The People’s Republic Of Flying Dog Lands At Philly Beer Week

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The People’s Republic of Flying Dog is now in session. It’s happy hour at Flying Dog Brewery, so here is your latest dose of irreverence.

The People’s Republic Of Flying Dog Lands At Philly Beer Week

We’re right in the thick of Philly Beer Week (which is actually ten days long - I guess that’s just how Philly rolls). Flying Dog Brewery is there, and we’re doing a ton of events throughout this week. For a look at everything we’ve done and are continuing to do, check out our schedule over at flyingdognews.com.


We’re owning Philly Beer Week as only we can. That pretty much means huge parties, great beer, and great people at great bars.





Monday night, Mid-Atlantic Market Manager Joe Gomez was on hand at the Pub on Passyunk East - or the P.O.P.E., to use the parlance of our times. Joe was joined by VP of Brewing Operations (and all-around bad ass) Matt Brophy for “The Gonzo Art of Drinking” at P.O.P.E., which was a tribute to Ralph Steadman. At the end of the night, Joe and Matt gave away a Ralph Steadman print, along with a gift certificate for a free frame to boot. The print was a totally bad-ass version of the White Rabbit from Ralph’s version of Alice in Wonderland, as only Ralph should draw it. Incidentally, this isn’t the first time Ralph has been involved with the Pope - read about Ralph’s time with Hunter S. Thompson at the America’s Cup and how this fits here (if you’re a slacker, just search for pope).


Here’s what Joe had to say about Monday night’s event:

“I don’t have enough adjectives to describe how great the event at P.O.P.E. was! Dennis Hewlett, the owner of the P.O.P.E, went all out for us. The only place I have EVER been that was more Flying Dog-friendly is our own tasting room. A few hundred people came through to try out our Nitro and Barrel-Aged Gonzo Imperial Porter. When I left, Horn Dog was the lone surviving tap; we kicked everything else.”


Wednesday night (aka tonight), Flying Dog CEO Jim Caruso will be on hand at both of our events: “PAWS” Benefit from 5-8PM at the Bishops Collar (2349 Fairmount Ave) and then at a Flying Dog Promo Night, starting at 7:30PM at The Good Dog (224 S 15th Street). Stop in and say hey to our fearless leader!


And then our Head Brewer Bob Malone will attend our Philly Beer Week events  Thursday-Saturday, so stop by and say hey to the man who helps make your Flying Dog beer taste so damn good.

Get to Know Gonzo

Get to know the cultural icons who play an integral role in the history of Flying Dog. Of course, we’re talking about Hunter S. Thompson and Ralph Steadman. We had a huge response to our newsletter last time (which reflected on the passing of Hunter four years ago), so based on your feedback we’re going to run with it. This is the first in this series, a video segment that the BBC World News put out back in June. The BBC interviewed Alex Gibney, director of “Gonzo” about the film.

We’ll be bringing you something Gonzo-themed from the world each time the newsletter comes out. Have a link to send us? Email it to joshm [at] flyingdogales [dot] com with a link.

Dogs Don’t Generally Tweet, But What About Flying Dogs?

If you have a dog that’s making tweeting noises, you probably need to go see a veterinarian. But if you’re a Flying Dog, it’s very much plausible. Birds fly and flying dogs fly. Seems plausible enough to me.

Flying Dog has a Twitter page, as we’re sure you know. And we’re recognized as one of the top 25 brands using Twitter. We’ve also just amassed over 3,000 followers, and we’re growing by leaps and bounds every day. We can’t do this sort of “World Adult Beverage Domination” that we’re achieving without you fine folks, so keep talking about us to your friends. We certainly talk about you to our friends, just so you know.

What you might not know is that a growing number of Flying Dog employees are using Twitter, too. If you’re interested in what they do, you might want to consider following them, too:


Jim Caruso - Flying Dog CEO. Jim is all over the country almost every week, checking in and posting photos along the way.

Matt Brophy - VP of Brewing Operations - Matt’s a total brewing genius, and a really amazingly nice guy to boot. If you’re a brewer or aspiring brewer or just a fan of our brews, he’s your man.


