Doggie Style, Flying Dog Brewery

Pale ale is a term that encompasses multiple styles.  There’s bitter, best bitter, ESB, amber ale, red ale, IPA, etc.  But there’s also pale ale, kind of like how there’s a denomination of Christianity called Christian.  That style is all about keeping it real.  Well, real to someone else.

The water in Burton upon Trent is really hard because of large gypsum deposits in the area.  This is good because no matter how much a brand might tout its super fresh water, H2O in its theoretical purist form would be unsuitable for beer making.  That’s right, just like electrolysis, brewing needs a little gunk in the water.  Furthermore, the chemical signature of the water affects what styles work the best.  For example, as alkalinity rises, so does the darkness of the ideal beer style because more thoroughly roasted malts impart greater acidity to the brew.  The specific chemical composition of the water in Burton upon Trent is perfect for pale ales because the high level of sulfates allow for more hops to be added without causing astringency  This lead to the city dominating the market for several decades until a chemist isolated the helpful minerals so that anyone could “burtonise” their water.  Now you can treat your water to make whatever beer you’d like.

                             

Of course the United States is all about making its own version of everything so in the 80s microbreweries across the superpower began releasing American pale ales (APAs).  Really, the only thing they changed was to use American hops and more of them, taking the style right up to the door step of IPA.  American micros like to be ballsy.  This works for them well but can sometime bite them.  Today’s beer, Flying Dog Brewery’s Doggie Style Classic Pale Ale is a brew that looks ballsier than it really is, saving it from that bite.

                            

I have to say this beer reminded me of the old adage, “never judge a book by its cover.”  From the name and label, I was kind of expecting to be underwhelmed by an unbalanced frankenbeer.  So when it did in fact whelm me, it was a bit of a surprise.  The color is reminiscent of a Bass (the beer, not the fish, or the instrument, or the alternate term for vascular plant tissue) and bubbles are coming out of the woodwork (er... glasswork?).  The flavor is very crisp with with modest but clear citrus.  The mouthfeel makes me think I’m drinking pop but without the body-being-eaten-away-from-the-inside-out sensation.  I find myself very thankful to whoever decided to Americanise pale ale because hops are great and it’s nice to know you can get a little bite without having to go all in with an IPA.

I know I don’t use a scale for this blog but I feel one is in order for Doggie Style.  So on a scale from one to a TED conference after party, this is definitely a bucket of fresh picked strawberries.

So sweet!