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Jan
28
Maxim Magazine, the literary journal of tits, ass, and everything in between, announced its 2011 Best Beers with an intimate spread of Doggie Style…our Classic Pale Ale, that is.
While the name couldn’t be resisted by editors, our Doggie proved (once again) in their tasting panel that it deserved the money shot.
Maxim’s annual beer awards are in the February 2011 issue, on newsstands now.
Jan
14
The Bitch is here to stay…and the ladies of Flying Dog LOVE it that way.
Raging Bitch Belgian-Style IPA, a limited-edition release in 2010 commemorating our 20th anniversary, became a permanent member of the pack in 2011.
“Once we unleashed Raging Bitch, it became impossible to for us to cage,” our CEO Jim Caruso said. “Our nationwide sales in 2010 were up 40% over 2009 and we experienced triple-digit growth in the mid-Atlantic region alone. A huge contributor to this outstanding success was Raging Bitch.”
A Belgian-Style IPA, Raging Bitch is an American IPA fermented with “El Diablo” Belgian yeast. The result is huge herbal and pine hop flavor that’s beautifully balanced with funky citrus notes from the yeast. As described by COO Matt Brophy, “Raging Bitch represents what is fun about the recipe creation process and what goes into creating cutting-edge American craft beer.”
Raging Bitch is available nationwide on draft and in bottles. To find it in your area, use the Find Our Beer feature on our website.
Jan
12
Music legend Maceo Parker is bringing his fresh and funky style to Frederick’s Weinberg Center this Saturday at 8 pm.
And we’ve got your “in” to the show. We’ll be giving away sets of tickets all this week to fans who reply to this post with why they want to see Maceo live…in 100 characters or less.
Why 100 characters? So the world can feel your flow through a little bird called Twitter.
For more about the show, visit the Weinberg Center’s website.
Dec
8
Instead of reaching for that tacky, felt-adorned sweater, dig out those old Christmas lights and hop in the car. Flying Dog and Brightest Young Things are taking our annual holiday party on the road.
On Saturday, December 18, we’re hosting a Christmas Lights Art Car Parade in Washington, DC.
The mission of Christmas Lights is for a band of merry revelers in Art Cars to descend upon Georgetown, grand marshaled by the Flying Dog Winnebago. (Willie’s Bus ain’t got nothing on this Gonzo land yacht.) The parade is open to the public, so we encourage everyone to decorate their vehicles and join in for what is guaranteed to be a night for the history books.
Parade participants will assemble at Jack’s Boathouse at 7 pm for a welcome reception featuring CakeLoveGonzo Cupcakes (made with our Gonzo Imperial Porter) and hot cider. From there, the plan of attack is as follows:
- 8 pm: Head down K Street to Rock Creek Parkway, up to Politics and Prose
- 8:30 pm: Politics and Prose – Celebrity Guests’ LIVE Reading of How The Grinch Stole Christmas! with complimentary Flying Dog beers.
- 9:30 pm: Comet Ping Pong – Culmination party with Flying Dog draft specials, LIVE music from Sherell Rowe (DC) and Sidewalk Driver (Boston), and all sorts of kick ass awards for a variety of superlatives relevant to the night’s festivities.
THE FINE PRINT: In keeping with the holiday spirit, this entire event is FREE. All car entries will need a designated driver on hand at the start of the Christmas Lights parade. In addition to art cars, DC’s hardcore cyclists are also welcome to participate with art bicycles. Times after the 7 pm start at Jack’s Boathouse are approximate.
Dec
7
“This is a book about food and beer.” And so begins Dog Chow, our very first cookbook, released just in time for holiday gift-giving.
Described as “the everyman’s (or woman’s) guide to navigating the kitchen with beer in hand,” each of the eight recipes in Dog Chow features a different Flying Dog beer as a main ingredient.
This first volume of Dog Chow is all about our brewers — all of the recipes were developed by them. From Macaroni and Cheese with Doggie Style Classic Pale Ale to Gonzo Imperial Porter Chocolate Ice Cream, Dog Chow will make the mouths of beer geeks and foodies water.
Dog Chow offers beginners tips on how to cook with beer. For example, beer can be heated, but not boiled. Boiling beer makes its innate hoppiness a Hell of a lot more hoppy…and not in a good way.
We also offer pointers on pairing beer with food, along with flavor profiles on each of our beers. While there are no finite rules to beer pairings, guidelines like “no beer is created equal,” “beware of the big O,” and “throw caution to the wind,” makes pairing beer approachable and removes the intimidation factor often associated with wine.
Dec
2
Join Flying Dog for our second Filmmakers Spotlight Dec. 9 at Baltimore’s Landmark Theater.
The feature presentation is Todd P Goes to Austin. Directed by Jay Buim, the film is a cultural snap-shot of America’s underground, do-it-yourself music scene. It follows the footsteps of DIY rock promoter Todd Patrick and features unforgettable live performances from Baltimore-rooted artists like Dan Deacon and The Death Set.
Using never-before-seen footage, including material shot by the bands themselves, the film exposes what life is like surviving and touring at the underground level. Interviews with Todd about the necessity of independent music connect the bands as they tour en route to Austin, TX to appear in the DIY music scene’s answer to the SXSW Music Festival.
