Flying Dog Woody Creek White

Flying Dog Woody Creek White Belgian Wit 2009

by Michael Stein

If Hoegarden is your gold-standard of white or wit beers, Flying Dog Brewery’s Woody Creek White Belgian Wit gives the legendary bière blanche a run for its money.

The golden liquid is like a blissful Belgian kiss from an artisanal well. Its fresh-tasting spiciness is evidence enough, yet should you need further proof you will have to sample some after eating habanera enchiladas doused in jalapeno-seed sauce. Despite the light color, the beer has good taste, a strong hint of coriander followed by spices. A good test of a Hefe or Wit is how it tastes when it is warm. And while I wouldn’t recommend drinking warm beer, whenever I get to the end of a Pualaner Hefeweizen, though it is not as frosty and hazy as when it was first poured, Paulaner’s spice is still highly detectable. This beer tastes less spicy at its end compared to when it is first poured at the peak of its most frosty-hazy freshness. Like Paulaner, Woody’s Wit is perfect for a summer session on a steaming hot day.

Not too long ago, an American craft-brew beating out a Belgian was a hilarious thought. Today, California can brag to the French about a French wine being second-rate to its American cousin. (I’d like to think that that fact alone makes up for our attempt to white-wash America’s favorite fried food and re-dub them “freedom fries.”) Based on the merits and the solid taste of the Flying Dog brew, I think its high time America rock the boat in the pond and create wakes for the Belgian gold-standard. However comparing Flying Dog to InBev is a lot like the matchup between David and Goliath.

Distribution aside, it is no small feat that the Flying Dog Brewery has out-classed the Belgian brewers at their own wit. A beer company that started in Colorado and produces beer in Maryland, Flying Dog refers to the town of Woody Creek, CO (Hunter Thompson’s death location) as the “Gonzo Ground Zero”. The bottles bear Thompson’s quote, “good people drink good beer.”

If the bottle is believed, that good people do in fact drink good beer, the good folks at Enron must have been drinking 12-month old warm Schlitz Ice Bull. That is not to say that there are not good folks working for Anheuser-Busch, or InBev, but the good people that brew Flying Dog have a solid lock on the wit bier.

Beyond the taste, Flying Dog is a very user-friendly beer. The beers even comes with a handy flavor-scale printed on the 6-pack. Traditionally, we’d have to judge a beer by its ABV % and occasionally, its IBUs if we needed to know how bitter or hoppy it was. In fact, most beers don’t bear their IBU count at all, as it is reserved typically for IPAs or other more heavily hopped beers. The Woody Creek White tapers off at 4.9% ABV and 17 IBUs. Next to the flavor scale, pitting “Malty” and “Hoppy” at odd ends of the spectrum, is another little scale that appears to be a color scale. The color scale pits “Light” at one end and “Dark” at the other. Ironically enough, both x’s wind up at the same place on both scales, towards the “light” side, and towards the “Malty” side. However, I would be surprised to find a Flying Dog beer that is lighter than the Woody Creek White. Perhaps the In Heat Wheat is lighter, but that’s the only one I could imagine lighter than Woody Creek White.

Enjoy your Flying Dog brews! The Woody Creek is a summer seasonal, so while you may need to go a bit further to find the Woody Creek White (most distributors may have gotten rid of their last case) the Flying Dog Sampler is sold in most supermarkets these days. And you should not be disappointed by any of their brews.

Allagash Interlude

Allagash Interlude - 2007

by Dan Raposo

This bottle has been bouncing from home to home with me after I picked it up at my favorite brew store (BBC liquors in Smithfield, RI) a couple years ago during my first trip back to college for homecoming weekend. I can't really say why I've avoided it for so long, but I do know why I opened it. Other reviews on this beer spread throughout the internet always mention the fruity and wild complexity the beer offers, and I knew it would match perfectly with a meaty Brazilian dish I had for dinner.

As you pop the cork the beer starts to fix, coming to life from a long hibernation of 5 years of barrel aging and another 2+ years in the bottle thanks to me. Giving it a hearty pour, the foam rises to the top of the glass and settles into a nice, thick, rolling foam, releasing the magnitude of aromas. Fruit - sour apple, strawberry or perhaps notes of cherry, but definitely grapes from the wine barrels this beer is aged in. Upon first taste the beer is tart but then sweet, both from those same fruity tones. Bubbly in the mouth, it goes down smoothly with a dry finish. The end is the only point you remember the brews 9.5% ABV, and you probably wouldn't even notice if you never read the label, or this review.

After a couple more pours, I swirl the bottle and pour the sediment to finish off a wonderful drink. This definitely changes the tone of the beer, as it becomes a little harsher, and more of the Brettanamyces yeast really comes through.

Overall, Allagash does a great job of mixing a Belgian strong ale with the fruity notes of most Belgian ales and American wilds. I wish I had another bottle I could cellar for another 2 years.