Looking at the label for the latest from Flying Dog — called Kerberos and brewed in the manner of a tripel — I can’t help but grin because this image of Hunter Thompson climbs into my head. He’s speeding along Belgian country roads, “chanting” loudly, stopping only to dash into each monastery he comes across, terrorizing the monks, grabbing beer and heading off again.

You might be surprised to find the beer inside is less gonzo, more traditional. Friends and I tasted it this week alongside Captain Lawrence Xtra Gold, much-loved on the beer ratings sites (and one I was pretty enthusiastic about in All About Beer magazine last fall). It would be interesting to see how they scored were they tasted blind and using style guidelines.

The Xtra Gold seems more like what Dr. Thompson would be swigging from a bottle at high speed, because it is stronger and hoppier (the tangerine/orange element has gotten even more prominent with age; is that all really from the Amarillo hops?). I give it high marks for the interpretation, but while I devote many pages in BLAM to notion that trying to brew Belgian-inspired beers “to style” is a fool’s errand the fact is that Xtra Gold might not be what you’d anticipate if you’ve been in Belgium and sampled a variety of tripels. Flying Dog has put the flavors you’d expect in a 12-ounce bottle and some of the finesse as well.

Executive brewer Matt Brophy and Lead Dog Eric Warner talk about how they did this in a video Flying Dog created:

What do I like about Kerberos?

The flavor. That may sound horribly simple, but the good esters are there, the bad phenols aren’t and while “heat” (alcohol) is a little distracting at 8.5% this beer is almost subdued by American standards.

What might make me like it better?

Were it more “digestible.” More carbonation would be a start. Kerberos is bottle conditioned, but I’m guessing this is in the range of 2.5-3 volumes, and would be better at 3.5-4. Quite honestly, it wouldn’t be prudent for a brewer to aim higher without packaging in a heavier bottle.

When I was judging beers last year in our state fair one of the other judges referred to me as “Mr. Attenuation” so consider that when I suggest that this beer would be better were it dryer, and better still with more hops (adding a bit more bitterness and perhaps sprucing up the spicy character of the yeast).

But that’s me.

This entry was posted on Friday, May 16th, 2008 at 10:09 am and is filed under Abbey-style beers, American style. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.