Last Friday, I received an unexpected piece of mail here at the radio station: a three-inch
high, 12-inch square box. When I opened it, I found another box inside and was pleasantly
surprised to see the Flying Dog Brewery logo on the front.
The box’s cover had the words “Flying Dog Beer Fairy. You’re the first to try the beer
inside.” And the box side said “Lift here for Disobedient Beer”. And so I did. I lifted the flap
and found two 12-ounce cans of Flying Dog beer!
The beer? Something brand new: Flying Dog Deepfake Non-Alcoholic IPA. I picked up one
of the cans and read the words on the side: “Deepfake is about to change everything you
think about non-alcoholic beer. What on the surface might smell and taste like an IPA, is in
fact, a masterful forgery engineered to trick the senses – a smooth drinking non-alcoholic
brew, full of hop flavor that was 100% definitely not created by the government in an
underground research facility guarded by laser cats.” You gotta love Flying Dog’s attitude!
As I have traveled through my beer journey, I’ve tried a number of non-alcoholic beers, all
imports: Clausthaler, Beck’s Non-Alcoholic and St. Pauli N.A. from Germany, Heineken 0.0
from Holland and Kaliber from Ireland. With each of these beers, I found that there is some
satisfaction of drinking a beverage that tastes somewhat like beer—and I know it’s
technically still beer—and yet doesn’t have the alcohol. So with Flying Dog’s Deepfake
Non-Alcoholic IPA, I was curious to see how it compared to these other non-alcoholic beers.
When I got home Friday afternoon, I put the Flying Dog Deep Fake IPAs in the refrigerator
and then headed out to cut the grass. An hour and a half later, I was finished with the lawn
and pulled out the Deepfake Non-Alcoholic IPAs and poured the first one into a 12 ounce
pint-style glass.
The beer is hazy and golden in appearance and the head is lacy and thin. The Mosaic,
Simcoe and Citra hops Flying Dog uses to make this beer give the beer a slight, hoppy IPA
nose. When I drank the beer, I discovered a refreshing and, as expected, very light non-
alcoholic beer. And while the aroma had IPA notes, the beer itself tasted more like a lager.
Nevertheless, it is a good non-alcoholic beer. And it was nice to finally have an American
craft beer choice in the non-alcoholic beer category. So a toast to you, Flying Dog Brewery,
for your continued sense of adventure in brewing.
Cheers!
Jefferson
The Craft Beer Guy
Email: jward@thebayonline.com
Twitter: @jwcraftbeerguy
