Blog #57. Dogma Brewery - Hoptopod. Hoppin' all over the world.

This wicked looking can has been sat in my fridge since my first Beer52 box and I wasn't quite sure if I would like it, based on, I'm guessing, an insane amount of hops that would have been put into it. But, like the great guy I am, I am willing to give it a right good go.

First things first: Dogma are from Serbia. From what the internets can tell me, they run out of an old sugar factory in the centre of the city and have a little bar attached. Nice.

Coming in a 6.5% this IPA is towards the top end of what I would normally choose, but even this ain't their highest ABV creation - they also have a beast of a 7.2% called Plutonium Pineapple.

It is definitely rich in hops - you can smell this beer from quite far away, which is an 'interesting' characteristic. There was a weak, but rich, sweet smell in the background, but the main smells were grassy notes and mango.

Maybe that's why I could smell grass in the beer...

Out of the, frankly awesome, can there is a très énorme head with a slight golden haze.

The taste range runs from the oily mango that covers your tongue, leaning back to the monster hops that finish the journey with bitter, dry notes. As the beer reaches temperature, those smokey, dry 'hoppy' notes are more and more apparent across the taste range.

It seems that my tastes lean away from beers that have been heavily 'hopped' early on in the beer making process, as this is what creates the bitterness, which is necessary (to a degree) to avoid beers becoming simply fizzy fruit juices and the bitterness allows other flavours to shine. However, this beer is dominated by the hops.

I thoroughly like the can, the backstory, the smell and the first half of the taste range and mouthfeel, but the total control that the hops then take of your senses are not for my palate.

So, because of I enjoyed the first half, I shall give a 5/10.

-Ben