Barley and Hops Part I

1)Another Frederick stop from last Friday: Barley and Hops (first time). Jake and Elwood were waiting inside.

2)The beer tote board. Nothing on cask that day, but I had the Double Deuce Double IPA. They also had a stout, an ESB, a pale, a nut brown, a light lager and a Oktoberfest beer. Good mix.

Barley and Hops Part II

1)The outside, great entrance!

2)Enjoying my double IPA at the bar, growler and candle (surrounded by barley husks) in the background. It was a solid effort on the DIPA but I thought it was extremely sticky sweet and the hops were resinous without the nice bright citrusy feel to offset. Almost tangy sour like grapefruit. They nailed the body and consistency though.

3)Tote board of their offerings.

Flying Dog

1)Sooo along with the Brewer's Alley stop (below) I swung by the Flying Dog brewery in Frederick last Friday and got a growler fill of the Snake Dog IPA as well as a taster of their winter seasonal, K-9 Cruiser. The Cruiser isn't on taps yet but its now at the brewery/tasting room if you make their Saturday tours. Its delicious, tremendous malt flavor, not too big on the wintery spicing, robust, just good stuff.

2)Several of the taps. I'd drink any of those, no questions asked.

3 &4)Enjoying the growler Saturday at home watching the USC game. The beer was spectacular. Brewery fresh beer just tastes a little different, its still pretty good in bottle and tap around town but fresh its just about as good as some of the truly great IPA's from masters like Russian River and Alpine.

Brewer's Alley

1)Sitting at one corner of the bar, looking at the tap handles

2)My glass of the '21 Cherries' cherry beer. Not bad, definite cherry flavor but not like one of those tart lambics either, mild, watery body

3)A taster of the '1634' ale commemorating the early days of Maryland, lots of spices and herbal flavors in there.

Notes: Brewer's Alley makes good beer, its just a difficult place to get to since downtown Frederick can be such a pain getting through and parking. Fortunately their Kolsch is seen on several taps around town and several of their other offerings can be found in bottled six packs.

Events

--- The Big Kahuna, Baltimore Beer Week, October 10th-18th, 300+ events

--- Flying Dog beer dinner at Ellicott City's The Diamondback Tavern Tuesday October 13th at 7 PM. Five courses all created specifically to pair with five different Flying Dog beers and the chef will uses Flying Dog in his preparations. Price is $45/person plus tax/gratuity.

--- Saturday October 3rd and Sunday October 4th, Frederick Octoberfest at the Frederick Fairgrounds. Cost is $5/person, free with authentic dirndl or lederhosen. German food, oompah bands, and specially brewed Oktoberfest beers from Barley & hops, Brewers Alley, DuClaw, Flying Dog and Wild Goose.

Brewer's Alley Oktoberfest Beer Dinner

Frederick's Brewer's Alley is hosting an Oktoberfest beer dinner Tuesday October 6th. The first seating is at 530 PM, the second at 730 PM.

$45/person plus tax and gratuity, reservations required (301)631-0089

Dorsey's German bratwurst and knackwurst fresh from Dorsey's meats in Woodsboro MD served w/sauerkraut, warm fingerling potato salad and Dusseldorf mustard (Kolsch)

Bavarian lentil soup w/braised rabbit, German rye and pumpernickel breads (Dunkleweizen)

Sweet and sour beets, smoked bacon, D'anjou pears and red oak leaves topped with a crispy potato cake drizzled with chive sour cream dressing (21 Cherries)

Idaho rainbow trout schnitzel, kaese spaetzel, braised red cabbage and hazelnut brown butter (Pilsner)

Braised beef sauerbraten, Kartoffel Kloesse potato dumplings, roasted carrots in Nut Brown Ale and caramelized brussel sprouts (Wedding Alt)

Oma's apple-walnut strudel, Quark cheese creme anglaise (Oktoberfest)

Flying Dog Brewery Tour/Tasting Room Changes

It's gotten stupid busy at Flying Dog's brewery on Saturdays so they've modified the routine.

In: two tour sessions, from 11am - 1pm and 2pm - 4pm, brewery/tasting room closed from 1-2 to clean up

Tickets will be given out on a first come, first served basis and a maximum of 120 people will be let in.

Tours will be given at 11:30am, 11:45am and 12:00noon, and each tour lasts approximately 30 minutes

Tickets will be given out on a first come, first served basis and a maximum of 120 people will be let in.

