Flying Dog: Raging Bitch

How do you excite dedicated beer drinkers? It's pretty easy really. 1. Give them good beer. Or 2, give them free beer. Believe it or not, the other main contributor to this site, Hof, is still a beer enthusiast. Just five days ago, we shared a new amber lager together on a relaxing Sunday afternoon. While I paid for the sixer, thus making it free to Hofer, it didn't get him excited enough to get back into the blog. This saddens me, as in less than one month, Hofer will have gone a full year without writing a blog post for 801onTap.

But I still have hope for Hof. While free, the amber lager I provided to him last week ago was nothing special and woulda been a pretty boring post. Then it hit me. What Hof or any beer drinker loves is free and good beer.

When I think of free and good beer - I think of Flying Dog Brewery. We here at 801 are fans of Flying Dog because they occasionally check out the blog and back in the day, the marketing department sent Hofer some free samples of their good stuff. And you know what, Flying Dog can make a beer. My favorite of their craft is their Old Scratch Amber Lager. So in retrospect, that's what I shoulda picked up for Hof on Sunday. Not just some new amber lager but a good free amber lager: Old Scratch. Well, I messed up that offering, but it got me thinking about Flying Dog. Since someone at FD took the time to read our blog I made the note to sample all their brews. And I just never got around to completing that goal. Shame on me. Well, there's no time like the present. So on to Flying Dog's Raging Bitch Belgian Style Indian Pale Ale.

This Belgian inspired beer pours a golden orange hue with a modest amount of head. The first sip was harsh to the tongue and immediately reminded me of a doppelbock. However, don't be scared away by this bitch, the more you sip, and the more the beer warms, it actually produces a very nice creamy mouthfeel. At 8.3% alcohol, it's really no surprise that the first taste is a jolt to the system. And you do get a distinct grassy alcohol aftertaste. But the creaminess never disappears and once your mouth acclimates to the high abv, you will find bready and fruity malt flavors along with classic Belgian yeasts notes. The hop flavors are almost nonexistent and every time I feel like I'm about to get a hint of hops the alcohol takes over the pallate. Overall, this Belgian IPA is pretty fun to drink - in that most IPAs, Belgian or otherwise, have a fair amount of hop bite. But this brew maintains its smooth creaminess throughout, making for a very drinkable yet intoxicating beverage.

While I didn't think of giving Hof a free six pack of Raging Bitch, I gotta remember to bring over some Flying Dog on my next visit. While I doubt this post or other fond blog memories will inspire him to write again, I still have a feeling free and interesting beer will do the trick. Cheers.

Flying Dog: Woody Creek White

I'm a big fan of Hoegaarden, but when it comes to American witbiers, I generally find them lacking. Great White, Blue Moon, and Sam Adams White are all decent, but they all strike me as being a bit lacking in flavor. Well, I'm not sure that Woody Creek quite lives up to the genuine Belgian thing, but in my book it's the best witbier I've tasted yet on this side of the pond.

Woody Creek is a fairly sweet brew. A fruity citrus flavor is present throughout. It's tempered by the distinctive coriander taste unique to witbiers, and while it might be a bit spicier, it definitely is less so than Hoegaarden. It finishes a little dry, which I think is actually an asset here, because otherwise it might be a little bit too sweet. But as it is, it is a very well-balanced and supremely drinkable brew. Definitely a summery beer, however, so I have a feel that I may not be picking up another one for a while.

Flying Dog Brewery: Old Scratch Amber Lager

I hope you all enjoyed the flurry of posts. I too am entering beer hibernation until the end of May. I'm not looking forward to it.

As a result, I made the effort to clean out and imbibe all the beer from my fridge this weekend in preparation for the dry season. I was careful to save one bottle of Flying Dog's Old Scratch so I could give it a proper review. Here goes:

I picked up a sixer of this amber lager simply because of Flying Dog's ground level marketing campaign and customer service. Most of the readers know by now how this brewery contacted Hofer and sent him some microbrews to review. I was impressed by this move. I had only previously tried Flying Dog's version of the pale ale. So wanting to see more of what this brewery was about, I went out searching for their other beers. After a quick shopping scan, I found Flying Dog's amber lager in most local markets. So to make a bad pun, if Flying Dog is going to scratch our back I'll give Old Scratch a try.

