BeerBrotha Sports Review: Butler vs. Duke

I'm sitting here actually watchng the first hour of 24, and will be checking out the second half of the Final Two game. Just came back from one day trip to the New Orleans area for a meeting, and it looks like the somebody snuck in a new brew on me. Covington Brewhouse put together a nice Maibock for me, but I defaulted to getting a NOLA Blonde Ale like I like to do at the NO Airport. The guy did give me a sample of the CB, very nice.

It's so rare that a beer is brewed at all in Texas or Louisiana, let alone a new brewery that I don't know about 4 months in advance. And damned if it's not one of my favorite styles. Upon further review (googling like crazy), it turns out Heiner Brau is brewing these beers under a new label. Probably a good idea, as a new brand can generate some much needed excitement. So it works out well for me. Though I'm not sure how this Bayou Bock matches up with Heiner Brau's Maiboch or the Mardi Gras Festbier.

So I'm rooting for Butler as I hate Duke. But unlike you chumps that hate Duke because they are better than your team, I have been a North Carolina Tarheels fan for 20 years, so I hate Duke as a basic rival. They dominate so much that I'm jealous of their success and want ANY team to beat them. So to honor the Butler Bulldogs (also the name and mascot of my late brother's high school), I am going to resample some Flying Dog beers.

Beer Log: Right Now
State: Watching 24 and the Final 2 game

Flying Dog Double Dog
I rated this beer as a 5 star beer without so much as a written word. It was THAT damn great. A beer so good I felt it exemplified the reason why do the whole beer thing at all. Ok it's the second half, Duke up by one. Dark copper and clear with a big tan head. And the nose is just awesome, caramel, malt, chocolate, and something like a cinnamon cookie. Just great. Fantastic combination of malty caramel and grapefruit hops. Just loving the biting hops in the finish as well. Malt is not cloying but kind of chewy. Just a great mixture of everything and a touch dry to boot. Dammit Butler's main guy just got 4 fouls. This Double Dog is probably not as aged as I would like it to be, but the melody and harmony of malt and hops still combines perfectly. No hint whatsoever of the alcohol. Dammit Butler's other big guy now has 3 fouls. Anyway, got to give this puppy the big 5 Star rating.



You know I'm reading so many magazines these days and kind of trying to learn of the best ways to describe these beers. I hate that I have such a great beer and I honestly cannot just make up some shyt, like the taste of Hawaiain roasted pig with a North Carolina bbq sauce, white clay earth dryness, and a jolly rancher type grapefruitiness in the hops, although I could use these notes for the Double Dog. Maybe I need to just become more of a foodie, or just let the imagination flow. Thoughts?



Anyway, Butler is still down by 2 with just under 11 minutes to go. Somebody's got to do something here. Now Duke is up by 5. Dammit man. Now the Dogs are down by only 1. And I'm feeling the ABV now. Probably that can of Heiney I had on the plane. Southwest Airlines rules. Butler only down by 1, 49.4 seconds left. Out of BOUNDS on DUKE. BUTLER BALL! Under 34 seconds left. I gotta put the computer down. Damn that, I'm getting a 7 ouncer of Horn Dog. NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!

Black History Beering

Not really, I just polished off some beer from Boulevard. A Saison. Very nicely done, not too dry. Has a great sweetness to it, and not too dry at all. High 3 Stars.

Beer Log: Yesterday

State: Relaxing

Flying Dog Raging Bitch

This Belgian IPA is working pretty well as a style for me. Houblon came on strong, and now the Dawgs are showing up. Dark copper with a long lasting offwhite reddish head. Piney, citrusy, and apple nose. Bready and apple flavor with plenty of grapefruity hops throughout. I just can't get over how great this beer's tastes goes with it's smell. In the snifter glass I get a great melody of taste and smell. It's a touch grainy and comes on with high carbonation. Nice beer and just balanced. High 4 star.

Just for the Record

Flying Dog Double Dog is a 5 Star beer. Fantastic out of the 7 ounce bottle from the variety pack.

That is all.

Purging the Sin from my system: Flying Dog

Good to be home from my back-to-back trips to New Orleans and Las Vegas. I still get the occasional sick feeling after the massive amounts of tequila shots and filth. It's good to be home, already had some homebrew, and now I'm having my first homecooked meal in a while from the Misses. I'll send the reviews for that later. Let's just say I had a few beers, lots of tequila, and woke up slightly hungover and THANK GOD alone every night.

Flying Dog Biere de Garde
Haven't had a BDG since we were in Paris. I didn't care for it then, so lets see what happens now. Smells like it's sour and estery, kinda fruity. Pretty clear and straw colored , low head in the wine goblet. A nice estery almost belgian taste without the nice sourness. It has a nice maltiness in there as well. Goes well with my IPA marinated pork chops. I detect a touch of hops and toast as well. Very nice. A good beer to introduce your light beer drinkers to. High 3 Star. The Dogs totally blew away whatever I had in Paris.

Flying Dog always make me think of this song...

Found another Oktoberfest... Yes

And I thought I had found all I could down this way without resorting to beer trading. We braved the roads of downtown to go to The Sauce, as that and a couple of Chinese and Mexican joints are the only ones that are open. Broken glass everywhere.

The waitress brings out my Oktoberfest and the wife's beer, whatever she ordered.

Live Oak Oaktoberfest
And its local. Light malty and cascade hoppy smell. Clear amber color. Light malt in the taste but medium to strong hops. WTF man? Lacy head. What's going on here. I'll have to try this one again at maybe Alamo Drafthouse or something. If someone told me this was a Pale Ale if not an IPA with that maltiness, I would believe them. I mention to the waitress that this is kinda hoppy for an oktoberfest, but she must be new as she didn't seem sure what I was getting at. Oh well, I'm already halfway through the pint. I even go to the kiosk to see what the "answer" is on the receipt. I has German hops on there, which could mean it has those musty hop aromas like the Hofbrau I have in the fridge. I taste the wife's beer and realize that she has a soapy oktoberfest while I have her Flying Dog Doggy Style Pale Ale. Isn't that just great. At least I got the style right, and even the hops. 3 Stars for the Doggy Style. It's so funny b/c I was thinking medium malt the entire time, but still got that pale ale flavor going on.

Live Oak Oaktoberfest, the real one this time.
Wow. Lighter amber than the Doggy Style, low head. Light malt and sweetness. Lops hops. True oktoberfest but has some bubblegum mintyness to it. Turns out the wife's lipstick is on the glass and that's what I'm smelling and tasting. Oh behave. Medium carbonation and kind of light in the body. 3 Stars. Goes great with the Guiness Au Jus sauce and roast beef sandwich we're having. Here's to hoping I can find a few more Oktoberfests before the season wraps up.

But the oktoberfest was what I thought it was. And we let 'em off the hook.

Hunkering Down: Ike Beering

Yesterday our power went out, but we still had some cold beer. So I was able to try out the Flying Dog In Heat Wheat. It was a little humid in the house, so a cold wheat beer should do the trick. And it did.

Flying Dog In Heat Wheat

Just got to love that name. And there funkadelic bottle labels. This one has some high carbo but has a nice steady rush of coriander and orange peel. They kept the temperature low on the fermentation, so it doesn't have all those yeast fruity flavors that come through like in things like Hoegaarden, which actually turned me off to Hefs for a while. Just excellent in this hot weather. High 3 Star beer.