Brews 171-178

Well I have been waiting for others to post older beers... but that seems to just not be in the near future and I am tired of these notes hanging around my desk.

Tonight's tasting is brought to us by the letter F. With friends such as Fullers and Flying Dog!

Flying Dog Snake Dog IPA
Huh? Was that a random extra dog? I guess not... This beer has a real hoppy aroma, in fact Wes thinks, "... it smalls like a field of hops." That aside, its a pretty standard IPA with zingy fruit undertones. Retha was surprised not to get the usual IPA after taste. We give it a 3.75 steins out of 5.

Flying Dog Road Dog Porter
Damn these guys must have a dog fetish or something... I seem to have some sort of conversation in my notes... so here it is: "Does anyone have anything to add besides this is a standard issue porter? Because that's how I feel" Silence ensued "Real faint coffee taste" "... not as strong as other porters" "not very heavy" "... like a drinking porter" So yeah... 3.25 of 5 steins.

Flying Dog In-heat Wheat Ale (Hefeweizen)
In-heat? Why are we drinking this... For you... Smells kind of wine-y. Like a wine-y pilsner-y taste that we found to be drinkably unpleasant. A pretty average wheat ale that tastes like a mild Hefeweizen. "It's just like... WHEAT" And its just like 2.5 steins out of 5.

Flying Dog Tire Bite Golden Ale
Anyone else getting tired of all this dog reference? Smells like a blueberry bagel to me (no one else agreed (damn you Retha and Wes)). Taste was fairly enjoyable, totally not what we expected in a golden ale. It had all the golden ale base flavors with a little something more. It sports an early hoppy after taste that quickly disappears. We give this bad dog a 3.0 out of 5 steins.

Flying Dog Old Scratch Amber Ale
At this point Teddy came to join us. He also decided to add, "Smells better than it tastes" This brew was both sweet and hoppy with a deep amber color. Definitely smells lagerish (even though it's an ale). We're going to give this a 3.5 out of 5 steins.

Fuller's ESB
What!? No more dogs? Damn... I guess we put them all down. Teddy liked this beer a lot. Retha says, "[It] tastes like Christmas!" I think it smells much like chocolate. Wasn't especially bitter, maybe it's a special sweet and bitter beer. Without tasting it Wes says, "It's got the same qualities as bitter chocolate." Since Retha is such a huge fan of chocolate, we give this a 3.75 out of 5 steins.

Fuller's London Pride Pale Ale
When the 'F' is this going to be done? "Ooo this tastes different than it does on tap" says Wes. I think it smells like spaghetti dinner (yeah I know I always have the weird smell associations). This is a rather full bodied pale ale. Though Wes sees the Pale Ale qualities, I think they are hidden under other more outstanding qualities. We're gunna go ahead and give this one a 3 out of 5 steins.

Fuller's 1845
God I hope this beer is not from 1845... An extraordinarily large amount of head came with this beer. Smells and tastes of metal. It actually kind of tastes bloody, which Wes justified as, "Tastes like drinking a beer with a nosebleed" This is a complex and strong beer, for these qualities we give it a 2.5 out of 5 steins.

Matt out (for now)