Kerberos Tripel
Flying Dog Brewery, Frederick, Md.
http://www.flyingdogales.com/
8.5 percent ABV
I recently had the pleasure of attending my first beer festival of the year, the Fox Cities Beer Festival held in Appleton.
Flying Dog really impressed with its Belgian-style Kerberos Tripel. Kerberos is the three-headed beast that guards the gates of Hades in Greek mythology (also known as Cerebrus), but there is nothing hellish about the beer.
The Kerberos was everything a Belgian tripel should be: crisp carbonation, slightly sweet, fruity and malty without being cloying and a lightly dry finish. The color was a unique golden orange and adding to the experience were the pleasant aromas of the malt and sugars that cascaded from the glass as the beer warmed. There were a few return trips for this beer.
Another Flying Dog I sampled was Garde Dog Biere de Garde, containing such ingredients as malted white wheat, flaked wheat, rye malt, Belgian biscuit malt and U.S.-grown French hops. It’s a milder beer than the Kerberos at 5.5 percent ABV, a bit drier, and seemed too light bodied, although that could have been the result of an afternoon of mostly strong beers. Further research may be in order.
Flying Dog has gained a worldwide reputation, helped in part by its famous labels designed by artist Ralph Steadman (his work illustrated many Hunter S. Thompson stories). The company has not let Steadman do its work for it, however, and has always made worthy beers. They have been available in Wisconsin for some time, but for some reason the emphasis has been on its hoppy offerings. It’s nice to find examples showing how well rounded the brewery’s lineup really is and the breadth of its quality.
There were, of course, many other fine beers at the festival, but I must make special mention of the Viking Brewing Co. (http://www.vikingbrewing.com/) of Dallas, Wis. It is located in the west-central part of the state and its beers are not as well represented elsewhere in Badgerland as they should be. The brewery makes excellent lagers, such as Vienna Woods and Copperhead marzen, and delicious special offerings such as Hot Chocolate, a chocolate stout with cayenne pepper, Whole Stein, a coffee, oatmeal and milk porter, and even a couple kinds of bracket, usually a 50-50 mixture of barley and honey.
Beer Man sez: Flying Dog’s Kerberos is more heavenly than hellish.
TODD HAEFER of Scandinavia gets paid to drink beer and write about it for Weekend. He can be reached at beerman@postcrescent.com. Read past reviews at www.postcrescent.com/beerman.
Source: 05/08/2009 www.topix.com
