Heavy Seas Winter Storm, from Clipper City

This is my second beer from Clipper City Brewing in Baltimore. Billed as an Imperial ESB, it's a new beer style for me. I love the labels on these Heavy Seas beers - after all, who can resist a pirate-themed beer, complete with a parrot? This is a bottle-conditioned brew, so there was a bit of yeast on the bottom, that kinda clouded it up a little. It was a nice ruby color with an itty-bitty head. This is a malty ale! It reminds me of a double bock - gobs of malt sweetness. Alcohol was at 7.5%, about what I would expect of an "Imperial" anything. It's a perfect cold weather beer - rich, sweet, and warming. After all, it's a "Category 5 Ale".

Flying Dog Old Scratch Amber Lager

Flying Dog has another fine beer in their lineup called "Old Scratch" Amber Lager. This was part of their assortment pack that I got a couple of months ago. It poured a copper color with an inch-tall off-white head. It had a bit of caramel-malt flavor, with a modest level of hop bitterness. Carbonation was relatively low in comparison to others in this style, but it's not a fault. This was a smooth easy-to-drink beer, and of course, the labels are always entertaining on Flying Dog beers.

Heavy Seas Peg Leg Imperial Stout

I went looking for a rich dark beer to go with my burger tonight, and found Clipper City Brewing's Heavy Seas Peg Leg Imperial Stout. Clipper City is based in Baltimore, MD. I haven't had an Imperial Stout in a while, so I was looking forward to it. It poured a deep dark oily black with a small tan head. It had a creamy smooth mouthfeel, and tasted of chocolate, coffee, dark fruits and licorice. There was a lot of sweet roasty malt too. At 8% alcohol, it fits easily into the Imperial Stout category. This was exactly what I was looking for tonight.

Flying Dog Road Dog Porter

Here's another beer left over from my birthday party - Flying Dog's Road Dog Porter. At one time, this beer was described as Scottish Porter, but the "Scottish" seems to have been dropped from the name. I think it's the same beer. It's been a while since I've had this, and I'd forgotten what it tasted like. I was anticipating a deep rich chocolatey roasty porter, but this is not that beer. It was very subdued, with very little roasted malt flavor. The body was a bit thin for a Porter. It poured a deep ruby-brown color, and had a rapidly disappearing head. Overall, I was a bit underwhelmed. It wasn't "bad", just so-so.

Flying Dog Garde Dog - a Biere de Garde

Flying Dog's Garde Dog is one of their "Seasonal" beers, and is in the style of a Biere de Garde. The name means "beer of keeping" in French, and is a Belgian style. It's traditionally unfiltered, brewed in March to be "kept" for several months and then drunk during the summer months. This is a well-carbonated version, and it has a healthier body than I would have expected in a beer of this color. It's not as heavy as a bock, but it has more body than a lager. This has an underlying fruitiness and is a little spicy in the finish. This is the first Biere de Garde I have ever had, so I can't comment on how true-to-style it is. I definitely enjoyed it, and could easily drink these during the warm weather.

Flying Dog Snake Dog IPA

Today was pizza day at lunch time, so I grabbed one of my preferred pizza beers to go along with it. An IPA is one of the few beers that doesn't get overwhelmed by the salty, spicy pizza. Flying Dog has a good IPA, called Snake Dog. It poured a medium amber color, with a 1 inch tall white head, that left plenty of lacing on the glass. There was lots of sweet malt flavor, balanced by a heaping helping of grapefruit-flavored Columbus hops from the West Coast. Snake Dog is a much tastier beer than their Tire Biter Golden Ale, but maybe I'm just biased.

Flying Dog Tire Bite Golden Ale

The Flying Dog Brewery was originally based in Colorado, but it appears to be a Maryland brewery now. This golden ale was crystal clear, with a small white head. There's not a lot to write about here, it's a pretty basic light ale. It would be a good lawnmower beer. I think the best part about this beer is the Ralph Steadman artwork on the label.