte photo. Photo. Not sound clip or movie clip, a photo. Sigh. I have no pull in this argument with Windows, except for saying I will kill the account I've had for 10 plus years, and go to a different provider (such as Gmail or go back to yahoo mail). This seriously frustrates me. Finally, this photographic masterpiece is available to me:

But onto something that makes me happy. 60 IBUs, 7.1% ABV, Warrior and Columbus hops. That's right, I'm talking about Flying Dog's Snake Dog. According to Chinese astrology, it's the year of the snake. Thus, proving it's the year of this beer. Flying Dog made a fantastic video about Year of the Snake Dog, you can find it on Youtube.

So after a small rant, onto the review. A gorgeous amber color, with a white head that fades quickly. The nose is faint citrus with some hints of floral. The flavor though. Mind melting. For an IPA and not an Imperial or Double IPA, this is amazing. The flavor is some citrus, lemony or grapefruity, with some balancing of the malts. Toward the back is where the bitterness kicks in, leaving a resiny mouthfeel, after the smoothest drinking IPA I can think of right now.

This is the year of the snake, if for no other reason, go pick up a bottle, or a 6 pack, or the Shock & Awe 12 pack (with Underdog, Doggie Style and Pearl Necklace).

4.75/5 caps

-Nathan

Wait, we made it through a Nathan review of a Flying Dog brew without the obligatory Hunter S. Thompson reference? Indeed, he has found the edge, as, according to the esteemed HST, the only ones who can decscribe it are the ones who have gone over it. In fact, Nathan loves this quote so much he painted it, replete with Flying Dog beer caps, last week. He's really artistic... someday I'll share pictures of his "Isolation", his most requested piece. But for now, here is last week's endeavor:

Wait, where were we? Oh my. Onto the beer. I pick up some honey and orange in the aroma and  taste. It's a very mild, well-balanced IPA that's not too bitter, not too hoppy. If you're just approaching the hop scene, this is a good place to start. It's not overwhelming with anything, it's just a good brew. It's not quite as good as, say, the Single Hop series from Flying Dog, but it's definitely a solid brew from them. To be perfectly honest, I forgot how much I like this.

4.2/5 caps

-Jennie