By Greg B.  So, given that Clipper City brewery was not doing tours this past Saturday, some friends and I decided to head out to Frederick MD and see what Flying Dog Brewery had to offer.  Despite not being able to get inside, tour the facilities and sample the beers, we did have a very nice winery experience out at Sugar Loaf Mountain winery.  Not to mention some excellent beer at Brewer’s Alley!

A few days before heading out to the brewery, I investigated what breweries were in town.  Flying Dog brewery, the east coast brewery for the Colorado based company was there, with their usual more extreme hop profiles, as was a more mild brewery, Wild Goose, which makes more English styled beers.  Knowing that some people in the group really enjoy hoppy beers, I chose Flying Dog, and emailed the contact woman to find out some logistics.  I didn’t get a response, but it turns out that people who work at breweries also take vacations around major holidays.  Stephanie did get back to me, once she was able to get contact with the outside world from Alabama!

We drove out to Frederick and decided to grab lunch at a downtown brewpub called Brewer’s Alley.  I didn’t want to drink too much before the brewery, but since we were out here we had to give this place a shot.  A small brewpub, they brew on site and have a restaurant in the building, the bar area looked very homey, the restaurant area looked a bit more stuffy, but there were a lot of families and kids around (it was downtown Frederick, so I think that’s expected). The beer I got a chance to try was pretty good though!

Pilsner: A nice straw yellow color, served in the appropriate glass.  Wasn’t much carbonation going on with the beer, but it tasted perfectly alright, regardless.  Definitely had the saaz hop profile they mention in their description and was actually a little maltier than I expected.  I think if they had more bubbles going on, this may get rid of that thicker effect of the malts in the beer, but still a nice, classic pilsner. 4.3% abv, score of 3

India Pale Ale: A very nice IPA! The nose just explodes hops with a rich, pine aroma.  Light amber in color, nice head and head retention, this beer was very good.  Nice bitters on the finish, crisp carbonation on the start for a nice refreshing mouthfeel, this is a very nice beer. 5 – 5.4% abv, score of 3.2

Oatmeal Stout: Man, another treat.  This was my favorite of all the beers tried here for the day.   Great creamy and foamy head, rich dark black color to which someone at the table asked if it was motor oil.  Had a great nose of rich dark roasted malts, espresso, chocolate, caramel.  Taste was exactly as the nose and look predicted: thick, creamy, textured from the grist and really enhancing those original darker aromas.  6 – 6.2% abv, score of 3.8

Jer also ordered their cask-conditioned ale, but since I am sans notebook, I didn’t remember which ale was in the cask!  All I remember is it was a clear, darker amber color with minimal head and carbonation, slightly sweet at the onset but slightly bitter at the finish.  Not my favorite beer of the day, but still a good brew.  You can tell the brewers here put some serious thought and ideas into their beverages, and I for one appreciate it.  Now, we also ordered food, so I’ll quickly review that.  The sweet potato fries were delicious, with large kosher salt on them, crispy on the outside, creamy on the inside.  I ordered the mac n’ cheese with country ham which came topped with cut tomatoes and was really delicious.  The meatless sloppy Joe’s was a sweeter mixture of vegetables and quite nice, and everyone who ordered burgers with fries received a very large burger, cooked to a nice temperature and served with smaller cut, shoestring style fries.  I think I can say that everyone was satisfied with the meal!  My recommendation for going here is if you’re alone, sit at the bar (it’s kind of small for as good quality beer as this place produced, but I would love to go back), or if you are going to eat with a group, make a reservation in advance.

