Laughing Dog The Dogfather Review

Name: Laughing Dog The Dogfather
Style: Imperial Stout
ABV: 10.85%

For this review, I'm trying out my very first beer from Laughing Dog Brewery, who have recently just started distributing our area. From what I've gathered, every beer they make has some reference to dogs, hence the brewery name. They are also the first brewery I have tried out that is based out of Idaho, a state which is best known for potatoes and Napoleon Dynamite.

For my first go with this brewery, I decided to take a look at The Dogfather, an Imperial Stout aged in bourbon barrels. Now before I begin I wanted to point this out. When I first saw the name and label, the first thing that popped into my head was this....

Don't tell Snoop Dogg....er, Lion

The Dogfather pours a pitch black color with a thin filmy brown head. I'm not picking up any visible carbonation but the lacing left behind is abundant and sticky.

The nose consists of a rich scent of chocolate malts, oak, vanilla, bourbon and some roasted barley. A bit boozy smelling but pleasant nonetheless.

In the flavor, things get a bit more interesting. It starts out with some chocolate, vanilla bourbon and oak notes, which are of course followed up with a nice roasted barley taste. However when it comes to the aftertaste, I'm getting a surprisingly strong piney & bitter hop flavor (for an Imperial Stout.) Mind you this is accompanied by a chocolate and roasted barley taste, but the strength of the hops in the aftertaste caught me off guard just a little bit. It is a bit boozy in the flavor but it's fairly minor.

The palate has a fairly heavy body with some mild carbonation. All of this gives it a nice creamy feel and makes drinking this just a little bit too easy...

After having this, I can safely say that The Dogfather is a very tasty and well put together Imperial Stout. As mentioned earlier, it does taste a little boozy but any seasoned Imperial Stout fan will no doubt find something to love with this beer.

Laughing Dog The Dogfather - 9/10

Grand Teton Sweetgrass Review

Name: Grand Teton Sweetgrass
Style: American Pale Ale (APA)
ABV: 6.0%

Idaho's own Grand Teton Brewing has been popping up all over the midwest as of recently. For a state mostly associated with Potatoes and Napoleon Dynamite, they've made quite a name for themselves in the past few years. Earlier this year I reviewed their Pursuit of Hoppiness and found it to be rather good so I figured I should check out their Sweetgrass APA to see how it is.

Sweetgrass pours a bright hazy orange color with foamy head, some decent lacing and mild visible carbonation.

Floral hops and yeasty notes starts things off in the nose, followed by some grassiness, caramel, and pale malts. A bit earthy smelling for an APA if I do say so myself.

Flavor consists mainly of floral hops, caramel, grassiness, pale malts, and bitter resiny aftertaste. Overall, the flavor is rather bitter even by APA standards.

It's got a fairly light body and the carbonation is pretty moderate, giving it crisp feeling on the palate.

For a beer with the word "Sweet" in it's name, this is a pretty bitter tasting beer. All and all, it's not a terrible beer but there are much better APAs out there than this.

Grand Teton Sweetgrass - 6/10

Grand Teton Pursuit of Hoppiness Review

Grand Teton Brewing is a brewery based out of Idaho. Typically when I think of Idaho, the first thing that pops into my head is Napoleon Dynamite, not craft brewing. Nonetheless, I have had their Bitch Creek ESB and found it to be very good so we'll see how this is. This beer is called the "Pursuit of Hoppiness" and calls itself an Imperial Red Ale.

Pursuit of Hoppiness pours a dark hazy crimson color with some sticky lacing. The nose has some sweet malty, toffee & caramel notes backed up by some piney hops and yeasts. Flavor-wise, it has a pretty strong caramel flavor with a balanced mixture of piney hops, grapefruit, and yeast; The aftertaste is surprisingly dry considering how active the flavor itself is. The body is pretty heavy and the carbonation is pretty strong so you have to take your time with this one.

While I think that "Hoppiness" in it's name is a bit misleading, I still enjoyed this quite a bit! It strikes a good balance between it's malt and hop profile and the end result is a solid beer.

Grand Teton Pursuit of Hoppiness - 8/10