Thursday, July 03, 2008

Two Beers from Flying Dog

I'm a huge fan of Flying Dog beers. When they were in Downtown Denver I went to the tour and tasting on multiple occasions, but just because they've moved across country to Maryland doesn't mean I like their beers any less. Walking through my local Spec's I came across Flying Dog's Sample Pack containing 5 different beers: Amber, Wheat, Pale Ale, Kolsch, and Porter. Well not quite...due to the archaic beer labeling laws in Texas we don't get the Porter, instead Flying Dog put their seasonal beer: Woody Creek White a Belgium Wheat Beer. I'm ok with that change (although I do need to try their Porter, heck and their new Triple). So in the process of trying good session beers I figured it would be fun to try two different wheat beers, one the Woody Creek, the other Flying Dog's In Heat Wheat a German style Hefeweizen.
The Beer: Woody Creek White: The beer weighs in at 4.8% abv, pouring a beautiful hazy cloudy gold capped with a thick white head. The nose is spicy, some banana notes, orange zest, spices, coriander. Great thick mouthfeel, really strong notes of citrus; oranges, lemon pie. Very thirst quenching and a great beer on a hot Texas day. This on gets a B+ from me.
The Beer: In-Heat Wheat: This one weighs in at 4.7% pours a good cloudy orange with a good dense head, a little thinner than I like, but its very dense. The nose is full of banana's and cloves. This is what I love in a good German Hefe. This is what is missing in most American Wheat beers so I'm extremely glad to see it here. As stated the nose is good, but not great, I'd like to see the banana and cloves to be a little stronger. Great mouthfeel, thick, good bananas, some citrus notes, just a bit of sourness. All in all a very solid wheat beer, this one gets a B from me.
More from Flying Dog to come as I make my way through their pack.

2 comments:

Steph said...

Hey,

Thanks for reviewing Woody Creek and In Heat! I work for the brewery and love hearing about people enjoying our brews!!

Cheers,
Steph

Barleyvine said...

Steph,
I'm glad you appreciated the post. I've got a special place for Flying Dog, visited them many times when they were in Denver.
(you'll be seeing more reviews as I make it through that variety pack).