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.

Go Gonzo For GonzoFest

It’s that time of the year when we throw a ridiculously massive party at our brewery. A party where a couple or three thousand of our best friends come out to drink Flying Dog beer, listen to great live music, eat award-winning chili, and help out a local charity.

Yes, I’m talking about GonzoFest - Flying Dog Brewery’s annual throwdown on September 12th, 2009 from 3-9PM.

We told you last year that if you missed GonzoFest, you’d “be in a state of self-loathing for months,” - and all of you who missed it know that we were being serious. Wondering what you missed? Below are two HD videos that will help explain the kind of awesomely good time we had last year (except for the guy in the 2nd video, he was probably hurting for a few days).

Discounted tickets for GonzoFest are available in advance online starting this Saturday, August 1st. Just cruise to the GonzoFest page of our website and click the link to buy tickets.

We’ve got some fun shit happening at GonzoFest this year:

• Hunter S. Thompson Lookalike Contest - win Gonzo prizes for the best Hunter costume, one of the prizes is a bottle of Flying Dog beer signed by Gonzo co-conspirator Ralph Steadman

• Hard Times Cafe Chili Cookoff (for the 2009 Maryland State Championship)

• Awesome bands this year, including …soihadto… - the band that Duff from the Food Network show Ace of Cakes is in - see the full lineup at the Gonzofest home page

Admission includes: Beer, Music, Souvenir Mug, Chili Competition Samples and all-around Good Karma: A portion of the proceeds benefit United Way of Frederick County.

Drink ‘Til You Tweet

Free beer, no shit. Announcing the best Denver TweetUp that’s ever TweetedUp.

Are you a Twitter user? We’re working with some of the coolest dogs on the block to bring you the next installment of the #denvertweetup! Join @thebigklosowski, @redheadwriting and @flyingdog for an August 13th TweetUp (6-8PM) at our warehouse (2401 Blake Street, two blocks north of the baseball stadium). So come drink free beer for a few hours and then come out on a LoDo pub crawl with us afterwards.

We’ll also be accepting a suggested $5 donation for the Food Bank of the Rockies. We won’t be mad if you don’t donate, but don’t come crying to us when a piano falls on your head because of the negative Karma for not helping the hungry.

Click here to reserve your free tickets. Yeah, you need a ticket to get in, even though the event is free.

Help Improve Relations Between The United States and The People’s Republic of Flying Dog

You probably heard about some shit that went down in Cambridge, MA last week. One of Harvard’s most respected professors was arrested for “breaking into” his own house. And President Obama got involved. We’re not going to say who was right and who was wrong, because we’re people who get paid to make beer.

Tomorrow, President Obama will be hosting both Professor Gates and Officer Crowley at the White House to talk about what went wrong and how we as a society can avoid these sorts of issues. We at Flying Dog appreciate that three men can get together and work on settling their differences over a beer.

But we wish that the beer they were drinking was produced more locally. Many craft beer enthusiasts preach the phrase “Think Globally, Drink Locally.” With the President having to think on a global scale, we ask him to heed the “drink locally” aspect of the phrase. Flying Dog beer is brewed just 42 miles from the White House, and there’s no better way to preach “American Economic Recovery” than to drink award-winning beer produced within a stone’s throw of your (White) House.

If you agree with our reasoning, send an email to the White House to let them know that Flying Dog Brewery is just up the road in scenic Frederick, Maryland. We’d be happy to provide the beer for future White House Happy Hours. We are thinking that President Obama would be a Tire Bite fan. And with more than 15 styles of beer, we’re sure to have something to scratch every world leader’s itch.

So let’s work towards building a strong and healthy relationship between the United States and the People’s Republic of Flying Dog.

Cheers! Until next time,
-Josh

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.

Happy Birthday, Hunter S. Thompson

This Saturday marks the birthday of one Hunter S. Thompson. On July 18th, 1937, Hunter S. Thompson was born in Louisville, Kentucky. He is the man who invented the experimental and immersive form of journalism known as Gonzo Journalism. If you’re reading this, you probably have some idea about who Hunter was and what he stood for. If you want to learn more, buy this shit and get schooled a little.

