Flying Dog Wild Dog Barrel-Aged Gonzo

Brewed by Flying Dog Brewery
Style: Imperial/Strong Porter
Frederick, Maryland USA

On Tap - Pours beautifully deep black with a frothy tan/caramel colored ¾ inch head. Simply gorgeous to look at. Thick heavy, heavy lacing clings to the entire glass like a little kid clinging to his mom on the first day of pre-school. Sweet smells of deep roasted malts, bourbon, and wood. First taste is so yummy and smooth with the rich deeps malts, coffee, and chocolate lovingly greeting the bourbon tones with open arms. Many barrel-aged beers lose a lot of their carbonation…not BAGonzo. This beer is a creamy bordering on an RIS in mouthfeel. Very well done –WORLD CLASS!

bottle. Poured pitch black with a huge frothy brown head. Aroma of chocolate, bourbon, vanilla, and cocoa. Chocolate, charcoal and vanilla flavors predominate, with a bit of chocolate. alcohol burn in the finish. Not bad, but i expected more character from the barrel aging.

Pours an opaque black color with a brown head. Aroma is oatmeal, caramel, chocolate, oak, vanilla, and some bourbon. Flavor is malty, caramel, molasses, oak, vanilla, and a bitter bourbon alcohol finish.

Strange, I didn’t really find that the barrel-aging greatly enhanced this beer. While my sampling of the non-aged Gonzo was some time ago, I recall preferring the non-barrel aged version. Nonetheless, this beer was quite rich and good. Beer poured black with a pretty rich head which lingered and offered good lacing. Roasty aroma with some chocolate but also some off-notes that seemed to me to be cardboard-y and oxidized. Flavor was more rich roastiness (and was good!)t, but also had some oxidized and papery character. Mouthfeel was as expected. I would recommend this beer, but was hardly blown-away by it. I had this on-tap at Roman’s Pub in Milwaukee.

This one poured a deep brownish black with a two-finger head that had solid retention and very good lacing. Smell was a wonderful chocolate, coffee aroma with sweet malts. Taste follows the smell with heavy whiskey undertones and dark fruits, chocolate, coffee and roasted malts. Quite a wonderful taste! The mouthfeel was very creamy and silky smooth. I was pleasantly surprised and this is the best Flying Dog brew I’ve had the privilege of trying. Very nice!

thanks to BDR. black in the glass big rich head. coffee and whiskey aroma. rich and creamy, chocolate, coffee, malt, and vanilla. I really liked this beer.

Thanks to eaglefan538 for being the sucker to shell out all that dough for this unimpressive offering. Pour was black, with completely out of control head. Easily one part beer to three parts foam with the most careful of pours. The aroma was interesting, a smokey ash aroma over some roast and chocolate, and tempted me to think the beer might be interesting. This beer was so overcarbonated, it was very difficult to taste the beer underneath. But, you COULD taste it slightly, and it wasn’t an improvement to the original version. An astringent acidity (from the really bad bourbon in the barrel previously?) overtop of the original Gonzo flavors was unappealing. This beer was a dog, pun intended.

Thanks to BDR. Very deep dark red pour that looks black in the glass with a large tan head. Aroma is just amazing. I could just sit and smell this beer. Bourbon and oak on the nose and the bourbon is sweet and soothing. The flavor is not as strong in the bourbon or oak as the aroma. There was light coffee notes with whiskey and vanilla.