Flying Dog's Maryland Connection

It's deep.

Flying Dog is a Denver, Colorado brewer (one of our nation's beer capitals, more on that later) brewing in the spirit of Gonzo --- Hunter S. Thompson.

Seriously.

Long time friend, neighbor and co-conspirator of Flying Dog owner George Stranahan, Hunter was a large influence on George's life and subsequently on the creation of the Flying Dog brand; whether it was riding motorcycles, blowing shit up, or just getting a good, old-fashioned drunk on at the Woody Creek Tavern. These two were fast friends long before Flying Dog Brewery was even a thought. When George opened up shop in Aspen, Hunter would have been one of his best customers; if he had ever paid his tab.

Hunter's greatest contribution to Flying Dog is, of course, introducing George Stranahan to another long-time friend of his, Ralph Steadman. The Gonzo artist creates all of Flying Dog's signature labels.

Putting Thompson aside for a moment, Flying Dog is one of the bigger names in craft brewing with a national distribution. What I didn't realize until tonight was that they produce their full line of beers out of Wild Goose Brewing's Frederick facility. That's good news for Maryland beer consumers everywhere.

I must confess I haven't tried much of Flying Dog's lineup (yet). They were actually one of the rare national craft brewers of reliable distribution while I was living in the Florida panhandle. However, what I usually saw on the shelves was their Pale and Golden ales. Ho hum. I love Stone Brewing but it's hard to get excited about their Pale Ale, even though it's a good one. Same goes for those two, although Flying Dog clearly has enough self-respect to produce a dizzying line of other beers.

In other words, add them to the list of beers on my mental shopping list. Talking to Summer of Beer's Steve tonight he mentioned several quality brews they produce so now I'll be on the lookout for them in store shelves. Plus the Frederick facility isn't tooooooo far, maybe I can pair a stop over there with a stop at Brewer's Alley and Wild Goose (also in Frederick).

Many thanks to Flying Dog's own Creative Manager Josh for alerting me to this news. Josh also sends along this video of MojoHD's "Beer Nutz" visiting Flying Dog. Synergy, folks.

Mojo Is Beer Friendly

If Comcast happens to be your cable TV provider.

If you have their HD package.

If you have an HD television.

You've got Mojo. More specifically, you've got InHD Channel, which is another name for Mojo. Mojo is an all-HD cable network with some fairly interesting programming. Notable within their lineup: Three Sheets and Beer Nutz.

Three Sheets is a personal favorite of mine and has a bit of a cult following. It's a show hosted by Zane Lamprey, who travels the world and participates in its various booze cultures. Lamprey is equal parts comedian, host and guinea pig. Despite the title, there isn't too much embarrassing drunkenness. Instead, the viewer gets a snappy, well-edited local profile of his various stops and their beverage cultures.

Beer isn't so much the focus of this show. If the show stops in France, the obvious focus is on Champagne and wine. In Kentucky: bourbon. In Ireland: Guinness. You get the picture. Watch the New Year's Even NYC Pub Crawl Episode or the full Croatia episodes here for a taste of the magic of Three Sheets. The show's fans have even developed a fun drinking game that meshes well with the content of the episodes.



The lesser of the two booze-related programs is Beer Nutz. Its two hosts travel around the U.S. sampling and rating beers, breweries and brewers. Beer Nutz provides a decent look into the beer culture of the featured cities. The hosts are nice guys but seem a bit aloof to the intricacies of beer which could make the show more informative.

As for a local connection ... there isn't one. Neither show has spent any time in Charm City. However, several local establishments feature beers from Magic Hat (I've seen #9 on draft at Greene Turtle and bottles of Circus Boy at Victoria), a strange but well-regarded brewery in Vermont that was featured in an episode of Beer Nutz.