As I mentioned earlier in this thread, my fav beer is Flying Dog's Double Dog. It's 12%. It's got quite a bite to it and I would say it's an acquired taste. When one first tries it, it may seem a bit harsh. But you really have to drink one and try it a few times over a period of days to develop a taste for it. The Double Dog double IPA won "best beer" award a dozen years ago for the Chesapeake Region. I've been drinking it ever since.
So today I met my buddies for sandwiches over at Cedar Grove store. It's a few miles south of Damascus, MD on route 27.
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These are guys I've known since high school, which is to say, we've know each other for over a half century and we're still hanging out. We try to meet for lunch once a month. We go to various places which are great. This time we met here. Their sandwiches are rated 4.8 stars on Yelp. Recommended. So we get sandwiches. They were great, as expected. But we see they got this new beer for sale called "Juicy Double Dog." So my buddy bought me a six pack because he knows DD is my beer. And I took it home to try it.
Wow, it was really good. I'm impressed.
I have been sipping this thing for about a 75 mins and I've got a couple ounces left, with a couple ice cubes. I already have a very nice mellow buzz, exactly what you want. Just enough to be unreasonably happy while also in a splendidly good mood. They took away the somewhat harsh bite that the original double dog had.
But when a bunch of us got together at a Corolla beach house in 2019 and I brought a quarter keg of the original DD, nobody would drink the DD except me. Which is what I was afraid of. It does have quite a bite to it - the original. I would say it's an acquired taste, which is how most good beers and good foods are.
But they've mellowed the harshness with this Double Dog Juicy. I can't say it's fruity as "juicy" might imply. Definitely not sweet. But less harsh. More drinkable. More smooth. Still 12%. Worth checking out IMO. I'll analyze this further tomorrow on my second beer. You can really only do one of these a night. Two is dangerous.
Tangent: Reminds me of a story. Another buddy goes into a beer store in SE DC and asks the proprietor for a wine recommendation. And the guy hands him a bottle of Mad Dog 20/20. My buddy asks him why he is recommending this particular bottle, and the owner replies, "Because it will git you where you need to be." True story.
So if you happen to see a six pack of this beer in a beer 'fridge somewhere, you might check it out. DD Juicy, not mad dog.
Double Dog Juicy Double IPA - Flying Dog Brewery - Untappd