The night will begin with a few short screenings by local filmmaker Hilton Carter. Carter, a graduate of Maryland Institute College of Art and an award winning director, has personally been instrumental in helping build Baltimore’s young and growing filmmaking community.
Local DJ Hip Hop Dan will spin during intermissions and (naturally) Flying Dog beer will be served in the theater. Tickets are $10 and can only be purchased at the door. Doors open at 7 pm.
After the show, head over to The Talking Head for the official after party – featuring DJ sets from Jay Buim, DJ Pancake, and Hip Hop Dan and Flying Dog beer specials. Admission is free, but the event is 21 and older.
Nov
23
Ladies and gentleman, boys and girls (21 years or older), have yourself a Merry Firkin Christmas at Flying Dog’s Freak Show December 10 at the brewery.
We’ll have jugglers, magicians, fire dancers, sword swallowers, fire breathing, and more for a freak show that puts your in-law’s 20-person dinner table to shame. It’s the kind of party meant for those consistently shunned to the kids’ table.
DJ Two Teks will be spinning in the interludes. Along with 12 beers on tap, we’ll have 3 cask-conditioned ales on the bar and beer engine.
Tickets are $30. They’re sure to sell out fast, so get yours as soon as humanly possible. (The rest of your holiday shopping can wait.)
Nov
12
Each year, the American Planning Association (a nonprofit educational group for community developers) issues a list of the top 10 neighborhoods in the U.S. This year, there was a noticeable trend. We’ll allow the president of the APA to explain:
“It’s no secret that this year’s list was different. Frederick, Maryland? Lower Downtown (LoDo) Denver? The common thread between those two is Flying Dog Brewery. The brewery is located in Frederick and has a taproom in LoDo. More importantly, Flying Dog’s Gonzo values of purposeful, provocative irreverence made a profound impact on our evaluation of these communities.”
Yeah, that quote’s not real. And we’re sure he or she is a great person, but we have no idea who the president of the APA is. We don’t even know if they prefer the APA acronym. But it is pretty sweet that both Frederick and Denver made the list, right? Check out the full list (with real quotes and all) on Forbes.com.
Oct
29
Good People Vote, Then Drink Good Beer – the movement is in full swing.
After the Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert-led Rally to Restore Sanity/March to Keep Fear Alive in DC this Saturday, we’re partnering with Rock the Vote and Campus Progress for the “Party Fearlessly, Vote Fearlessly” after party.
From 3 to 7 pm, the sane and fearless will unite at Rocket Bar DC (714 7th St., NW). You must RSVP through the Campus Progress website to save your spot.
The inspiration for our Good People Vote, Then Drink Good Beer campaign came directly from Hunter S. Thompson (Gonzo journalist, political junky, and close friend of Flying Dog founder George Stranahan) who once said:
“Politics is the art of controlling your environment. This is one of the key things I learned in these years, and I learned it the hard way. Anybody who thinks that ‘it doesn’t matter who’s President’ has never been Drafted and sent off to fight and die in a vicious, stupid War on the other side of the World – or been beaten and gassed by Police for trespassing on public property – or been hounded by the IRS for purely political reasons – or locked up in the Cook County Jail with a broken nose and twelve perverts wanting to stomp your ass in the shower. That is when it matters who is President or Governor or Police Chief. That is when you wish you had voted.”
Oct
20
As part of a beer reconnaissance mission to The Netherlands and Belgium, we’re taking part in an extreme brewing collaboration with Dutch Brouwerij De Molen of Bodegraven, The Netherlands, on October 21, 2010.
The collaboration brew, Bat Out Of Hell, will be brewed jointly by Flying Dog SVP of Brewing Operations Matt Brophy and De Molen brewmaster Menno Olivier. The recipe was born from the satanic mystique of De Molen’s award-winning stout Hell and Damnation and Flying Dog’s complex and mysterious Gonzo Imperial Porter.
An extreme stout, Bat Out Of Hell will combine the dark malt backbone of Hell and Damnation with the intense American hops in Gonzo.
We originally brewed Gonzo Imperial Porter as a tribute to longtime friend of the brewery Dr. Hunter S. Thompson upon his death in 2005. The Gonzo artist Ralph Steadman (who also illustrates Flying Dog’s labels) had this to say after Thompson’s death:
“If you wonder if he’s gone to Heaven or Hell, rest assured he will check out them both, find out which one Richard Milhous Nixon went to — and go there.”
It is rumored that a swarm of bats encircle our brew house every time they brew a batch of Gonzo Imperial Porter.
We hope this collaboration will result in many more spontaneous and supernatural signs that will include (but not limited to) swarming bats, smoke, cracked earth, splitting trees, and inverted lightning — all symbols of Thompson’s approval from beyond reality (most likely, somewhere around Hell and/or Damnation).
Bat Out Of Hell will only be available in Europe beginning in late December. There will only be seven hectoliters brewed, 225 liters of which will be aged in oak barrels. The 475 remaining liters will be packaged in 750 ml bottles.