And I'm glad I did. This beer is exceptional. I love how this amber lager almost tastes like an amber ale. Most American lagers are weak and lack any powerful flavors. This beer has great caramel malt flavors and a hop bitterness aftertaste reminding me of stronger styles. But since it is a lager the beer is still very drinkable. I could easily corner myself with an entire six pack if in the mood for a day of heavy consumption. So I guess I'm OK with the fact that this will be the last brew that touches my lips for over a month. Cheers.

Flying Dog: Snake Dog IPA

I wasn't going to do another Flying Dog post quite so soon, but when I got home today I was itching for a beer, and when I opened the fridge my eyes couldn't help but fix on the bright orange and strangely decorated label for Flying Dog's version of the IPA. So I grabbed it, poured it out, and dove in. Here's how it goes.

I'm not generally a huge advocate for IPAs. I like Pale Ales generally, but I find that a lot of IPAs are hoppy to the point hiding the rest of the flavor (maybe I just don't have discerning tastebuds). But for pale-o-philes like myself, Snake Dog may be the perfect sort of IPA. It's much less hoppy than a lot of other IPAs, though still noticeably hoppier than a straight up pale ale. It pours to a pleasant light-amber flavor with a thick head that dissipates quickly. The taste is a sweet-citrusy-leafy-hoppiness (if you can imagine that). It's got a subtle sweetness that slowly fades, though never quite vanishes, to the hops as the beer rolls over your tongue.

The taste is definitely more summery than most of the brews I've had recently. Now if only the weather outside would warm to match...

Flying Dog: Gonzo Imperial Porter

First the story about how I got this beer. So a few months back I reviewed Flying Dog's K9 Winter Ale. It was a decent brew, but nothing exceptional, so that's essentially what I wrote. Then, to my surprise, I get a comment posted by a rep from the Flying Dog brewery saying that they were sorry I didn't like the K9 all that much and that they'd send me some more beer to try. Well that pretty much obligates me to blog another one of their brews, so here you are: Flying Dog's Gonzo Imperial Porter.

Spring is coming. In California, that means bouts of warm weather. Here in Philly, it means that riding to school in the morning I no longer worry about whether my ears will freeze and break off. But it's still cold enough to indulge in dark, alcohol-heavy brews. So Flying Dog's porter is still quite in season.

The verdict? Well this time Flying Dog delivers up a solid brew. The beer is full bodied and packed full of flavor. The predominant taste is sweet and super-smoky malts, though for a porter it's also quite hoppy. That means a full scale assault on your tastebuds beginning the moment it his your lips and a long-lasting (though fortunately not unpleasant) aftertaste. In the case of an imperial strength brew, this is probably a good thing, since the beer manages to mask the taste of alcohol pretty much completely. You'd never know you were drinking an imperial unless you looked at the label... until the alcohol kick hits and you walk over to the thermostat to see if the room just warmed up.

All in all this is a beer I definitely recommend to other dark-beer lovers. It's also definitely one of the better high-alcohol beers I've had (though at 7.8%, some might quibble that it's not truly "imperial"). Cheers!

Flying Dog: K9 Cruiser

The season for darker drinks continues... On a total whim I grabbed a beer from a brewery I'd never heard of before: Flying Dog. They're originally from Colorado but have moved their operations to Maryland and are apparently making a name for themselves on the East Coast.

The K9 Cruiser is a standard winter warmer: a darker malty ale with a slightly higher ABV (6.4% in this case). I had high hopes for a beer that traces its origins to the mighty state of Colorado, but I have to say that all in all this one's fairly unexceptional. It's got bold malty flavors and a slight alcohol kick and a mildly sweet carmelly finish. It has a medium mouthfeel (not too heavy, not too light) and a pleasant dark ruby color if you hold it up to the light.

All in all I'd say that if you are in to winter warmers and like sweeter malts then this is definitely one to try. But it hasn't got a very complex flavor, has very little hops to speak of, and the alcohol taste comes through surprisingly strong considering it's only 6.4%. Sorry fellas, but I'll be looking elsewhere next time.