We visit FD co-founder Richard McIntyre at the Flying Dog Ranch, Carbondale Colorado. We hear about nude romping, cattle semen, and marijuana cultivation resulting in a 1970's bust...for tax evasion. The Road Dog tells (almost) all.
We visit FD co-founder Richard McIntyre at the Flying Dog Ranch, Carbondale Colorado. We hear about nude romping, cattle semen, and marijuana cultivation resulting in a 1970's bust...for tax evasion. The Road Dog tells (almost) all.
Rise and shine after a night of celebrating the release of Woody Creek White. Wipe the morning dew off your ears and get to work: back to the Woody Creek Tavern to interview George Stranahan, the co-founder of Flying Dog Brewery. This man is a Gentleman and a Scholar; enjoy the vid with the knowledge that this is but one tip of the iceberg.
Introduction to Woody Creek, CO...aka Gonzo Ground Zero. At the Woody Creek White release party we talk to some local characters (known as "Woody Creatures") about what makes the place so special. Turns out a lot of it's Flying Dog co-founder George Stranahan. And what's a party in Woody Creek without a gun? Firearms expert C. Rippe tries to show first time shooter Abby Fox how to load a shotgun, but George has to step in and show him how it's done.
Here's the finished product, with titles etc...Driving up to Woody Creek, Colorado for the Woody Creek White release party...and to get the low-down on Flying Dog from founders George Stranahan and Richard McIntyre. Narrated by Chris Rippe, who is a pretty big deal up in the Roaring Fork Valley. Part One of the Season 2 series.
Travelling over the Independence Pass outside of Aspen, Colorado.
Jesse and I are heading out to Flying Dog land tomorrow to continue our brewery series. We'll be getting out of Denver for a visit to Gonzo ground zero: Woody Creek Colorado. We'll be getting the Flying Dog story from founders George Stranahan and Richard McIntyre and otherwise trying to capture the essence of what makes Woody Creek and Flying Dog so special. The image above is from George's photoblog; here's his descriptive text:
The WagoneerOne lady friend left her Wagoneer behind Hunter’s house; perhaps thinking it would be there when she returned, perhaps thinking she would come and take it away some day. The Wagoneer stayed through more than a winter, and one day Hunter called me and barked, “Bring down some dynamite, a lot of it.”
Well, I did that, and we sat in his kitchen drinking whiskey as he described his need to eliminate the Wagoneer from his view and from his memory; there were fist poundings and many loud “Goddammits,” and more whiskey.
After a while it became time to act; there’s some discrimination required when mixing whiskey and dynamite. Hunter hauled up a 25 lb canister of gunpowder from the war room and we went to work. 7 sticks of dynamite were placed head to toe from mid-engine back to the firewall, the gunpowder placed in the drivers seat. My fuse burns roughly 10 seconds per inch, I jammed 18 inches into the blasting cap and crimped it with my teeth.
My rule is “walk, don’t run,” and I made it down to the picnic table with about a minute of fuse left. I don’t look at my watch, the vagaries of fuse chemistry ensure that the explosion will always come as a complete surprise, which it did.
We were barely 100 yards from the blast and the shock wave knocked the wind out of our lungs yet we “Yheehaaaed!” hugged and clapped each other on our backs. When haying that fall I found a fender that had sailed over our heads and a further 300 yards, almost to Woody Creek.
The bottling line. Fobbing, capping, and smoking bottles explained. A peek in the penalty box and an intro to the guys who really run this bitch. Or do they? Vote at squidoo.com/flyingdogales.
Flying Dog President Eric Warner appeared on Denver's CBS4 news program to discuss beer alcohol by volume. Is Guinness stronger than Bud Light? Nope.
"The strength in beer comes from how much grain you put in, not the color of the grain," Warner said. "Alcohol actually has, contributes a flavor and a lot of times what you're doing in the brewing process to create more alcohol, you're going to get more flavor out of it as well."Story here.Warner said there seems to be demand for higher alcohol beers right now and his company is responding with some heavyweights.
This video is pure experiment. How many hits will it get on YouTube (and how quickly) by having a picture of a woman as the thumbnail image and the word "ass" in the title? So far in one day it's surpassed the video I put up 2 weeks ago...
Description: Flashback to 2/07. Flying Dog Brewery winnebago ride down the mountain into Steamboat Springs, CO. Danada gets out at the top of the pass in a blizzard to take a leak. Rippe gets us lost, walks into the wrong house. Impromptu party in the driveway, beer and cigarettes. But wait! Whose naked ass is that hanging out of the hot tub?
Or maybe they've just ramped up the marketing. Anyway, I just got an email from Apple TV and it sure is cool to see that the first thing they give you to link to is video podcasts...and they're not all from the networks either.
Related note: The Flying Dog podcast is now live...
Flying Dog's Chris Rippe on the drinking game soon to sweep the nation...Forget beer pong, now it's all about Slap or Drink. We were doing the rough edit on this when the Bud Lite Superbowl slaps ad played (see below). Hmmm... Is slapping the new beer meme?
I made a flag for the Flying Dog mission, and we attempted to fly it at Steamboat. It was too long and got all tangly, plus the conditions were not optimal. Oh well, there's always attempt 2...
We're now back in Boston with nearly 30 hours of Flying Dog Brewery footage. We spent 4 days in Denver shooting the brewery people and processes, and 3 days over superbowl weekend at a lodge in Steamboat Springs, CO where the entire brewery staff retreated for a few days of fun. There's much in the works...stay tuned.
The brewhouse, the bottling line, shipping, and more.
