Flying Dog “Wildeman” Farmhouse IPA
Fredrick, Maryland is one of those places that time should have forgotten. A quaint town that used to have no pretension to citydom. Now, it a blackhole of low-grade ambition that no self-respecting grillbilly would drive into. Not even a chef like Bryan Voltaggio could redeem it’s sickly sheen of mediocrity.
The same holds true for many of Flying Dog’s beers, which has lost much of its creative spark since 2006 when, the brewery purchased Frederick Brewing Company and moved from Colorado to Maryland.
One of the best elements of American modern brewing is the whimsical blending of styles. Combining a Farmhouse style beer and a IPA would seem lovely. However, this is more of an Imperial IPA with baking spices. Not a great beer, just okay. And definitely not worth the hype. In other words, it’s Frederick, not Aspen.
Comments
Epikur is a magazine about food and drink, with a focus on our hometown of Philadelphia.
As much as I hate to fall in line for the hype train on any beer, this past Saturday I found myself parked in front of Teresa’s Next Door at 10:00 AM anticipating the soon to pour (doors opened at 11:30) Founders Canadian Breakfast Stout. Having previously had the 2011 and 2010 CBS in no way lessened TND’s gravitational pull. I was so damn early for the event I had time to walk for coffee, relax in my car and catch up on emails well before the first few mingling beer souls started forming the semblance of a line. Sure I could blame the over eagerness on the two Cantillons or the rest of the amazing draft list, but it’s the damn bourbon barrel treatment that gets me every time. In this instance I was truly head clown in the hype circus.