After taking in the scene a bit more, I went out to see the brewing demo being put on by Flying Dog brewers Larry and Ryan. While Ryan explained different beers and ingredients, Ryan was brewing a porter on the brewery’s 20 gallon pilot system. Larry explained that they used this system to brew test batches put on tap at the brewery called the Doghouse Series. If the single keg is enjoyed by brewery visitors, it has a chance of being released as a Wild Dog–limited edition beers that end up sold at your local store. The first of these successes was the Flying Dog Dogschwarze smoked ale that was actually first brewed at Gonzofest!
Flying Dog Brewer Larry brews a porter on the pilot system
Mehan and I continued to enjoy the ambiance of the tap room as well as the antics of our fellow tap room drinkers. After talking with Larry, I knew the major book up was Doghouse Series Mad Bitch Belgian IPA. One keg in existence and who knows if it’ll ever make it out of the brewery. These are truly the beers that the guy whose drank it all tries to get his hands on. It’s basically expertly made homebrew! The beer had a great hop nose and lots of Belgian yeast spiciness. I’m not a big Belgian IPA guy since I think the Americans have a recipe that can’t be beat in that category (Topic: clean drying American ale yeast vs. spicy weird Belgian ale yeast in a super hoppy beer–discuss) but Americans doing their take on Belgians doing their take on an American beer is truly a meta-experience that doesn’t happen often.
TAPS!
Tags: Flying Dog, Frederick, Gonzofest, Hunter S. Thompson
Loading ...