Ok, so with lunch over we hurried to the Flying Dog Brewery, expecting to get into the brewery, sample some beer and get on a tour.  Like I said, I had some hopheads with me, and the idea that Flying dog would have some beers in the 80 range for IBU (International Bittering Units) sounded very appealing. Turns out, the place was packed with cars, but people we didn’t see many, though there were a few smoking out on the outside deck area.  We walked inside and were greeted by a man at a desk when he told us the news: they were full to capacity, about 250 people and anymore would violate firecode.  It also turned out we couldn’t hang around and wait for people to leave, since that also violates firecode rules, so we left.  Luckily, my sister had her new GPS with her, so we decided to start looking for things to do nearby (though the idea of going back to Brewer’s Alley for a few more pints was never far from my mind!).

But, given that we came out here for an interesting time, we started looking for other breweries in the area, and found a winery: Sugarloaf mountain winery.  We arrived, and walked inside to the tasting room which was packed.  There was a woman with her friends for her birthday (we all sang happy birthday to a very embarrassed birthday girl), people at the tasting bar, all the tables were filled, and several huskies were roaming the room and hanging around outside.  There were two people manning the tasting bar, and they looked very busy, informing us they never have this much traffic!  Part of the reason seemed to have been the overcrowding at Flying Dog brewery, as we saw several people who were turned away from the brewery at the wine tasting.

They had two separate tasting menus, one was the standard ($4) and the other was the reserve ($6).  Being that there were 7 of us, we opted to alternate who tasted which wines, so everyone could sample all of them.  I have to say, this winery was actually a treat to sample the wines from, and Mike, if you haven’t been there, we should go back.

Chardonnay 2006 Reserve: This had an interesting espresso, followed by a bubblegum type nose, pale straw color.  Taste was excellent – I don’t usually like Chardonnay – and similar to the nose, almost a darker ‘bubblegum’, if that makes any sense.  Mild yet flavorful and semi-dry, this was absolutely delicious.

Chardonnay 2006 : This was very much the same as the reserve, except that I felt it had a darker oak character to it, both on the nose and palate, with a little more of a tart finish.

Rose’ - Oak and a smell that really reminded me of gunpowder on the nose, but a taste of berries and and other sweet, though not too sweet, fruit.  A very interesting Rose indeed!

Merlot : Smells of raspberries and dark fruits, but tastes dryer, still with hints of the fruit and an almost herbal earthy component to it.

Cabernet Franc: Smells of pine, tobacco and herbs, a really beautiful aroma.  Has a mild body and a little more of a sweet taste than I expected, but still quite lovely.

Comus: Possibly a definition of the word ‘peppery’ for a nose, this is a full bodied red with mild fruits, a little tart tongue action that hits and it gone.  A very nice wine! (Gabi later paired this wine with a baked cod [the dried/salted kind that you soak to re-hydrate]in a cream sauce topped with caramelized onions, and served with mashed sweet potatoes.  Said this was the best pairing she’s had in a very long time!)

Cabernet Sauvignon 2006: Definitely more tobacco on the nose with a cedary herbal note that smells interesting and pleasant. Taste has a buttery effect in the mouth and was the driest of all the wines with a nice subdued but noticeable dryness on the back/sides of the tongue.  Definitely leathery, with hints of dark fruits, but you need to pay attention to pick them out.

Stomp: The dessert wine, and a good one!  Normally vineyards just get a sweeter grape and make a sweet wine for this, but these guys know what they are going after.  Smells of citrus, notably grapefruit on the nose, and tastes light and sweet, without that sugary texture taste.  A really nice dessert wine that I would actually put more in a category of a sauterne than a normal American dessert wine (you can disagree Mike, since I am only going by my tastebuds, but if you haven’t had this, you should give it a shot, maybe Jim too!).

At the tasting bar, a candid camera (Jer and I didnt know!)

Ok, so this may be the longest post I’ve ever written, and I apologize for occupying your entire afternoon reading this.  However, we did hit three places, tried some great beer and had a fortunate opportunity to check out what I take pleasure in classifying as the best American East Coast winery that I’ve sampled the wines from.  I’ll be back to purchase wines in the future, but I look forward to seeing what they can produce once they get their newly planted Bordeaux vines planted and matured!