Tours will be given at 2:30pm, 2:45pm and 3:00pm, and each tour lasts approximately 30 minutes

My only question is does that mean loitering is over/mandatory tour participation? What about the folks who just want to get some growler fills?

Hopelessly Behind

I've hit up a ton of beer-y places for the first time in the last few months, need to get crackin' on some reviews, notes, etc. at some point. Hopefully I can deliver on all that.

Managed to avoid the trap of sticking to my tried and true (great) local stops all the time. They miss me of course but while I still have a bit more get-around time in the summer (fall weekends mean football, both Saturday and Sunday) I've taken advantage.

Anyway, might just sneak in *another* trip to Flying Dog this Saturday, get a growler fill and hop over to Bonefish Grill. Or maybe not, no definite plans. Say hi or let me know if you're headed in that direction.

I really need to get that Clipper City tour review/notes up as well, don't let me slack on that! Keep following here and on the MDbeerspotter twitter I've set up (tweet me your interesting beer finds!). Thanks, as always.

Elsewhere In Frederick

1)Flying Dog IPA at the bar at Bonefish Grill in Frederick

2)The ridiculously delicious Bang Bang shrimp and Flying Dog IPA at Bonefish Grill. Their other three taps are marginal but this combo really works with the shrimp and zip of the IPA. They don't open until 3 PM but make for a great postgame after stopping by the Flying Dog Brewery.

3)Bang Bang up close. Oh how I love this dish.

4)Cincinnati chili cheese dog at Hard Times Cafe also in Frederick. Its a giant pool hall, bar, restaurant, chili on pretty much everything but lots of taps. They had I think the Flying Dog amber, Clipper City Loose Cannon, and a few others to go with the usual domestics.

Both destinations are conveniently just off freeway exits.

Brewer's Alley American Whiskey and Lowcountry BBQ Tasting Event

Brewer’s Alley, in Partnership with Frederick Reads Presents America Whiskey and Lowcountry BBQ Tasting

Thursday April 9, 5-8 PM
Tickets $29/person

An evening of over a dozen Bourbons and American Whiskeys paired with a special Barbeque menu, and a Bourbon-Barrel-Aged Oatmeal Stout created by our Brewmaster Tom Flores!

Menu Items:

Smoked and Grilled Beef Short Ribs with Sesame Sauce
Barbeque Duck Confit
Braised Pulled Pork on Brioche Toast
Grilled Chicken Breast with Carolina Style Barbeque Sauce
Sweet and Spicy Thai Chili Barbeque Shrimp
Honey-Bourbon Grilled Atlantic Salmon
Raisin Bread Pudding with Jack Daniel’s Sauce

Featured Bourbons and American Whiskeys:

Woodford Reserve, Evan William's Single Barrel Vintage, Elijah Craig 12 Year Old, Elijah Craig 18 Year Old Single Barrel, Sam Houston Very Small Batch, Jefferson's Very Small Batch, Jefferson's Very Small Batch Reserve, Henry McKenna Single Barrel, Bernheim Original Kentucky Straight Whiskey, Rittenhouse Straight Rye Whiskey, Old Forester, and, Jack Daniels Tennessee Whiskey, Gentlemen Jack, Jack Daniels Single Barrel

(301)631-0089

Frederick Reads has very quickly become a beloved event in Frederick, as the community joins together to enjoy the work of a selected author. This year's selected author, Clyde Edgerton, features the sights, sounds and tastes of the South, and we are thrilled by the tremendous response from our partners in the community. Brewer's Alley has supported Frederick Reads from its earliest days, and this "Taste of the South" event is one that will get everyone into the spirit of this wonderful novelist.

Members of the Frederick Reads Committee will be on-hand to share details about Edgerton's visit to Frederick and his free appearances around town. They will also have several of Edgerton's books available for purchase. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of these books will benefit Frederick Reads.

New Brewer's Alley Beer

At Frederick's Brewer's Alley, "Meet brewmaster Tom Flores and head brewer Maggie Lenz from 4-6 PM at the bar on ...

Tuesday March 24th -- George St. Maple Porter

The starting point in the design of this beer is a style category known as Robust Porter, which is a strong version of Porter. The color is between Nut Brown Ale and Oatmeal Stout. Our rendition of this style uses real maple syrup from Virginia, which comes through in the delicate maple aroma and the beginning of each sip. The maple flavor is then followed by the roasted maltiness typical of Porters. The bitterness you perceive in this beer comes more from the highly roasted malts used and less from the hops, though there are some hops added for balance. The residual sweetness comes from the caramel malts used and not from the maple syrup. This is because the syrup is so fermentable, all the sugars in it are used up by the yeast. However, a lot of the maple aromatics are retained, even after fermentation. Additionally, the full mouthfeel helps balance the overall flavor, as well as the heat from the alcohol. The intensity and alcohol strength of this beer makes it good for sipping at a leisurely pace. We are serving our Maple Porter in a brandy snifter to encourage a slower pace of consumption and to allow the beer to heat up a little as you cup it in your hand. This leads to an experience of flavor that unfolds over time and presents layers of complexity which emerge, as long as you are patient enough to wait!

