Lone Pine’s Space Metal Dinosaur DIPA

There were some terms born in the late sixties or early seventies referring to the debris floating above us in the thin layer of airless space known as orbit. The gravitation of earth would hold this debris in orbit around us. Some of the content of this debris was from man’s attempt to reach out into space to explore, research, build space stations and the like. Cosmic dust had always been used for some of this debris but since man’s appearance into the heavens, space metal was now added into the category. Or, is that a reference to music… Fittingly, our focus beer this week borrows from both terms; introducing Space Metal Dinosaur!
Lone Pine Brewing Company has been making great beer for New England since 2016 in the Bayside neighborhood of Portland. They have also expanded into a Gorham production facility last April previously owned by Sebago Brewing which will allow them to vastly increase their output capacity. Owners Tom Madden and John Paul met in high school and shared a love of homebrewing. John’s strength is marketing while Tom leads the brewing efforts. With a huge variety of different recipes and limited releases, Lone Pine has established a following that both Mainers and New Englanders alike can be proud of. Concentrating on IPAs, and especially dry-hopping (the process of adding hops during fermentation for aromatic notes), Lone Pine is a clear choice for us to enjoy. The Portland Pale Ale is their flagship year-round offerings. The Tessellation group of Double IPAs has added versions of Mango, Grapefruit, Pineapple and the original all featuring the very artistic Mosaic hops. With all of their creative brewing experience, Lone Pine Brewing will be a company to keep your focus on. You can visit them at their website at www.LonePineBrewery.com
Space Metal Dinosaur is classified as an American Double IPA (or DIPA). This white headed, hazy New England IPA-style uses Citra, Ekuanot, and El Dorado hops. All three of these hops produce the tropical fruit flavors and aromas we love sensed in this beer. The flavor follows the aroma as you begin to enjoy. Thick on the tongue and slightly sweet, Dinosaur also roars with tartness and citrus flavors. I know we talk a lot about double IPAs in this column (as referred to last week) but this beer is just another shinning example of brewing brilliance.
Most folks on BeerAdvocate.com give Space Metal Dinosaur incredible enjoyment while others on different sites rate this as one of the more interesting beers they have tasted. It officially achieved a BA rating of 90 out of 100 and rewarded it an ‘Outstanding’.
You can find this at Case-n-Keg in Meredith and other fine craft beer providers. I don’t know about the dinosaur part and I sure don’t taste any space metal in this beer, but I definitely support finding this gem!