Lagunitas - The Waldo's Special Ale

A while back I stopped at my local bottle shop that just happens to be a grocery store.  As I've mentioned in the past Pittsburgh has some funky liquor laws.  Thankfully Giant Eagle (our large local chain of grocery stores) has found a nifty little loophole.  They became bars.  Not entirely, but added a section where you can drink and eat inside the store and this allows them to sell six packs, singles, growlers, and twelve packs.  Thankfully Giant Eagle has a ton of buying power and has allowed lots of stuff to come into the area and has lowered prices city wide.  As you can imagine I'm quite pleased with this scenario.

Like I was saying I went by looking for my dear friend Flying Dog' The Truth.  No surprise they didn't have any.  Sadly a tough find.  The staff at these are pretty good.  they usually know their stuff. So I checked with them just incase they had some in the back of the cooler or something.  The guy suggested this to me instead.  Imperial IPA, high alcohol content, and Lagunitas has a good reputation , so I figured, why not.

I popped it in the freezer, got it nice and cold, and poured it out into a nice tulip glass I had.  Nice deep golden color with a small head on it.  Gave it a sniff, sweet and dark.  The flavor is heavy, and as the label says dank.  It's incredibly resiny, and very sweet.  It's tasty but not what I was looking for, not very well balanced and a bit overpowering, an odd thing for me to say as many of my favorite beers are incredibly overpowering, and unbalanced.  (See my review of Gonzo Imperial Porter)  I got about three quarters of the way through and lost interest.  I had another one a few days later with similar results.  Recently I had another and I was able to get through the full thing without pause.  Maybe I wasn't in the mood for something like this those other times, but this beer sure has it's place.

Flying Dog - The Truth

Last year I went to my favorite beer festival in the Pittsburgh area, the Big Pour it's an annual thing that gets sold out in minutes.  They host this event in a unique kind of resale space.  The take in stuff from buildings getting renovated or demolished and sell them to the public.  This event helps keep this unique recycling opportunity running and I fully support that.  Also they have the greatest selection of food and beer in the city for you to enjoy for a couple hours.  During this event there are  almost 50 different brewers available including TRASH a local home-brew group.  So suffice to say there are lots of different beers to try, but there was only one I went back for seconds on.  The Truth brewed by my personal favorite brewery right now, Flying Dog.  I chose to try this beer because, quite honestly I hadn't heard of it before.  The Truth has a Ralph Steadman illustration of a man with close cropped hair in a black suit, white shirt, and black tie.  Is he with a government agency, a lawyer, or a generic suit?  who knows, but he does promise to solemnly tell the truth.  It's listed as an Imperial IPA, I get it, yeah that's what this style fits under, but I tell you that this is a West Cost IPA if I've ever tasted one.  When I think Imperial IPA I think something like Lagunitas Waldo's Special IPA.  Incredibly resiny and thick.  This however is a different breed.  It's much lighter than the Waldo with bright crisp citrus notes.  The bittering of the hops is there, but subtle.  The fruity flavors cut through much more, but with a solid malt backbone.  Isn't it funny how the best west coast style IPA I've had comes from Maryland?

Flying dog - Gonzo Imperial Porter

A perennial favorite of mine, Gonzo Imperial Porter.  To give you a little background... Flying dog brewery is out of Frederick MD and is pretty well known for it's interesting labels.  These interesting labels come from a man known as Ralph Stedman.  Mr. Stedman was made famous as Hunter S. Thompson's personal illustrator ever since being assigned to Hunter on his article on the Kentucky Derby.  Hunter and Ralph worked closely together for about 35 years.  As fans of Hunter's work Flying Dog decided to dedicate a brew to him and I cannot find a beer more fitting.  Gonzo journalism is what Hunter is well know for, it's described as "a style of Journalism that is written without claims of objectivity, often including the reporter as part of the story via a first-person narrative*" this style was defined by Hunter and his well, for lack of a better word, unique take on the world.  This beer is Gonzo distilled, or well, at least brewed.  

Gonzo Imperial Porter is a liquid kick in the head.  It's brash, bold, and unapologetic.  I've once described it as tasting like chocolate and hate, and even after sobering up I cannot think of a better way to put it.  This beer does not coddle you, it doesn't hold you hand, it doesn't want you to like it, it just is what it is.  To be frank that is all I want from this beer.  The people at Flying Dog knew that many people wouldn't like this beer for what is is, brutally hoppy, chocolately, hints of coffee, and a harsh alcoholic bite, but the people that do like it will sing it's praises from on high.  I am one of those people.  When I buy this beer I think very critically about who I am drinking with as they tend to ask if they can have a taste of what I'm drinking.  Usually I feel pretty good about saying yeah, have a taste, see what you think, but with the Gonzo... Well I'll warn them beforehand if I don't think it's their style.  For good reason too.  With my latest sixer I gave a taste to someone with the aforementioned description of chocolate and hate, her response was "well, I taste the hate."

Gonzo will never appeal to the mainstream, either the beer or style of journalism, and I can't imagine a world where they did.  It's the weird kid in a trench coat who you think is planning on bringing a gun to school, it's that guy who is in his 40's that still loves LSD, and it's that guy that installs security cameras to cover every inch of their house.  Gonzo is edgy, unsettling, dangerous, paranoid, and charming in it's own way, and if you don't like it you can go fuck yourself, because it isn't trying to win you over.  If you spend some time with it you will realize it's good qualities, you will see that it's a great friend that your significant other doesn't like you hanging out with because they are a bad influence, but it wants to just go out and have a great time with you, and it's not going to change to make your SO happy.

So, buy yourself a sixer, and hold on because this beer is about to make you sing The Song of the Sausage Creature.  If you survive, you might just thank it for taking you on such a wild ride.