Brewed By: Flying Dog Brewery in Frederick, Maryland
Purchased: Single 12oz bottle from a 4-pack bought at Jewel-Osco in Illinois; 2012
Style/ABV: Baltic Porter, 9.2%
Flying Dog has one of the more interesting brewery stories. The brewery began as a brewpub in Aspen, Colorado, which eventually became a brewery in Denver, Colorado. As Flying Dog expanded, they opened a second brewery in 2006 in Frederick, Maryland. In 2008 the brewery shut down their Denver location. What makes Flying Dog interesting is the founder, George Stranahan. George Stranahan is a "physics professor, scholar, amateur photographer, philanthropist, entrepreneur, activist, and all-around rebel." At least according to the website. He was inspired to name his brewery "Flying Dog" after climbing the K2. Apparently he and his mountain climbing colleagues were drinking some beer at the Pakistani hotel bar after their climb. George noticed a painting on the wall of a dog with wings - a Pakistani artist's take on the English Bird Dog. George liked the dog, and named the brewery after it.
George Stranahan also happened to be buddies with Hunter S. Thompson (is an intro really needed here?). Stranahan was Thompson's neighbor, friend, and "co-conspirator" before Flying Dog Brewery existed. Tonight's beer, the Gonzo Imperial Porter, is inspired by Hunter S. Thompson. The brewery made the beer in 2005 to commemorate Thompson's passing. The last piece of the puzzle is Flying Dog's artist, the guy who puts all the crazy stuff on the bottle labels. That guy is Ralph Steadman, and he was introduced to George by Hunter S. Thompson. Flying Dog has had all sorts of controversy regarding their label art. That includes Ralph Steadman's first effort for the company: the Road Dog Porter label which said, "Good Beer, No Shit." Take that, censorship!
You can and should learn more by checking out the brewery website. It's a cool brewery page with good info. And everyone owes it to themselves to get acquainted with Hunter S. Thompson. As mentioned, today's beer, the Gonzo Imperial Porter was inspired by Hunter S. Thompson, and created to commemorate his passing. The beer is fucking huge, clocking in at 9.2% ABV and packing 85 IBUs. The beer page says the beer is brewed with Warrior and Northern Brewer hops, and it is described as having a roasted chocolate, coffee, and vanilla palate.
I won't drag on too much about semantics because I spent so much time talking about the brewery. This beer really beckons the Porter vs. Stout debate: that is, what's the difference? That's a lengthy discussion for another day. Since the BJCP has a section for Porters that is different than Stouts, it is likely that this beer would qualify as a Baltic Porter due to the complex malts, the huge ABV, and the complexities. BeerAdvocate did categorize this beer as a Baltic Porter. However, this beer also packs 85 IBUs! That is Imperial IPA hoppy. Actually, to be more accurate, that is Imperial Stout hoppy. Because this beer makes such strong use of hops, it probably is an outlier as far as Porters go. And that sort of brings us back to the Stout vs. Porter debate. Ratebeer dumped this into their made up "Imperial Porter" category, and I'm happy they have it. I like paying attention to styles differences, but the BJCP's three Porter categories is definitely pandering. Anyway, let's review this beer.
Damn. This beer pours wonderfully. This beer is dark dark brown, approaching black in low light. In bright light this beer has hints of ruby-red that escape the corners, but the body is still dark, dark brown. The initial pour reveals 4-fingers of super foamy and thick, ice-cream float consistency head. The head is dark brown/dark coffee brown in color. After pouring the rest of the beer, I'm left with 2-fingers of very thick, very creamy head. There is also a ton of sticky lacing on my glass. I think the most impressive part about pouring this beer is that the head cascades like Guinness, and you see a storm of carbonation turn into beer. This is really a gorgeous beer. I can't see any carbonation because the body is so dark. But I'm really impressed with head retention on this 9.2% ABV beer.
The aroma on this is really interesting. I'm getting a lot of big malts, but there is a candy-like or earthy hop quality really coming off the nose. For what it is worth, this smells a lot like an Imperial Stout. I'm pulling out boozy roasted malts, wood, unsweetened bitter chocolate, coffee, vanilla, a faded candy hop note, and earthy hop tones. There is also a touch of raisins or dark fruit.
There's a lot of carbonation, a lot of big malts, and some serious hop bite on the back end that really drive this beer. I'm getting big roasted and burnt malts. I'm tasting campfire, vanilla, wood, coffee-essence, bitter chocolate, dark raisins or prunes, black licorice, and definitely hops. I'm pulling out some orange or citrus, and some earthy hop notes. This beer has huge, Imperial Stout like malts. They are nicely balanced by huge hops.
This drinks like a medium-light to medium-heavy beer. The mouthfeel is not sticky: it is carbonated, and pretty smooth on the front of the palate. You do feel some alcohol warming on the back end, and there is a woody/roast sensation that dries out the palate as you drink this beer. This has great palate depth, and I would say this beer is medium to highly complex. The front palate is smooth, vanilla, wood, and burgeoning roasted and burnt malts; the middle is roasted and burnt malts, the bitter chocolate, hints of fruits, and some hop bitterness; the back is more bitter and roast, with lingering roasted flavors. Roasted and dry with warming on the finish.