Read:
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
The Rum Diary: A Novel
Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail ‘72
The Kitchen Readings: Untold Stories of Hunter S. Thompson
Ancient Gonzo Wisdom: Interviews with Hunter S. Thompson

Watch:
Where The Buffalo Roam
Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas
Gonzo: The Life & Work of Hunter S. Thompson
Buy The Ticket, Take The Ride

Listen:
The Gonzo Tapes: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson

We are honored to be associated with someone so influential, so we’re celebrating Hunter’s life in an extra special way. Yesterday we packaged a very limited run of something we like to call ESG: Extra Special Gonzo. What is the ESG, you ask? It’s the beer that won the GABF 2005 Silver Medal in the Experimental category. We start out with some Gonzo Imperial Porter and barrel-age it in Stranahan’s Colorado Whiskey barrels. To make it even more Gonzo, we dose these barrels with some Brettanomyces yeast, which adds complexity and gives a Brett beer its trademark sour flavoring. After spending more than a year in these barrels (where the ESG continues to ferment and whiskey flavor is infused from the barrels), we package the beer in 750ml bottles and then hold it in our brewery for another few months, as it gets more awesome by the day.

Hunter would have been 72 on Saturday, and we want you to do something Gonzo this weekend to celebrate Hunter and his extraordinary life. Live near our brewery in Frederick, Maryland? Come to our Saturday tour this weekend and drink some Gonzo and maybe pick up some fun Gonzo treats. We’ll also be at the Breckenridge, Colorado Massive Beer Fest this weekend, and we’re pouring Gonzo in Hunter’s honor. If you’re not near us, go out and grab a 4-pack of Gonzo and learn more about who he was. If you do something special, we’d love to hear. Email me at joshm [at] flyingdogales [dot] com and tell me about it.

Four Great Flying Dog Events In Colorado Next Week Will Help Satisfy Your Gonzo Urge

Although we’re not talking about your urge to run for the Mayor of Aspen or join the Hell’s Angels, we’ve got four great Flying Dog events coming up next week to help satisfy your Gonzo urges:

Tuesday, July 21, 8PM: Widespread Tuesdays at Tooey’s Off Colfax
We’ll be on hand on Tuesday at Tooey’s (Colfax & Marion Street). Flying Dog will be on Special, and we’ll be giving away some swag to people who come and ask us for some. We’ll be the folks in the Flying Dog shirts.

Wednesday, July 22, 5-7:30PM: Meet the Brewers night at the Paramount Cafe
Flying Dog Senior VP of Brewery Operations Matt Brophy will be flying out from Maryland to be with you fine folks. We even have an über-special treat for Coloradans. We’ll have some of our brand new Wild Dog Belgian IPA on hand for you to sample. 5-7PM will be half-off Flying Dog beer; plus, the first 50 people in the door get a free pint glass.

Thursday, July 23, 6-8PM: Flying Dog Tweetup at the Blake Street Tavern
We’re having one of our exciting and famous Tweetups at the Blake Street Tavern on Thursday. Come down about 6PM and get a free pint glass and a voucher for a free Flying Dog beer, on us. There will be a bunch of folks who use Twitter around, so come and meet some people in your local Twitterhood. Are you interested in Twitter or new to the game? Don’t be shy. We have lots of good people come out every time.

Friday, July 24, 6-10PM: Summer Brew Fest at the Mile High Station
Day four of the “we’re doing tons of shit” week keeps on going at the Summer Brew Fest. Come drink beer with 1,500 other craft beer fans. Last year, we met Jeff Porn, who some in this office say is in the running for Flying Dog’s Number One Fan. Who will we be meeting this year? Hopefully you.

Cheers! Until next time,
-Josh

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.

Celebrate Your Beer Independence

Independence comes in many forms. For instance, Flying Dog Brewery has been bucking the trends of what it is to be a craft brewery since we started in 1990. Plus craft beer is as American as apple pie and Uncle Sam put together. Everything started about 233 years ago, when our Founding Fathers also decided that they weren’t going to take any more shit from anyone. People like Washington, Jefferson, and Franklin broke from the centuries-old tradition and brought back the long-forgotten concept of Democratic society, and I don’t think I need to tell you about how successful that was. The parallels to Flying Dog are obvious, as we’ve broken the mold of what the traditional brewery should be, in both our award-winning taste as well as our Gonzo labels. We can only hope that the People’s Republic of Flying Dog lasts as long as this great Republic of the United States.

