Try Flying Dog's New Imperial Stout

It's great. Not too heavy but still 9.5%. It's a tribute beer to the late great Hunter Thompson. It comes in 4 packs - get it while you can. I still think Bear Republic is the best stout you can get in CO but I don't know if Bear Republic is going to sink or swim. Remember Pyramid started out in bombers too and then they went mainstream 6 packs. Hope Bear will too. In the meantime check out Hunter's stout.

Reply to
grifty
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Bear Republic is by no means a new brewery. They've been "swimming" for nearly ten years now.

Reply to
Joel

"grifty" sings of arms, the man, and Usenet news: snipped-for-privacy@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:

I've heard decent things about the new Flying Dog (I believe it's actually a big porter), but I object to it on philosophical grounds. Flying Dog has been sticking half-ass beers inside cool-labeled bottles for years, and most beer geeks I know consider them to be one of the crappiest widely-distributed micros around. Then they decide to make some imperial thing and suddenly people sit up and notice. It's almost like all you have to do is dump a shitload of malt and/or hops into the brew kettle and you suddenly transform from an at best marginal brewer into a genius.

Reply to
Dan Iwerks

Yeah it's the "Gonzo Imperial Porter", and while it is pretty decent, it is just silly. Isn't stout a strong porter? Okay, maybe not, maybe stouts lack the winey-ness that mark some great European porters but American porter and stout don't have very definite lines of demarcation at times.

I agree that Flying Dog used to be mediocre to crappy at best and I always wondered how they survived. I tried most of their range years ago when they first appeared in Dallas and was underwhelmed to say the least. I avoided them for the next 6 or so years and the other day I found myself in a small restaurant in Woodland park Colorado and all they had on tap were a couple from Flying Dog. I tried each (the amber lager and pale ale) and noticed VAST improvement. The lager was malty and not just a bunch of crystal thrown in there, it seemed to have a subtle actual complexity and plan. The pale ale was citrusy and crisp, not the flaccid uninspired concoction that I remembered.

So I dunno, maybe ol' Ralph decided that if his art was going to be on beer they had better get their act together!

_Randal

Reply to
Randal

One should be made from malt and one from grain, for starters. I'll try to find a proper description, but the story in 'Yankee Brew News' indicated that there was a tax on malt, so brewers toasted the grain directly.

Could be better brewing, could be better distribution. Poor handling may be cheap, but it doesn't help the flavor ;-) Buy one bottle, put it on the wall for art's sake.

Reply to
Bill Davidsen

The term "Imperial Porter" has already been used, by Heavyweight's "Pekuno's Hammer". I don't see it as particularly "silly", since a lot of porters are bottom fermented these days (older US brands & Baltic styles) and many picky people WOULD probably object to a bottom fermented stout. (Altho' I don't know if this applies to FG's Gonzo...).

I think there actually might be MORE confusion with just calling something "Stout"- is it a sweet stout, dry stout, imperial stout?

Isn't stout a strong porter? Okay, maybe not, maybe

You know, I don't have a problem with not having *definite* lines of demarcation between some beer styles- I think it's sort of natural that there's an overlap between certain styles (Pale Ale > IPA > AIPA), etc.

Bill Davidsen wrote:

Say, aren't you the guy who also thought US Budweiser was brewed with rice >

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post #8

While some dry stouts DO use roasted unmalted barley, it's by no means the defining characteristic of all stouts.

Seems to me your a homebrewer? Ever brew (or hear about) a stout using

100% unmalted grain?

And "malt" IS "grain", just as "rice" is for that matter...

Reply to
jesskidden

Huh? Malt == grain. Although stouts contain a *portion* of flaked barley and roasted barley and porters rely more on chocolate malt the base has to be malted grain, usually some kind of pale malt. The point I was making in that other than the lack of roasted flavor in most porters some european porters have an additional winey note that I am supposing is derived from the yeast to further distinguish themselves from stouts. Most American porters I have tried lack this distinction.

_Randal

Reply to
Randal

If you don't know the difference between Porter and Stout try Sierra Nevada's Porter and Stout. There's a big difference. The Stout let's you know you're really drinking beer. Although it's a little like taking medicine. I take it during the winter months mostly. Porter IMO is not worth getting to excited about.

Reply to
grifty

That'll only tell you the difference between SN's porter and stout. I cannot think of two more imprecise terms in the entire beer lexicon, and that includes the bitter/pale ale/IPA/IIPA continuum.

Only between those two beers. Porter and stout are handy terms for having a good guess as to the character of two beers from the same brewery. They're worthless terms for determining the character of beers with those names from different breweries. Some breweries' porters smack around another brewery's stout, but within a brewery, it can generally be assumed that the stout is a stronger, bolder beer than the porter (although I'm sure there are exceptiones, even though I can't think of any nor have I personally experienced any).