There's a lovely quote on the bottle:
Flying Dog has one of the more interesting brewery stories. The brewery began as a brewpub in Aspen, Colorado, which eventually became a brewery in Denver, Colorado. As Flying Dog expanded, they opened a second brewery in 2006 in Frederick, Maryland. In 2008 the brewery shut down their Denver location. What makes Flying Dog interesting is the founder, George Stranahan. George Stranahan is a "physics professor, scholar, amateur photographer, philanthropist, entrepreneur, activist, and all-around rebel." At least according to the website. He was inspired to name his brewery "Flying Dog" after climbing the K2. Apparently he and his mountain climbing colleagues were drinking some beer at the Pakistani hotel bar after their climb. George noticed a painting on the wall of a dog with wings - a Pakistani artist's take on the English Bird Dog. George liked the dog, and named the brewery after it.
George Stranahan also happened to be buddies with Hunter S. Thompson (is an intro really needed here?). Stranahan was Thompson's neighbor, friend, and "co-conspirator" before Flying Dog Brewery existed. Tonight's beer, the Gonzo Imperial Porter, is inspired by Hunter S. Thompson. The brewery made the beer in 2005 to commemorate Thompson's passing. The last piece of the puzzle is Flying Dog's artist, the guy who puts all the crazy stuff on the bottle labels. That guy is Ralph Steadman, and he was introduced to George by Hunter S. Thompson. Flying Dog has had all sorts of controversy regarding their label art. That includes Ralph Steadman's first effort for the company: the Road Dog Porter label which said, "Good Beer, No Shit." Take that, censorship!
You can and should learn more by checking out the brewery website. It's a cool brewery page with good info. And everyone owes it to themselves to get acquainted with Hunter S. Thompson. As mentioned, today's beer, the Gonzo Imperial Porter was inspired by Hunter S. Thompson, and created to commemorate his passing. The beer is fucking huge, clocking in at 9.2% ABV and packing 85 IBUs. The beer page says the beer is brewed with Warrior and Northern Brewer hops, and it is described as having a roasted chocolate, coffee, and vanilla palate.
I won't drag on too much about semantics because I spent so much time talking about the brewery. This beer really beckons the Porter vs. Stout debate: that is, what's the difference? That's a lengthy discussion for another day. Since the BJCP has a section for Porters that is different than Stouts, it is likely that this beer would qualify as a Baltic Porter due to the complex malts, the huge ABV, and the complexities. BeerAdvocate did categorize this beer as a Baltic Porter. However, this beer also packs 85 IBUs! That is Imperial IPA hoppy. Actually, to be more accurate, that is Imperial Stout hoppy. Because this beer makes such strong use of hops, it probably is an outlier as far as Porters go. And that sort of brings us back to the Stout vs. Porter debate. Ratebeer dumped this into their made up "Imperial Porter" category, and I'm happy they have it. I like paying attention to styles differences, but the BJCP's three Porter categories is definitely pandering. Anyway, let's review this beer.
 |
| Flying Dog Gonzo Imperial Porter |
Damn. This beer pours wonderfully. This beer is dark dark brown, approaching black in low light. In bright light this beer has hints of ruby-red that escape the corners, but the body is still dark, dark brown. The initial pour reveals 4-fingers of super foamy and thick, ice-cream float consistency head. The head is dark brown/dark coffee brown in color. After pouring the rest of the beer, I'm left with 2-fingers of very thick, very creamy head. There is also a ton of sticky lacing on my glass. I think the most impressive part about pouring this beer is that the head cascades like Guinness, and you see a storm of carbonation turn into beer. This is really a gorgeous beer. I can't see any carbonation because the body is so dark. But I'm really impressed with head retention on this 9.2% ABV beer.
The aroma on this is really interesting. I'm getting a lot of big malts, but there is a candy-like or earthy hop quality really coming off the nose. For what it is worth, this smells a lot like an Imperial Stout. I'm pulling out boozy roasted malts, wood, unsweetened bitter chocolate, coffee, vanilla, a faded candy hop note, and earthy hop tones. There is also a touch of raisins or dark fruit.
There's a lot of carbonation, a lot of big malts, and some serious hop bite on the back end that really drive this beer. I'm getting big roasted and burnt malts. I'm tasting campfire, vanilla, wood, coffee-essence, bitter chocolate, dark raisins or prunes, black licorice, and definitely hops. I'm pulling out some orange or citrus, and some earthy hop notes. This beer has huge, Imperial Stout like malts. They are nicely balanced by huge hops.
This drinks like a medium-light to medium-heavy beer. The mouthfeel is not sticky: it is carbonated, and pretty smooth on the front of the palate. You do feel some alcohol warming on the back end, and there is a woody/roast sensation that dries out the palate as you drink this beer. This has great palate depth, and I would say this beer is medium to highly complex. The front palate is smooth, vanilla, wood, and burgeoning roasted and burnt malts; the middle is roasted and burnt malts, the bitter chocolate, hints of fruits, and some hop bitterness; the back is more bitter and roast, with lingering roasted flavors. Roasted and dry with warming on the finish.
Rating: Above-Average
Score: 89%There's a lovely quote on the bottle:
"Good people drink good beer." -Hunter S. ThompsonFlying Dog has done Hunter S. Thompson proud. This is a really intriguing twist on the Porter/Stout style with the 85 IBUs and the big hop bite that cuts through this. This is remarkably balanced though, and the hop bite cuts through in a very subtle way. I'm really enjoying the balance between the big malts and the hops in this beer, and I think it drinks remarkably well and pours remarkably well. The 9.2% ABV will definitely keep me from drinking 4 of these in one sitting, but this beer is robust enough that you could "drink" it instead of sipping it. Having said that, I'm impressed and will likely pick this beer up again down the road. So give this beer a shot if you are into extreme beers.
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