Flying Dog Horn Dog Barley Wine

Another step away from the dark stouts over to our good ol' friend the barley wine. This one comes courtesy of Flying Dog and pours reddish brown the absolutely no head, not even a lacing. The smell is very faint but I can pick out some darker fruits, alcohol, and light malts. The taste is very plain, like super-weak wine. The texture is there, but not overly complex and is lacking in a smooth transition that should be present in finer barley wines. Overall it is a very confusing beer, the smell is strong, the taste is weak, and the texture is sub-par.

Appearance - 3.6

Smell - 3.4

Taste - 3.3

Texture - 3.0

Overall - 3.33/5

Flying Dog Horn Dog Barley Wine

Here's a new brew from a new company. Well...new to us. We haven't had too much from Flying Dog before. We weren't expecting too much - more like the beers from Magic Hat or a lower-caliber Dogfish Head. But, we were expecting interesting. And we got it.

Pours a nice amber color with a well-reproduced off-white head. It was a little opaque though - kind of strange for the color and type. The smell was a lot of alcohol - a tad off-putting. It smelled a lot like wine with small sweet fruits (apricots, raspberries) but not in a pleasant way. This beer tasted very...confusing. This is the only word we could come up with it. It tasted nothing like it smelled - more like a weak wine with only a fraction of alcohol that we initially smelled. The texture was kind of smooth but, again, it was confusing. It had a strange flow of flavors that went from velvety to alcoholic. Almost too alcoholic. Very off-putting, again.

We weren't expecting excellence when we had this, but we were expecting a little bit more. But, Barley Wine is a seldom-touched beer-type by most companies and you have to hand it to a company for trying. I think if they just work a bit more on body and hiding the overwhelming hit of alcohol, I think they'd have a bit of a gem in this beer.

Appearance - 3.7
Smell - 3.2
Taste - 3.2
Texture - 3.2
Overall - 3.3/5

Struise Pannepot

Mark another one off the top 50! This one comes in at number 23 at the time of this writing.

This Belgian strong ale pours a dark brown with a nice red tinge and has a good amount of sediment floating in it - a good sign that this will referment inside the bottle. We happen to have a bottle from 2007 so it should be at least 2 years old, if not 3. The smell is of roasted malts, sugar, apples, plums, and light malts, very nice indeed. The taste is amazingly complex and encompasses green apples, plums, brown sugar, with the slightest sting of alcohol. Probably one of the smoothest brews I've ever had, no surprise at all that this is so far up on the list.

Appearance - 4.0

Smell - 4.0

Taste - 4.4

Texture - 4.5

Overall - 4.23/5

Struise Pannepot

This beer I was not aware of - at all. It's in the top-50, it's in one of my favorite categories of beer, and apparently Fonnie has spoke of it a lot. I just don't pay attention much, I guess. Good thing though - I was hugely surprised by this heavyweight.

Pours a wonderful, nice dark brown with a full, tan head. It was very opaque with sediment like normal Belgian Strong Ales. The smell was just fantastic - sweet, brown sugar; malts, but not spiced from the roasting; and dark fruit notes (apples, plums, etc). The taste just went up from there. Nice notes from apples and sweetness. Almost no taste of alcohol and it had a very smooth, malty taste. Absolutely brilliant. The texture was smooth, but not watery smooth. It was almost silky with the combination of smoothness and sediment. The flow of the flavors was also top-notch.

This was a huge surprise for me. I think Fonnie mentioned at one point before I drank it that it was a top-50 beer but I seemed to have ignored him. I preferred that - it made this beer that much more enjoyable to have not knowing any history behind it. A wonderful beer if you can find it.

Appearance - 4
Smell - 4.4
Taste - 4.8
Texture - 4.6
Overall - 4.45/5

Brew Tasting the Twenty-fourth

24! Ok, enough of my fanaticism. Tonight we're gonna have 2 brews because Fonnie went on a bit of a run. So, we'll treat ourselves tonight. One top-50 brew, and another basic-issue brew. Here comes the break - you know the drill.

1) Struise Pannepot
2) Flying Dog Horn Dog Barley Wine

Elysian Dragonstooth Stout

The second I said enough with the dark stouts I go and review another one, I have a problem. Anyway, I'm pretty sure this is the first beer that I've had from the Elysian Brewing Co. so hopefully it'll be a good one.

This foreign stout pours extremely dark brown to black with a small caramel head and has a pleasant aroma of dark malts, licorice, barley, oats, and alcohol. The aroma is so strong that I can almost taste it, quite powerful. The taste is very sharp on the alcohol, surprising almost seeing how well it was masked from the aroma, and finishes with bitter barley, oats, and chocolate. Doesn't quite match up to the imperial stouts, but is is good none the less. If you are up for something a little less on the sweet side and a little more on the alcohol and oats side then this is the brew for you.

Appearance - 3.6

Smell - 3.6

Taste - 3.8

Texture - 3.6

Overall - 3.65/5