Flying Dog Brewery
Frederick, MD
Available: CA, DC, MD, NJ, OH, PA, VA
Simcoe is the first release in a series of limited-edition Imperial IPAs from Flying Dog. This second batch is the first time it’s been bottled. For now, these bottles are only available in The Alpha Collection: A 12-pack “Homage to the Hop” variety package.
ABV: 10
ABW: 8
Color: 10
Bitterness: 70
Original gravity: 1082
Lots of information with this magnificent beer: 10 percent ABV and a resounding 70 IBU. It’s a single hop beer, using the Simcoe variety. The beer is a pale bronze/gold color with a big grassy hop, mango fruit and cracker wheat aroma. Bitter hops, ripe, tart fruit and juicy malt fill the mouth while the finish is long and complex with succulent tropical fruit, intensely bitter hops and lightly toasted grain. I’m attempting to understand the label by British satirical artist Ralph Steadman: It looks like a film producer turning into a vampire bat. I guess 10 percent beers have that affect on you.
It’s a nice-looking glass of beer, burnished bright antique gold with a creamy head. The hop aroma leaps gamely out of the glass. The bitterness is broad across the tongue, but precise and clean, and the malts wrap neatly around it. The sign-off is minerally, with the alcohol giving a chest-warming glow. The Simcoe hop’s orange-crush aroma can often cloy when concentrated, but it shows very well here in a beer with a lively structure and flavor. It’ll be perfect with Thai spring rolls, but don’t forget to eat dinner.
Roger Protz is the author of Complete Guide to World Beer and 300 Beers to Try Before You Die. He is a respected beer authority and editor of the CAMRA Good Beer Guide.
Internationally recognized brewer and expert on traditional beer, Garrett Oliver is the brewmaster of the Brooklyn Brewery and the author of The Brewmaster's Table.
