Friday Beer Post: 2012 Gameday Beer-o-the-week - Washington Edition

Each week throughout the football season I'm going to suggest a good beer for the ubiquitous pre-game tailgate. Let's be honest, with tailgates it's not always top quality that you're looking for. To steal a phrase from the heinous beer terrorists at Budweiser, you want "drinkability." (or what a real beer connoisseur calls "a session beer") So, be warned, these may not be "the best" beers around. But, in the words of Dave Chappelle as Samuel L. Jackson, "IT'LL GET YOU DRUNK!"

Who's the football team playing again?  The Washington Huskies?  Fine, I'm going with Flying Dog.

Up until 2008 Flying Dog was a proudly Coloradan brewery, spreading the Centennial State's love for craft beer to most of the country from it's downtown Denver facility.  Blessed at inception by long-time CO resident and infamous Gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson, and run by Aspen-based rancher Ralph Steadman (also a noted local distiller), the brewery was one of those happy local stories.  The brewery had a signature style that demanded attention, using Thompson's favorite illustrator Ralph Steadman to design eye-popping labels.  The beer was good too, having secured numerous GABF medals throughout the years. 

Then some corporate mishegas saw the brewery uproot from it's LoDo setting, and shuttle 1,600 miles across the country to Frederick, MD.  (Who moves from Colorado to Maryland?  That seems pretty stupid to me.)  So this week, I'm going to belatedly pour one out for a lost Colorado brother, and select Flying Dog's In-Heat Wheat as my gameday beer-o-the-week.

In-Heat was always my choice when selecting Flying Dog, and it's a solid version of a staple hefeweizen.  Pours straw-blond with good-sized head, and has a suitable haze in the glass.  Flavor and aroma carry banana esters, giving the whole package a sweet banana/clove feel to it.  There's a pleasant malty sweetness, but little hop bitterness to the taste, as the style dictates.

If Flying Dog has escaped your normal beer rotation the last few years, you may want to give them another shot for nostalgia's sake.  Despite being on the East Coast, they still do distribute out here, and I know LiquorMart has some.


Happy Friday!  Go Buffs, beat Baylor (Washington too, I guess)!