1001 Beers

Beer No: 50/1001
Page No: 694
Category: Dark

Wow, 5% done with all 1001 Beers...I can't believe I'm at 50 already and I easily have another 50 beers sitting in boxes around my room and in the fridge just waiting to be tasted, reviewed, and rated.  For #50, I picked a good one - the Flying Dog Gonzo Imperial Porter.  According to 1001 Beers, it was first brewed in 2005 after Hunter S. Thompson committed suicide.  It features artwork from Ralph Steadman who did much of Hunter's illustrations, and also won the gold medal in the World Beer Cup in 2008.  So this is no slouch of a beer.

I usually don't drink porters or stouts on a daily basis as they're usually just too heavy for a mid-day drink, but this Imperial Stout was right up my alley.  Heavy on the hops (as the Imperial would imply) and the coffee, this complex beer is balanced nicely and made a nice addition to my chicken sandwich dinner.  That being said, come June, I'll have tons of stouts and porters lined up to discuss here.  June 12th I'll be hosting a Stout/Porter party at my place and I have a lot of nice beers lined up to taste that day.  I'll be starting with a blind tasting of barrel aged stouts/porters and then move into a blind tasting of smoked stouts and porters.  After that, if people are still up for blind tastings, I'll break out some other stouts and porters that aren't barrel aged or smoked and we'll go from there.  As of now, the stout/porter list stands at:

Barrel Aged:
BrewDog Paradox (whiskey)
North Coast Old Rasputin XII (bourbon)
Haand Bryggeriet Norwegian Porter (aquavit)
Deschutes Abyss 2009 (bourbon)
The Bruery Black Tuesday (bourbon)

Smoked:
Alaskan Smoked Porter (2005)
Alaskan Smoked Porter (2009)
Stone Smoked Porter

More:
Brew Dog Rip Tide
Lost Abbey Serpent's Stout
Dieu du Ciel Peche Mortel
Alesmith Speedway Stout (2005)
Alesmith Speedway Stout (2009)
Mikkeller Beer Geek Breakfast
Mikkeller Black
Nogne O Imperial Stout
Requiem Espresso Stout
Sierra Nevada 30th Anniversary Stout
Stone 12th Anniversary Bitter Chocolate Oatmeal Stout
Three Floyds Dark Lord (2009)
Victory Storm King (2002)
Victory Storm King (2010)

Not a bad line up if I say so myself...

My review, cross-posted at RateBeer.com:

Flying Dog Gonzo Imperial Porter from Flying Dog Brewery

Aroma: 8/10
Appearance: 3/5
Taste: 8/10
Palate: 4/5
Overall: 15/20

Rating: 3.8 / 5.0

Had from 12 oz. bottle from Total Wine. Pours brown with huge tan head, good lacing, and slight head retention. Aroma is heavy on coffee and hops. Slight aroma of chocolate and caramel. Taste is full of hops and coffee. Hints of malts, sugar, chocolate, and citrus. Very well done imperial porter with heavy hop flavor that balances the coffee nicely.

Beer No: 21/1001
Page No: 585
Category: White

Well, I'm now officially over 2% of the way through the book, but I've got a long way to go (obviously).  For today's beer, we have another from my Total Wine six-pack I got yesterday, Flying Dog's In-Heat Wheat.  Truth be told, I wasn't that impressed with this wheat.  It was almost overly citrus flavored without the usual spice/clove undertone and no hops anywhere to be found.  But, the main reason I suspect it's in the book is because Eric Warner, who created Flying Dog's In-Heat Wheat literally wrote the book on wheat beers.  German Wheat Beer was published back in 1992 when the style was almost unknown in the States.  Luckily, wheat beer now has a strong foothold as there's really nothing better on a hot day than a nice, mellow wheat beer (well, unless you're a hophead like me who would prefer a Ruination).

On another note, yesterday I received my new copy of Food & Wine magazine.  They had a nice article on the "100 Best New Food & Drink Experiences."  Many of the restaurants are in Paris, New York, Las Vegas, etc. and most of them are too trendy for me to even think about going to, but near the end, #88 - #90, they have "Beer Innovators" which I'll print below:

• #88.  Baird Brewing Co., Tokyo - Baird makes its fabulous signature ales with Japanese fruit like mikans (a citrus); they are on draft at its new taproom in the Harajuku district. bairdbeer.com
• #89.  Brasserie 4:20, Rome - Alex Liberati's seafood restaurant has become a beer mecca.  The draw: vintage and extreme brews from the planet's most radical producers. brasserie420.com
• #90.  Moeder Lambic, Brussels - Discriminating craft-beer importer Daniel Shelton calls this bar "the spanking-new center of the Belgian Brewing universe." moederlambic.eu

I know I would absolutely love to visit all three of the above places - Moeder Lambic especially.  Belgians and sours are my favorite, so I feel like I'd be home in this "center of the Belgian Brewing universe."

My review, cross-posted at RateBeer.com:

Flying Dog In-Heat Wheat Hefeweizen from Flying Dog Brewery

Aroma: 7/10
Appearance: 3/5
Taste: 5/10
Palate: 3/5
Overall: 10/20

Rating: 2.8 / 5.0

Had from 12 oz. bottle. Pours a hazy golden yellow with slight head which dissipates quickly. Aroma of citrus, orange, and wheat. Taste is very citrusy - lots of orange, lemon, and sweetness. Missing any hops and spices. Acceptable, easy to drink, nothing special.