"Good people drink good beer." - Hunter S. Thompson
That's the slogan of the Flyingdog brewery. It also means that I must be one of those good people then as I've never come across with a bad beer, only some that are not as good as the other ones. :) The quote stands on the bottle so it has to be the truth.
This blog entry maybe partly (in some way) enlightens my approach to beer. It's the mantra I support in my daily work: Quality comes before Quantity. As in alphabets. Hell, it also applies to my bloging; max 2 entries/moth so far! :D Well, I need to try and do better. That's my promise to you... all of you 2. ;) Hi mom! o/
So, lets jump to the other side of the big water for a while and talk about some American beer. This is a pretty big subject not only because there are quite a lot of different breweries in the states but also because the variety of brewed beers is enormous. There are some breweries making beers old school style (old school being the american style) and also old continent style (Different kinds of European styles). The one I'm most attracted to is the new wave of American styled beers, bold and proge, like the music and a good example of this is whatever comes out of Flying dog brewery http://flyingdogales.com/ .
My first touch with the brewery products was in NY in autumn 2007. This was a coincidence as I was just buying different looking beers from "our local grocery store" on Broadway. I was just trying to avoid the Heinies and Carlsbergs and looking for something different and something different I got! It was an early evening in our hotel room... actually a motel room on the upper West side of Manhattan and I opened the bottle getting this scent like never before. It was so dry and so different from the ones I had used to that I really had to sit down on the bed (the only thing in our room to sit on) and try to gather my thoughts and think if it was for real. Real it was and although (or because) it was so different from the ones I had used to I was hooked on the stuff. This was an experience I had to try re-enact. Since that I've really tried to find beers with attitude and challenge. The beer was Flying dog's Old Scratch Amber lager, more of that will follow in some point. Other products to mention from the brewery are for example the Horn dog, Doggy style classic Pale Ale, Snake dog IPA and Road Dog Porter with some additional seasonal specialities like K-9 Winter ale, just to mention the ones I've come across with.
Nuff's nuff! The beer itself. Comes in a long necked 0,355 l bottle. The bottle itself is a piece of art with it's labeling. The color of the beer is a beautiful reddish copper and it pours really nicely to the glass with a white and delicate, fast foam. The scent holds notes of fruits and to my nose berries, a bit aniseed maybe...? The taste then. Well, IBU 85, need to say more? This means that this thing hits like an iron bar in your mouth. Seriously, no irony in that. Taste is really somewhat iron like... It's a declaration of war against your European taste buds! To me, it's a delicacy. Beer challenging enough to consider it as a drink-worthy. The hops used in this beer (Columbus, Warrior and Cascade) make it really bitter although the IBU is "only" 85 (only in quotes as the Finnish beer usually have around 20-35 but tried some from Brewdog getting to mind staggering 150+). The malts are dry in taste making the IBU feel even higher than they really are. Some bubblegum in the aftertaste. Yes, this is something I also laughed at as I first saw it on one rating. It'll hit you in some point. ;) Oh, did I forget to mention the Alc. vol? Well, it's 11,5 % so you will need less these (smaller Qty, better Quality) to start your night with.
It's a no-go for the first different kind of beer in your life but as you learn to like the hops and learn to appreciate the magic you can do with the hops, this is a safe bet to your Friday case.
I also have to mention that I'm really not following what's it with all these dogs (Brew-, Flying-)...? Not that it matters, it's just names after all and I'm afer the beers!
If you look on the Flying dog web site I didn't quite nail it on the notes... :) But that means that it's my best judgement so far AND that I need to keep on training.
Up next: Ever seen 3 forwards as inviting as these...? This Norwegian Trio plays hard. Hard but fair.