So this July 4th, celebrate your Beer Independence by cruising out to your local beer-selling establishment and pick up some Flying Dog beer. Celebrate your Gonzo ideals of questioning everything and holding people to a high standard in hopes of making this world we live in just a little more fair for everyone, which truly is the Democratic dream, no? It’s either that or scoring chicks, I can’t remember (but I’ve heard that Franklin was especially adept at wooing the ladies, if you get my meaning).

Flying Dogs Take Manhattan

Do you live in or near Manhattan? If you do, you’re going to want to go to the Blind Tiger on Bleecker Street on July 8th. We’ll be on hand and will be pouring more than 15 of our styles starting about 4PM. If you’re a craft beer lover and you live in New York, this is something you’re not going to want to miss.

So cut out of work early and come drink bunches of different Flying Dog brews, and then maybe call in, ahem, sick the next day. More information is available at the event page on our website.

Get To Know Gonzo - Part 1: Ancient Gonzo Wisdom Comes Straight From The Horse’s Mouth

Anita Thompson, as you probably know, is the widow of Hunter S. Thompson. She recently edited a book called Ancient Gonzo Wisdom: Interviews with Hunter S. Thompson, which compiles 400 pages of interviews with the famed Dr. Gonzo (many never-before-available) starting all the way back in 1967. It’s nice to get new content from Hunter, four years after his death. Here’s a nice write-up in Alarm Magazine, and you can buy the book here at Amazon.

Get To Know Gonzo - Part 2: A Little Guilt Tripping Goes A Long Way

A few weeks ago I threw down the gauntlet after this lack of contest-entering that had occurred. You, the People’s Republic of Flying Dog, came through for me by sending in bunches of answers to what is probably the easiest test you’ve ever taken since multiplication tables in 2nd grade. Your task (if you chose to accept it) was to watch a great documentary produced by the venerable BBC and tell me why you liked it. Without further ado, here are the winning entries:

• The Winning Entry (garnering a 50% discount at our newly redesigned online store) comes from Crystal A. Sherman for the following:

We finished our drinks and climbed up the dirt hill. It was getting dark and the countdown had begun. Down the hill and across the street was the Woody Creek Tavern. Tavern patrons were gathered at the top of the hill. There was some guy with underwear on his head, drunk and handing out flavored vodka shots to all takers; lots of cameras, and video recorders. The red drape was pulled down and the fist was flashing green. Fireworks and Explosions and Cheers. Then it was over and they all left immediately to go back down the hill to the tavern. We didn’t believe it was over yet. It was grand, we thought, but not grand enough. Just the two of us and a guy dressed all in blue-jeans. We waited for the real explosion across the valley that would catch everyone else off guard but it never happened. We finally slid down the hill and went back to the tavern. Then Sheriff Braudis and I tried to go through the tavern door at the same time and bounced off of each other. I didn’t need a camera though, I took pictures in my head.

That makes the funeral arrangements the best part of Gonzovision. The rest of the film is some documentary-makers making Hunter nervous. The real shit is Hunter looking at the mountains in his backyard and knowing that his wishes were carried out…and that I was there.

What I like about this is that it incorporates footage from the movie with footage from Crystal’s life. It can’t be beat. The next couple folks came close, though, for other reasons.

•The Runners-Up (also known as those who won, but less so, and receive a 25% discount at our online store) are Sean Gagnon and Greg Long.

Sean’s entry: My favorite section is in part 2, where Hunter and Steadman are driving from Vegas to Hollywood and the car starts acting-up, and Hunter reacts accordingly. I couldn’t stop laughing when I first saw that. (especially when he’s just trying to get out of the little traffic jam at the light) I think that is a good example of what people are talking about when they say that Hunter was always unpredictable but could always make you laugh.

Greg’s entry (which also wins the “Brevity Award”): Did that stewardess really say they were offering nickel beers on the flight to Aspen???!!! That is one damn civilized airline!

Thanks to all who entered. And if you think you could have done better, just remember that the world is run by those who show up, so think about that next time.

—

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.

Cheers! Until next time,
-Josh