Joe Gomez - Mid-Atlantic Sales - Joe (yeah, the same guy from the Philly Beer Week article) has been tweeting about the Mid-Atlantic for a while and is definitely getting the hang of it. If you live around the Philly area, Joe is the go-to guy for you.


J.T. Smith - Frederick/Baltimore/DC Beer Guy - J.T.’s job title is “Local Beer Guy” which makes sense if you live in the Frederick/Baltimore/DC area. J.T. posts about our activity in the area as well as about lots of cool music.


Tabitha Kim - Purchasing Specialist - Tabitha is a relatively new hire who is very serious about Flying Dog. Just look at this tweet from Tabitha yesterday.


Steph Kerchner - Marketing & PR Coordinator - Steph is a jack of all trades. She’s our festival go-to gal, but also hits the streets of Colorado, spreading the good word abut Flying Dog.


Neal Stewart - Prime Minister of Marketing - Neal is a really big deal. Aside from overseeing the direction of the Brewery’s marketing, he’s usually the voice of Flying Dog’s twitter account. He writes lots of blogs, and even has a personal blog about Turkey Sandwiches.


Justin Livengood - Purchasing, inventory specialist and all-around brewery bad ass - To call Justin just an inventory/purchasing guy would be the biggest understatement we can think of. Justin keeps this company running through his invaluable insights. He’s newly married, a new homeowner and also the 2008 Flying Dog Alpha Bitch (employee of the year). Justin is just getting started on twitter, but welcome him all the same.


Lori Maykowski - Accounting Manager - Lori is our 2007 Alpha Bitch who tackles a bunch of our accounting necessities. Lori is into traveling, and is really into seeing live music. She is even chummy with Dave Navarro and Perry Farrell - OK, well, she’s met them at least. And Elvira.


Josh Mishell (expletive-filled posts, be warned) - Creative Manager - The easiest way to explain his job is that Flying Dog pays Josh to design beer labels. His job encompasses more than that, from shooting and editing video to other stuff, including the writing of this newsletter (recently).

But Wait, There’s More Tech and Beer Shit To Talk About!

We’ve got more to talk about when it comes to beer and tech convergence. No, we can’t email a beer yet (but we have an entire team devoted to bringing that to you). But we can collectively talk about beer online at a new social networking site devoted to beer. 97 Bottles is new, and we think they’re onto a pretty cool concept.

I met Keith Robinson, one of the creators of 97bottles.com a few weeks ago and I asked him to talk a little more about what they’re trying to do.


“97 Bottles is a web site that lets you keep track of beers you’ve tasted, rank them, review them and share what you’ve learned. Ever since the launch of Cork’d, which is similar for wine, I’ve wanted to have the same thing for beer. I love beer, but have found the “beer geek” community to be a bit hard to crack. I knew quite a few people who felt the same.

“I wanted a place where I could indulge my love for beer and learn in a way that was accessible and open. 97 Bottles was created to be very easy to use and accessible, while having an advanced feature set that appeals to hardcore beer geeks.


“We’re working on a really nice mobile version that will allow people to review/rate on the go. An iPhone app is also in the works. We plan on doing quite a bit with the location data we’re collecting, so we can break down reviews by region, for example, or allow people to easily hook up with drinking buddies in their area.


“I’m a huge fan of porters and stouts; those are my favorites for sure. Your Gonzo Imperial Porter is on my to-drink list and I hope to get to that soon. I’ve also got a fondness for the German Weissbiers.


“We are going to be all over SXSW. On Friday the 13th we’re doing a 97 Bottles happy hour at the Gingerman, on Saturday we’re providing some beer to the Bikehugger folks and their Urban Ride, and on Monday we’re doing our 4th annual SXNW party at the Iron Cactus. And we’ve got a few other small things sprinkled in between.”


If you’re interested in rating and reviewing our beers, just sign up for free at 97bottles.com and search the beers for us. We also have an account at 97bottles.com, so please add us as your friend!