After my review of the Flying Dog Double Dog Double Pale Ale, I was honored and a little surprised by a comment from Stephanie from the brewery. She thanked me for writing about the beer and offered to send me a few more to try when I had the chance. Of course, being the committed beer blogger and enthusiast that I am, I felt compelled to take her up on her offer. I am also not an idiot and would never turn down great beer sent to my doorstep. As it turned out, Stephanie was true to her word and soon I had a box with 3 offerings from the brewery on said doorstep, so I drank them. I’ll let you read the reviews for the more detailed thoughts on the beer, but generally speaking, it was a really great experience. All of the beers were totally unique and vastly different, and reinforced my belief that Flying Dog is one of the more creative and adventurous beer makers around. So thanks, Flying Dog, and I hope you get as much out of my feedback as I got from sampling the beer. Cheers ~G
Archive for December 18th, 2007
The first brew I tried in the “It’s really cool when breweries send you beer” session was the K-9 Cruiser Winter Ale. We all know winter warmers can run the gamut of great to terrible, so I had no pre-conceived ideas about what this beer would taste like. I guess I was expecting something malty with that special ‘extra’ spice profile that, honestly, rarely works for me. So here goes… The pour was a nice caramel color and predictable head of a couple of fingers. On the nose there is a sweetness of malt and some fruit, with a touch of hop citrus. The taste was great. None of those “hey, check out that coriander” or “whoa, someone spilled some ginger in here” moments, just a nice smooth beer. Not to say that there’s no spice, because there’s a hint. A nice hint, though, of something like cinnamon or another Christmas-like spice, which makes this a pleasant seasonal brew. I could definitely have several of these in an evening and not get overwhelmed, and probably will now that I think about it. Overall, a really solid and drinkable beer that I’ll definitely have around the house for the next month or so. Cheers ~G
score 3.5
The second beer in the “why aren’t all breweries as cool as Flying Dog session” was the Gonzo Imperial Porter. As the name would suggest, it’s a big, robust Porter that may be a little crazy – but in a cool Jack Nicholson Psycho kind of way. The pour was almost black and produced a thick, caramel colored head which settled fairly quickly, but hints remained throughout the life of the pint. The nose was what you’d expect from a porter, with huge smoky malts leading the way. There was something unique about the nose and the taste, however, and that was a strong hop presence which surprised me a little. From the first sip I was sold on this beer. It was rich and smooth with a great mouthfeel, but to me, the hop profile is what makes this beer outstanding. Lots of porters have a wonderful malt recipe and the smoke and chocolate notes can make them a pleasure to drink, but very few of them have the breadth of this beer. The grassy and aromatic hop on the front provided balance and complexity, and also served to finish the back end like an IPA – clean and crisp. The medium carbonation mingled it all together and masked the alcohol content (which is around 9%) to round out one of the best Imperial Porters I’ve ever had. Kudos on this one! Cheers ~G
score 4.5
