Letter from America - Guest Blog and the Brown Dog

Guest Blog by Stacey: 

If, like me, the first things that come to mind are Alistair Cooke's radio programme that my brother used to regularly listen to (BBC), or a certain Scottish band's song (YouTube), but no, I really have received a missive (electronic) from America, many thanks to Stacey! 

The missive was about The Brown Dog, 215 St Joe Plaza Drive, Palm Coast, Florida, US, FL 32164 (website), which has been running for a little over 7 years, and was very recently bought by 2 friends; they also have a facebook page. Opening times are 4.00pm to 9.30pm Tuesdays to Thursdays, 4.00pm to 10.30pm Fridays and Saturdays, and closed on Sundays and Mondays.  I will comment about beers and hops later, but the blog is Stacey's, cheers. 👌

The Brown Dog is a clean and bright bar (ed: see above), with a friendly atmosphere, keeping a casual vibe, and the new owners, having worked here for years, have retained their many amazing regulars. Food-wise they are renowned for their creative burgers and their wings; the kitchen closes 1 hour before the bar closes. Just this week they have installed a new beer line, increasing the number of beer 'taps' from 16 to 17. They keep many Florida beers on tap, and typically run 3 IPAs, 3 stouts and/or porters, with a whole range of beer styles in between.

They are working with some new distributors to increase their selection of beers, with the bar's locals getting excited about the thought of new beers! They are also planning to expand the selection of beers available in bottles and cans, and are bringing back previously popular Tap Nights. On these nights they will be 'tapping' several beers from a brewery, whose reps will come and talk about their beers, often bringing with them 'give aways' and/or raffle items. Currently my favourite beer on tap is Oh-J Double IPA from Lone Pine Brewery, a 'New England' style.

Many thanks again Stacey! 👍

Ed: Well, I had to look up Stacey's recent 'favourite' IPA and can see why she likes it so much! It's brewed by Lone Pine Brewery (website), and the Oh-J Double IPA, at 8.1% and packed with hops, provides depth and big fruit flavours. The hops used are listed as Amarillo, which provide orange citrus flavour; Centennial, developed from 'inter-marrying' Brewer's Gold, Fuggles, East Kent Goldings and Bavarian hops; and Falconer's Flight. Now, I had never heard of Falconer's Flight before, but looked to good old hopslist for help, and many thanks to them, to find out that Falconer's Flight is a blend of Pacific Northwest hops, including the following seven Cs: Cascade, Centennial, Chinook, Citra, Cluster, Columbus and Crystal, many of which I've recently written (eg blog), PLUS other experimental hop varieties... no wonder Oh-J Double IPA is packed with flavour, cheers Stacey! 

Oh, and to prove I have just a wee bit of knowledge about beers from the USA, I noticed The Brown Dog has recently had Goose Island IPA available, which is from a Chicago brewpub I visited many years ago, although it's moved on a bit since then... I have written about Goose Island a couple of times, including in this homage to the Beer Hunter (blog). However, I do need to find and drink many more of the more adventurous American brews, cheers!