Thursday March 26th -- New Moon Ale (Cask)

Tuesday March 31st -- 21 Cherries

Our Head Brewer, Maggie Lenz, wanted to brew this beer for her little brother, Nick, who turns 21 years old this April (2009). This amber colored beer has a slight red tint which comes from tart red cherries added directly to the aging beer. It was brewed as a lager, so the aroma is a mild and wonderful blend of slightly toasted malt and fresh fruit. The first taste you get is a general tart fruitiness that then more fully develops into red pie cherries, giving you a tart and refreshing finish that gets you ready for the next sip. Additionally, cinnamon and vanilla were sparingly added to the kettle as back up for the cherries, helping to bring out the flavor.

Review: Flying Dog Brewing Tasting Room

The folks and myself made our way west to lovely Frederick, Md. Saturday to revisit the Flying Dog Brewery and tasting room. Flying Dog relocated to Maryland from its home base in Colorado several years ago, acquiring and sharing its current facility with Wild Goose Brewing.

Flying Dog is open on Saturdays from 130-4 PM, with tours at 2 and 3. We skipped the tour this time, but its usually lively and casual and recommended if you have the time and haven't done it before. Flying Dog also has a small gift shop to pick up glasses, shirts, clean growlers and so on.

The tasting room was the focus for us this time. Most of their regular lineup was pouring, except they had subbed the Kerberos Tripel for an offering from their Wild Dog series, Dog Schwarz. That Dog Schwarz, bytheway, was quite smokey. I was expecting something a bit more sweet and subdued, but this came out like a smoked/rauch beer, such as Alaskan Brewing's Smoked Porter or the famous German smoked beers from Schlenkerla in Bamberg.

Additionally, they had a full line of Wild Goose taps including their winter seasonal Snow Goose and their fall seasonal pumpkin beer. Flying Dog also had a cask although it wasn't pouring, and a "nitro blend" with their Horn Dog Barley Wine and something else mixed in there. For those unfamiliar, a nitro tap is what something like Guinness usually (always) is poured from, it seems to soften the beer and creates that cascading effect which is so visually enticing. The reason I was excited to go, however, was the day-of availability of their spring seasonal offering, the Garde Dog modeled after the French Biere De Garde style beers.

The tasting room inevitably ends up a very lively place packed with people, but Flying Dog has wisely done some things to tone it down a tad. The last time I was there, you could purchase a glass for $5 and there would be pretty much unlimited half-pours. Now, all the glasses are marked with a 6 oz line and you are handed (6) fanned bottlecaps upon entry to redeem for tasters. What you choose to do with them is your discretion.

I targeted the Garde Dog but was told they were out. Stunning. However, about an hour later I found them pouring from the Garde Dog tap, so I guess another keg had been put on, which didn't last long either. I had it from a bottle once last year and enjoyed it, but like many beers this came across much more lively and fresh on tap, even at just over six ounces. It was spicey and earthy, pale in color but not so floral or funky as some saisons but in a similar general range of flavor to it. I was hooked.

Equally impressive, and to my surprise, was their Doggie Style classic pale ale. I've generally passed over this beer, but several ounces in it woke me up a bit. The flavor was solid, but what really hit me was the aroma. It reminded me of some of the great IPA's and pale ales I had been enjoying recently in San Diego. Checking their literature, Flying Dog named the hops: Northern Brewer and Cascade. It was described as having a "powerful Cascade hop aroma with a sweet caramel body and a distinct hop bite. Dry hopped during fermentation with a shitload of Cascade hops".

Which prompted me to text my friend Steve, Anchorman style, "I love Cascade". I love Cascade!

Only now have I begun paying attention to hopping and the details behind beers, so apologies for sounding like a novice at times even a year into this Baltimore Beer Guy thing. I don't homebrew although I am looking into that. However I did work with Steve to make a Belgian Pale Ale on my recent trip to California, more details about that later in another entry. But back to Flying Dog.

