Double Dog – Flying Dog’s Double Pale Ale

In 1990 a small brewpub opened in the Rocky Mountain town of Aspen, home to plenty of thirsty outdoor enthusiasts. The first such establishment in Aspen for over 100 years, Flying Dog were named after the subject of a painting seen on the wall of a hotel in Pakistan. Apparently George Stranahan and Richard McIntyre had seen this picture when on a poorly-planned mountaineering trip to the Himalayas. Loving the ‘can-do’ attitude of a dog attempting to fly, they set up the brewpub several years later – and it also took off in spectacular fashion. Today they are based in Denver but all production takes place in Maryland, where their distinctive Ralph Steadman labelled bottles roll off a 50,000 barrel plant.

Flying Dog Double Dog is a Double Pale Ale ‘double hopped with insane amounts of Columbus, Warrior and Cascade hops’. At 11.5% and 85IBU’s it’s going to be full-on, without any doubt. It pours with a very fast dispersing head to leave only a thin lacing around the very edges of the glass. The colour is really something, a deep hazy raspberry red, with plenty of sediment slowly swirling around. The aroma – as you’d expect – is very heavy alcohol, spices, almost a touch of cloves, alongside the hops. The taste is extremely strong alcohol, roast fruit, prunes – almost a barley wine, although it’s not quite as chewy. The high alcohol combines with the massive overpowering hops to make it extremely bitter indeed, with a long astringency that reminded me of dark chocolate (although without the chocolate flavours, of course). It’s challenging to drink, without doubt. Rewarding? Maybe. It’s a taste I’ll need to acquire in order to go back, I think.