But the porter leaves you feeling like you're drinking soda?

I'm content with either one. Although neither is a style I drink often, and there are other porters and stouts I prefer over SN's.

-Steve

Reply to
Steve Jackson

Eh? Bear Republic's been around a long time, and I don't think they're going anywhere for a while.

IMO, Pyramid is not a brewery to hold up as an example for anything positive.

Bottle size has zero correlation to business success. Rogue seems to be getting on just fine selling nothing but bombers. Stone sells primarily bombers too. Same with AleSmith, and IIRC Heavyweight. Yeah, I'd like to cart home a six-pack of Racer 5 only to make it easier to carry, but I don't seem to have that much difficulty handling and buying my share of 22s.

-Steve

Reply to
Steve Jackson

Plenty of 12oz Heavyweights here in PA.

Bill

Reply to
Bill Bradley

I agree, I got bought one six of the IPA after looking at the bottle. It was totally flavorless.

Reply to
ginger

Rogue also bottles in 12-ouncers now. But yeah, for a long time bottled Rogue beers were only available in 22's or those goofy (7-ounce?) nips.

Reply to
Joel

Yeah I don't mind either, and it is natural. I just think that if you slip styles based largely on "strength" (define that how you will) and if the more-or-less given progression is porter -> stout -> imperial stout then where is the imperial porter? Wouldn't it just be another name for stout? That's why I thought it was silly, sort of like Stone with their Imperial Mild or whatever it was they had a while back. And didn't Avery make an Imperial Marzen or some such? Bah! I think I'll go petition Adam Avery for an Imperial Small Beer!

_Randal

Reply to
Randal

"Randal" sings of arms, the man, and Usenet news: snipped-for-privacy@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com:

Yeah, Avery did The Kaiser, an Imperial Oktoberfest. Tasted a lot like a regular Oktoberfest. With a shot of wood grain alcohol dropped into it.

Stone already did an Imperial Mild for their 7th or 8th Anniversary brew (can't remember which). I've had lots of Imperial Milds. I just tend to call them "Brown Ale". --

***************************************************************** Dan Iwerks is mighty in the ways of cheese. The fundamental problem with Solipsism is it makes me responsible for the fact that you're a complete idiot. *****************************************************************
Reply to
Dan Iwerks

Well, first off, "imperial stout" was originally called "imperial porter." Truth, you can look at pictures of the old labels, and even if you don't read Cyrillic it obviousy says "PORTER." So isn't stout just another name for porter? And as far as the "more-or-less given progression," do us all a favor now, and just toss that out the window while we're taking a turn on a mountain road. It's not that easy. Because then you have the lager-brewed "Baltic" porters, that range anywhere from 5.5% to 9.5%, and taste like a trainwreck between a doublebock and an imperial stout. That, I think, is more where this one fits, although it's apparently ale-brewed (as are a few examples of Baltic porters, actually). In short, there are more beers in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy...and the whole porter/stout thing is only a beginning. I've got a piece on the porter/stout divide coming out next month at

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give it a look.

Reply to
Lew Bryson

: Yeah, Avery did The Kaiser, an Imperial Oktoberfest. Tasted a lot like : a regular Oktoberfest. With a shot of wood grain alcohol dropped into : it.

"wood grain alcohol"? What the heck is that? Wood alcohol is methyl alcohol, grain alcohol is ethyl alcohol. There's no such thing as "wood grain alcohol".

Reply to
bob
[...]

Flying Dog only just recently appeared in my market (Victoria BC) - I bought a six pack of the pale ale and thought it was quite good.

[...]

That was my impression - nicely hopped, crisp balanced American pale ale. Sure there are several locally made ales that I prefer, but based on what I tasted I'd have no hesitation buying this again.

Glad I didn't have to try it when it was a 'flaccid uninspired concoction' - I've had way too many of those already!

Reply to
Bill Riel

Usually I tend to think of Stouts as using roast barley and porters using black malt for their colour/roastiness, but I realize that's a huge simplification and there are commercial beers that don't follow that. Still, it's *usually* a decent rule of thumb. Likewise, while your ordering of strength is probably generally pretty good, there are lots of exceptions.

Imperial mild does sound pretty silly, and to tell the truth I'm getting a tad tired of the "Imperial" trend - though, there are (and have been) some British milds that are fairly strong.

It seems to me that generally (at least in the UK) milds are ales that emphasize malt, but they don't actually have to be "mild". Just like Bitter isn't necessarily very bitter; it's just that hops usually are the dominant character.

Reply to
Bill Riel

That sounds too negative to describe the taste of a fine Baltic porter. I'd like to think of it more as two trains making sweet, beautiful love...

PS -- anyone brewed an "Imperial Light Ice NA" yet?

Reply to
Russ Perry Jr

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