Beer of the Weekend #114: Road Dog Porter

I guess it’s now a BotW tradition to coordinate beer drinking with Olympic ceremonies. As I did with China, I guess I should sample a beer from the Great White North in honor of Vancouver. From what I know, I don’t think I’ll be able to get any beer from BC, but I’ll try.

The beer this weekend is Road Dog Porter brewed by the Flying Dog Brewery of Frederick, Maryland (formally of Denver, Colorado; I’m not sure why they moved).


Serving type: Six 12-ounce bottles. There’s a very cryptic code on the label, which I assume is some kind of freshness date. Too bad I can’t decipher it.

Appearance: Looks much more like a dark brown ale than a porter. Road Dog poured a deep caramel brown. About two fingers of off-white head developed and dissipated to leave a spotted lacing and ring around the outside.

Smell: The aroma is very faint, but I could pick up scents of caramel, chocolate, a hint of coffee, and a hint of licorice. It’s also nutty, too.

Taste: Weak and totally out of style; this is much more of a brown ale than a porter. It’s more of a hybrid than anything else. Bitter hoppiness, but nothing overpowering. The nutty quality from the smell is prominent, but other than that the other flavors are minor players: caramel, coffee, licorice, and a little chocolate.

Drinkability: It’s drinkable, but nothing I’ll buy again. I was expecting a porter — roasted coffee and chocolate — and instead I get disappointment. But it’s beer.

Fun facts about Road Dog:

-Price: $8.99/sixer at the BevMo! on Beach.

-Serving temperature: 45-50ºF.

-Alcohol content: 6 percent ABV.

-Food pairings: Flying Dog runs another website, BeerDinners.com, which pair foods with their beers. Recommended for Road Dog is “grilled steak and salmon,” “desserts,” “anything with chocolate,” “dried food,” and “dark and rich food.”

-Gravity: 14º Plato.

-IBU: 31.

-Road Dog was the first Flying Dog brew to feature an illustration by Ralph Steadman. Truthfully, I don’t care for his work; it’s too trippy and surreal. I’m much more of an abstract expressionalist.

-The Colorado State Board of Liquor tried to ban Road Dog because “Good Beer, No Shit” is on the label and carrier. It took five years, but Flying Dog beat the censorship.


The Quiet Man’s grade: B-.

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