Flying Dog Challenges Iron City Beer [Press Release]

Going Head to Head

Flying Dog Challenges Iron City Beer             

(Pittsburgh) January 15, 2009 – There's nothing friendly about the long standing rivalry between the Baltimore Ravens and the Pittsburgh Steelers. But this week, as the black birds of Baltimore prepare for their big game against their rivals to the west, Flying Dog Brewery has got something – well – brewing.            

Frederick, MD based, Flying Dog Brewery is throwing the red flag and challenging Iron City Brewing Company of Pittsburgh, PA – home of the terrible towel – to a friendly wager. The terms? The brewery whose home team goes flat on Sunday must toast the victors with their opponent's beer, while fully clad in their opponent’s gear.

      “Everyone knows that our co-conspirator, Hunter S. Thompson was a huge football fan, so in true Flying Dog spirit, we’ve added something a little extra special to this weekends big game,” said Flying Dog General Partner, Jim Caruso. “We admire the fact that Iron City is willing to put their beer where there mouth is.  Our should we say our beer where there mouth is?”  

About Flying Dog Brewery: Flying Dog is Maryland’s largest brewery and their award-winning “litter of ales” are available in 45 states. The Brewery is in Frederick, MD and is located at 4607 Wedgewood Blvd.  Flying Dog’s core values of “purposeful, provocative and irreverent” flow through the veins of the brewery’s founding owners, George Stranahan and Richard McIntyre.  George and Richard were friends with the “Gonzo Journalist,” Hunter S. Thompson who coined the brand’s tagline “Good People Drink Good Beer” and with the “Gonzo Artist,” Ralph Steadman, who illustrates the brand’s packaging.  For more information, log on to www.flyingdogales.com. 

Great winter seasonal ales

I know most folks have their favorite beers. For me, favorites tend to change with the seasons. Now deeply in winter, I love the winter seasonal selections. Here is a list of a few of my most recent favorites:

Double Dog Double Pale Ale isn't a "seasonal" but it is a great beer to drink on cold dark winter days. Brewed by Flying Dog, this beer is big, coming in at 11.5% ABV and 85 IBUs. Most of the double IPAs and Pale Ales I have tried come in very sweet and leave an almost sticky aftertaste, but Double Dog doesn't. Its a pleasure to drink. Sadly, Flying Dog's winter seasonal K-9 Crusier isn't in any of my local stores, but I love all of their other beers, so I am keeping my fingers crossed that it will show up.

Jubelale is a winter seasonal from Deschutes, and comes in at 6.7% avb with 60 IBUs. A little sweet and nicely balanced with hops, its described as being "brewed with dark crystal malt creating a luscious holiday note with bountiful hops to excite your taste buds— it’s easy to see why Jubelale is the perfect complement to the season." This is one of those ales that I really look forward to each winter.

Full Moon Winter Ale is a new one for me. I just recently pick up a six pack and gotta say "It's GOOD!" Brewed by Blue Moon as their winter seasonal, its dark, a tiny bit sweet, and nicely malty without being too much of anything.

Flying Dog...where is the love?

Oh Flying Dog, you breaker of hearts! I remember when I first met you, oh so many months ago. I was on the traditional quick sweep down the beer isle and there I saw you. A new brand of beer, interesting bottle art, decent price. I bought you that night and took you home, I drank you and enjoyed it. The next day I wrote to you and told you I was going to blog about you. Much to my surprise you wrote back and offered me your support for this little blog. A few weeks later I was again surprised to find a package from you in the mail. A letter and more support for my blog. But in the months since I haven't heard a word from you. Have you forgotten about me, all the way out here in Oregon? Have you moved on to other fellows and other blogs? I still see you in the store, I still buy your bottles with artistic labels. But why don't you send me support any more. Why do you not write to me any more? Oh well, Fuck Cancer!

A little more on Flying Dog Ales

I just finished drinking three more Flying Dog beers. First up is Old Scratch amber lager. I like a few amber ales, but most of the time I find that they are too roasty for my liking. Sadly, this was the case. I would like to say that while my personal preference is that I didn't like this beer too much, when I was opening it a friend of mine saw it and said "Oh hey, thats a good beer." We got to talking about Old Scratch and he told me that he buys a 6 pack of it quite regularly, so I can be confident that saying its worth a try, after all this is a very award winning beer.

Next is Doggie Style classic pale ale. This is a good pale ale for summer time drinking. Not too hoppy like many west coast pale ales, but still very flavorful. On the website they say its dry hopped during fermentation with "shit loads" of hops. Coming in at 35 IBUs, this 5.5% abv pale ale is hopped with Northern Brewer and Cascade, and then dry hopped with cascades.

I followed the pale ale with Flying Dog's Double Dog, a double pale ale. Wow this was an awesome beer! It weighs in at 10.5% abv and 82 IBUs. It really tasted like a barley wine with a great balance of malt and hops. I have to admit that by the time I got through this palette wrecker my tasting notes were pretty skewed, but isn't that the purpose of drinking good beer?

Overall impressions: Amber Lager was ok but its not really my style. Pale ale was pretty good, went down nicely in the heat of the day. Double pale ale is running neck and neck as my favorite Flying Dog beer (Tied with Kerberos).

Flying Dog's Kerberos Tripel

WOW! I love tripels and all too often I am disappointed. Usually they are WAY over done, but not this time. Flying Dog's Kerberos is a great example of what a tripel is all about. Strong malt backbone with a perfect balance of hops. This ale measures in at 8.5% abv and 27 I.B.U.s. Kerberos starts off with a slight sweetness that quickly moves into a well balanced hop profile with a slight spicy and dry finish. Flying Dog uses Pilsner and Aromatic malts with Goldings and Saaz hops in this bottle conditioned Belgian tripel.

Also worth mentioning is the bottle art. All of Flying Dog's brews have pretty unique bottle art. Here is a quote taken from Wikipedia "Cerberus or Kerberos was the hound of Hades, a monstrous three-headed dog with a snake for a tail and snakes down his back like a mane, whose analogs in other cultures are hellhounds. Cerberus guarded the gate to Hades and ensured that spirits of the dead could enter, but none could exit. " I'm going to leave the debate of whether or not Flying Dog intended any inference (is that the right term to use here?) to how great the beer is to a later date.

Closing thoughts: Great beer, even as it warmed up while drinking. Hops weren't too much to cover the malty backbone but enough to keep the beer from being cloyingly sweet.

Flying Dog now available in Southern Oregon

I'm home sick today, so what better time then now to post about Flying Dog Brewery! Flying Dog has recently been picked up by Gold River Distributing and their beers are quickly becoming available in the area. Flying Dog's approach to beer advertising is very much grass roots. They have great looking bottle art, witty writers for their website, email, and blog and understand the importance of technology in advertising. Even their PR correspondence is a breath of fresh air. Basically, it seems like these guys are just having fun, but what is important is that they are creating an image that appeals to a younger crowd, as an example they just started a "Text and Win" promotion.

Check back later this week for a review on several of their brews, but real quick, let me say that their ales are VERY worth while. I haven't had one that I don't like yet, nor have I seen a bottle of theirs that doesn't stand out. BTW, when a company uses bullshit@flyingdogales.com for their feedback address you know they are going to be worth checking out.