Everything else there was fun, obviously we didn't try every beer, but got around to most of Flying Dog's offerings and a few from Wild Goose, which tends to be a bit conservative in flavor for me. They're modeled more after British ales and lagers, so are more subdued and classic in temperament.

It is also worth mentioning Flying Dog offers growler fills. They sell growlers in the store, but many people there had brought their own various growlers to take home the good stuff. Near the entrance to the tasting room there is a beer fridge where guests can get take-home 4, 6 and 12 packs of whatever Flying Dog's put in the fridge. As mentioned here a few days ago they also have 12-packs of the 7-oz "pony" bottles, that are available. I saw one customer also had a 750ml bottle of the Dog Schwarz ready to go.

This being winter, everyone was crammed inside, but in warmer times there's a patio that I've read employees will sometimes crank out the BBQ, and people can generally relax just outside the tasting room. The patio covering was draped with hop vines last time I was there, but was empty this time. Hopefully those make a return.

Coming up ... a review of Growlers (Gaithersburg, Md.)

Pictured above: two nice ladies we met at the tasting room, Deborah and Barb; Baltimore Beer Guy feeding the goose

Flying Dog American Homebrewer's Association Rally

Interesting event today (Saturday November 8th):

Entrance is free for current American Homebrewer Association (AHA) members, $33 for non-members and renewing members that becomes a subscription to the AHA (normally $38).

The event will be at the Flying Dog Brewery in Frederick, Maryland.

Entrance to the event includes these opportunities:
• $33 One-Year Membership to the AHA (reg. $38)
• VIP Brewery Tour
• Meet the Flying Dog "Brew Crew"
• Nineteen house beers on tap including Wild Dog, Brewer's Reserve and K9 Cruiser (seasonal)
• Chance to win great door prizes from the AHA and Flying Dog Brewery

The AHA membership is actually pretty cool as it grants you a subscription (every other month) to Zymurgy magazine and some great discounts at breweries and pubs. My friend Steve at Summer of Beer is a member and has taken great advantage of various discounts in his beer travels. This reminds me I should look into what kind of discounts AHA members get in Maryland (feel free to email me or comment below with further details and insight, I'm not a member ...).

Be sure to check out Baltimore Beer Guy's assortment of custom beer maps at right (example: Maryland beer & brewers including several in Frederick). Also see my Frederick entries tag, my Flying Dog tag, and let me know any details about the beer at Firestone's in downtown Frederick. It is rumored to be associated with the Firestone family of tire and later beer fame in California and advertises a strong beer selection.

Frederick, The Beer Town

Sort of old news, but I recently found this entry on a beer blog called Hop Talk. The June 2007 issue of Beer Advocate Magazine named "Nine Great Beer Towns You Didn't Know Were Great Beer Towns".

No. 4? Frederick, Maryland.

The combined Flying Dog and Wild Goose operations are headquartered there, as well as Brewer's Alley and Barley and Hops. I'm at a loss for what else is out there, but it's nice recognition for Frederick which is just a bit out of the way for most of us in the Baltimore metropolitan area.

I neglected to stop in at Brewers Alley or Barley and Hops in my last visit to Frederick, but I did dine downtown not far from the Alley and had one of their beers at the tapas restaurant. I also visited the Flying Dog Brewery (of which I need to write a review at some point on here). Hopefully those places hint at more "on the way" as far as breweries and brewpubs.

Does anyone know of any other beer stops in Frederick? I don't have a copy of the magazine so I'm not sure what else they mentioned other than those three places.

Brewer's Alley Oktoberfest Beer Dinner

The fine brewery/restaurant out in Frederick is holding an "Oktoberfest" beer dinner on October 14th. They "still have a few seats open" but are filling up fast, so call them for reservations if interested (301-631-0089).

First seating 5:30 in the Booking Room, second seating at 7:30 in the Mayor's Room (2nd floor overlooking downtown Frederick)

$45/person plus 6% tax and 18% gratuity

The menu goes as follows:

Welcome: red wine salt pretzel
Wedding alt

Cold potato soup with truffle oil and applewood smoked ham
Nut brown ale

Raisin-apple free form sausage, scallion potato pancake and apple demi
Oktoberfest

Roasted flounder strudel: puff pastry stuffed with herb seasoned flounder fillet, served with mustard cream
Scotch ale

Veal schnitzel: herb and panko crusted veal with spinach spaetzles and oatmeal stout demi
Oatmeal stout

Chef Christine's Black Forest cake

Hefe weizen

This sounds interesting, please report back to me if you attend, thanks!

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.