Flying Dog Gonzo Porter

Flying Dog Gonzo Porter

Style: Porter

Alcohol content: 9.2%

From: Frederick, Maryland, USA

Purchased from: Rays Wine
http://flyingdogales.com/

The Flying Dog brewery is currently located in Frederick, Maryland, USA. Originally opening in Aspen, Colorado in 1990 as a brewpub, it became the first brewery to open in Aspen in over 100 years, and one of the first brewpubs in the Rocky Mountain region. Flying Dog Brewery is noted for using the unusual art of Ralph Steadman, best known as the illustrator of the works of Hunter S. Thompson, on its labels. In 2005, the brewery created a new beer in Thompson’s honor, Gonzo Imperial Porter. Initially in limited-release in 750 ml bottles, the Gonzo Imperial Porter is now one of the regular offerings of the brewery. I must admit, that i love the label designs and it makes the beer more appealing. I can not wait to taste this beer. Oh I'm excited!

But what is an imperial Porter i hear you ask? These are stronger versions of the traditional porters which where first sold in London. These porters were sold successfully in markets such as Scandinavia and the Baltic states. These porters then inherited their current title due to their strength and their favoritism in the royal courts. History lesson over, lets get on with the review.

Really love the art work on every bottle

Colour: Jet black with a brown/tan head. The head is very thick and stays around thought out the life of this drink. So far this is shaping up to be the perfect porter.

Aroma: This beer is very interesting on the nose. From the hops used in the making of this brew (Warrior, Northern Brewer and Cascade), you get smell a mix of oranges and elderflower. Smelling deeper you can also pick up notes of chocolate and coffee. These smells come from the crystal and black chocolate malts used. The smells are not overly powerful and rather surprisingly for an imperial porter, you can not smell the alcohol.  

Body: As with many drinks of this style, the body is quite thick, but unlike a Guinness, this beer is not very creamy.  The drink will cling to the back of your throat with every sip that you take. This is actually rather pleasant session as it forces you to take your time over this beer.

Taste: On your first sip you are slapped around the chops by rich hints of coffee and dark chocolate.These will dance around on your tongue then unleash the faintest hints of liquorice. As the drink warms up, you will notice that there is a sweetening to the dark chocolate notes. Its almost as if the chocolate is getting milker and milker the warmer the glass gets. There is a sharp acidic and some what bitter after taste. This comes from the strength of the alcohol.

Similar to: http://beefsbrewery.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/dark-star-espresso-beer.html
Different to: http://beefsbrewery.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/st-austell-proper-job.html

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Brewdog International Arms Race

Brewdog International Arms Race

Style: Zero IBU IPA Or Gruit

Alcohol Content: 

From: Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, UK

Purchased From: Rays Wines, Ashford

Brewdog was founded in 2007 by James Watt and Martin Dickie. The brewery at the Kessock Industrial Estate in Fraserburgh produced its first brew in April 2007. It claims to be Scotland's largest independently owned brewery producing about 120,000 bottles per month for export all over the world. The company moved premises to nearby Ellon in the Autumn of 2012, however it as been announced that the Fraserburgh site will be used as a brewing laboratory for experimental beers.

Brewdog's provocative marketing has been a key aspect of the business, and has gained them substantial international coverage.

Last year Flying Dog issued a challenge to Brewdog for battle collaboration entitled International Arms Race - Both beers are dubbed 'Zero IBU IPA' and the challenge was to brew an IPA style beer using no hops: the hops are replaced with berries, herbs and roots. Now, I have tried Flying Dogs version and it reminds me a lot of scrumpy cider from Somerset. I was not to keen on that but lets see how Brewdog's version measures up.

Colour: On the pour, you a presented with a bright red ale that reminds me of a very old school beamish that my old man used to drink. As the beer settles, a sheen of copper appears in the glass. The head starts off a brilliant white colour and slowly dissipates down to a small amount of foam. 

Aroma: To be honest this has to be the strangest beer I have ever smelt so far. There are so many new and interesting smells rising from the glass, its actually quite hard to know where to start from. Here goes. The first thing you will notice is that this beer smells quite sour. This can be a sign that the beer is off so I had a look at the expiration date on the bottle. To my surprise I had been sold a kipper. The beer had an expiration date of May. However, I decided to pull up my socks and carry on regardless. You are instantly bombarded with notes of cherry, blackberry and mint. There is also a few herbal notes such as thyme and rosemary. Something tells me that this is going to taste funky.

Body: There is a very low/ if any carbonation in this beer. This gives the body the feel of cherry juice that you can buy from the supermarket. This body helps to mask the ABV of this beer making this an extremely dangerous beer to enjoy on a session. 

Taste: On your first sip you will notice hints of gin and tonic mixed with pine and grassy notes. This is undercut with gritty earth notes. Upon the second sip, you can start to pick our herbal notes like rosemary and thyme and a orange peel. To be honest, this drink tastes a bit like a Ricola cough drop. These flavours make sense given that there is no hops in this beer and the herbs have been added to this brew to add flavour and aroma. I have to say I personally did not enjoy this beer very much. It’s an interesting concept by I will not be going back for more.

Similar to: Umm Nothing I've ever tasted or reviewed.
Different to: http://beefsbrewery.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/erdinger-uriweisser.html

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Flying Dog Doggie Style Pale Ale

Flying Dog Doggie Style Pale Ale

Style: Pale Ale

Alcohol content: 5%

From: Frederick, Maryland, USA

Purchased from: Beers Of Europe

So this is the second beer that i have tried from my order from Beer's of Europe. As i had read a lot about this beer, i naturally added this to my shopping cart first. I could not wait to get this beer home and give it a try.

The Flying Dog brewery is currently located in Frederick, Maryland, USA. Originally opening in Aspen, Colorado in 1990 as a brewpub, it became the first brewery to open in Aspen in over 100 years, and one of the first brewpubs in the Rocky Mountain region. Flying Dog Brewery is noted for using the unusual art of Ralph Steadman, best known as the illustrator of the works of Hunter S. Thompson, on its labels. In 2005, the brewery created a new beer in Thompson’s honor, Gonzo Imperial Porter. Initially in limited-release in 750 ml bottles, the Gonzo Imperial Porter is now one of the regular offerings of the brewery. I must admit, that i love the label designs and it makes the beer more appealing. I can not wait to taste this beer. Oh I'm excited! 

Love the Gonzo Style Lable

Colour: When poured from the bottle, the beer turns a vivid ruby red. This is very strange for a pale ale, as you would normally associate a straw yellow colour with this style. After a couple of minutes in the glass the beer settles down. The beer then transforms into into a rich semi opaque golden brown. 

Smell: This drink is very playful on the nose. You are hit with lemon and lime notes with a dry grass undertones. Its a bit like walking though a lemon garden in Italy on a hot summer's day. Not that i have actually experienced this for myself it's just my imagination of it. I believe that this smells come from the dry hopping of the Northern Brewer and cascade hops used to make this beer.

Body: Very light and refreshing. Just what you would expect from a good pale ale.You get quite a nice head on the pour and surprisingly, this beer is not very gassy due to the low levels of carbonation. This is a lovely summer beer. 

Taste: Once you have your first sip you notice the citrus, pine and caramel tastes from the malts and hops. Its quite pleasant but i feel a bit underwhelmed by this beer. I have read a lot about this brew and i was quite excited to of ordered it from Beer's of Europe. Maybe i was expecting big things from this beer but for me unfortunately it has fallen a bit flat. Would i try it again? Yes i would. Everything deserves a second chance.

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