Flying Dog Wild Dog Barrel-Aged Gonzo

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

Pours dark brown/black with a two to three finger thick dark tan head. Aroma is of chocolate, slight whiskey and some roasted malt. Flavor was mostly roasted malt and chocolate, slight whiskey creeping through on the finish. Mouthfeel is nice, but I was looking for some more oaky/whiskey flavors in this one. Price tag was also a bit steep.

750, capped. Thanks, skoisirus! Black with a dense, creamy tan head. Very little lace. Big chocolatey nose. Some vanilla as well. Rich, creamy, slightly thick body. Chocolate, vanilla, roast, and toast on the mid-palate, joined by a big plum note hear the finish. This is an elegant little tune of a beer, composed of a very few well-placed notes. I still wish for a little more complexity to hold my interest, but it’s hard to say that anything is wrong with it.

Bottled. Picked up from Holiday Wine Cellars and sampled with the girlfriend in December ’07 in front of the fire. Talk about some hot shit. Somewhat disappointing for a bourbon-barrel beer, it was a huge sugar-alcohol bomb. Gusher upon opening, foaming out the bottle top, damn. Eventually settles out to thick black syrup with carbonation. Robust aroma of licorice, smoke, rich molasses, and whiskey. Bourbon and molasses are overpowering in the flavor with a finish skewed immensely to intense burning and sugary alcohol. Reminded me of Barley John’s Dark Knight Returns from the growler. An interesting beer to try, but not to try twice. Not worth the bucks.

Bottle from SL, stoopid gift package and all w/ that barrell chunk, glassware, and dumb pin. The pour was pitch black, way overly carbonated out the wazoo, oozing from the bottle almost, but I couldn’t even pour any of the four glasses without filling them with 3/4 of soda-pop overcarbonated black junk - not that anyone would want more than that after drinking this junk! The aroma was worse than the standard unimpressive Gonzo, flavor too, astringent sour notes (some diacetyl?), touches of ashy smoke, bourbon, but cheap, really cheap bourbon, not good stuff. Off to EBAY with the empty bottle, barrell chunk, glassware, and pin. Sheesh! Stear clear of this one! For this much $$$ and this much alcohol, I sure ought to enjoy it way more than this, ugh!

[959-20071212] 750mL (c/o blankboy, w/ him, GregClow, HogTownHarry, jerc, tupalev). Creamy barrel wood roasted malt aroma has a sweet smooth candy element. Dark black brown body with a huge long-lasting foamy tan head. Sweet roasted malt flavour has weird tabasco egg characteristics. Full body is a little tangy. Interesting, nice and fortifying.

mmmmmmm tasty. very smooth. slight hint of the whiskey/boozey taste. but i enjoyed it. it was drinkable slightly watery mouthfeel but good. i find it more drinkable than regular gonzo it seems a bit more mellowed out. great stuff

nose was strong vanilla, oak, with some alcohol. the taste was a complex blend of sweet roasted malt, bitter sweet chocolate, a big hit of vanilla always present in the background and finishing with a not so overpowering burnt wood. as it warmed the oak and whiskey really came out of it. the last few sips were near room temp and almost all oak and vanilla. body was sticky and thick. a great and complex beer.

The beer was a deep mahogony in color and poured a thick head with tons of tiny bubbles that slowly dissipated. The nose shows chocolate, burbon, caramel, vanilla, prunes and anise. In the mouth it is medium-bodied and well-balanced with a wonderful soft texture. This really had a great silky mouthfeel! The flavors generally followed the nose though also had a woodsy quality to it. This would be a perfect beer to enjoy around a campfire with Smores. While it drinks very well right now, I think it will improve with aging.