Our VP of Sales Jim Lutz gets around. Every week, he’s seemingly in another part of the country that we distribute beer in. Of course, we’re in 46 states (and 26 countries or something), so that’s a lot of ground to cover. Last week, Jim stopped in at Fat Head’s Brewery & Saloon in Cleveland, Ohio. He was there to hang out and drink a few beers. Fat Head’s started originally in Pittsburgh, PA but the Cleveland location has been open for about three months now and, along with their beer brewed in-house, they have a world-class lineup of guest taps. Flying Dog is thrilled to be a part of such a wonderful brewpub! SO if you live in Cleveland or are passing though, stop by and drink some great beer.

Rob Kasper is a journalist over at the Baltimore Sun, and he has a great blog called Kasper on Tap. Rob writes about all things beer, often with an emphasis on breweries local to the Mid-Atlantic region. Today Rob wrote about Flying Dog Brewery and the various sites we are using to market our award-winning beer.

We try hard with our social media, but it wouldn’t mean a damn thing if our amazing team at the brewery didn’t make such amazing beer. We in the Flying Dog marketing department are lucky to be spreading the word about some of the best beer in the world. Keep it up, guys!

The SXSW Denver Kiteup - sponsored by Brightkite and Flying Dog Brewery
Monday March 16th from 7-9 PM
Blake Street Tavern, 24th and Blake St., Denver
Coming? RSVP here!

The South By Southwest (SXSW) festival in Austin is another one of those week-long events (and by week-long, I mean ten days) in Austin, Texas. The first part of the week is the Interactive portion of the festival, where new technology is highlighted (this is where Twitter started gaining super-stardom two years ago). The second part of SXSW is an INSANE music festival that happens in (what seems like) every bar in town (thousands of bands and fans flock to Austin for this). There’s also a film festival that goes the entire ten days. If you don’t have plans to go by now, you’re probably screwed. But there’s a silver lining here, for those of you who aren’t going.

Brightkite is a location-based social network that enables you meet people based on the places you go. Brightkite interfaces with some of the other social networking sites you know and love, like Twitter, Facebook, and Flickr. Go sign up at their site and take a test drive (try out the iPhone app, too). Once you’re there, add Flying Dog as a friend.

Suffice it to say that Brightkite is a pretty big deal, and they’re getting bigger by the day. They’re having a party in Austin next Monday, and apparently a few thousand people have RSVPed. For those of you in Denver who aren’t going to Austin, Brightkite and Flying Dog Brewery are bringing a little bit of SXSW to you.

Since we can’t be in Austin next week (the life of a beer baron keeps us busy here), we’re going to have a little party in Denver that coincides with the Brightkite party in Austin. We’ll have some developers from Brightkite and also some Flying Dog employees on hand to hang out with. We’ll be around to answer your questions, but more importantly, we’ll be here to talk about beer and tech.

See you Monday! If you can’t make it, we’ll be monitoring our twitter and brightkite accounts to have some conversations with you, long distance.

We’re not sure how “official” this list really is, but when we get a compliment, we know what to do.  We say “thanks” and broadcast it to the world.

The Culinary School Guide recently listed their “100 Best Beer and Wine Blogs” and Flying Dog was lucky enough to grab 2 of the 100!

BeerDinners.com came in at #44, FlyingDogNews.com (this blog) came in at #83 and OpenSourceBeerProject.com came in at #92.

If you’re in to beer, wine, or beer and food pairings, check out the rest of the list here to find the rest of our esteemed colleagues of beer blogging.

One of the things we like best about Flying Dog drinkers is that you’re not afraid to share your opinion.  We do something good, you’re the first to complement us.  We do something bad, you’re all up in our grill.  We like that.

But we want to take it to the next level, so we have set up a Suggestion Box account to make it even easier.

• You think we should make Woody Creek White a year-round brand? Let us know.
• You like your craft beer in a can? Tell us.
• You would like to see Chris Rippe wear one of those body Speedos that Michael Phelps wears?  You’re a little weird, but we want to know.

Click on over to flyingdog.suggestionbox.com and let us know what’s on your mind.  We’re listening.

Technorati Tags: flying dog, brewery, suggestion box, opinions, craft, beer, brewery

Cache Road Liquor emailed us recently to let us know they featured Flying Dog Brewery in their recent newsletter.  Here’s what they wrote:

“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.” That’s how every issue of the Flying Dog Newsletter starts out and they are not kidding. Irreverence is definitely the operative word for their newsletter, website, and company. This is a beer company that fought a four year long court battle to get Ralph Steadman’s original artwork onto their bottles and eventually won the lawsuit so that now their bottles read, “Good Beer. No Shit.” This is a beer company that embraces the “Gonzo Spirit” embodied by Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas author Hunter S. Thompson, a man that had his remains shot out of a 153 foot Fist Statue, that’s 2 feet higher than the Statue of Liberty. This is a beer company that continually advocates guns, alcohol and blowing stuff up, three of our favorite things. This is a beer company that was dreamed up when founders George Stranahan and Richard McIntyre were out camping in the Himalayas with a mule and enough drugs to pacify a herd of elephants when they saw, what they swear was a flying dog. They promptly went home to the Woody Creek tavern and started a beer company. This beer is excellent, this company rocks, and you really should check it out at www.flyingdogales.com. 

Thanks guys!  Next time we roll thru Oklahoma, we’ll make sure to stop by.

Cache Road Liquor is at 2002 NW Cache Road, Lawton, OK 73505

Technorati Tags: cache road liquor, flying dog, craft beer, brewery

We came across a great, new online video show called Beer Utopia.  They’re up to episode 6 and, wouldn’t you know it, they reviewed our Doggie-style Classic Pale Ale.  Click the image below to go to their website and check out the show.  They do a really nice job with it.

Technorati Tags: flying dog, doggie-style, pale ale, beer utopia, craft beer, review, brewery

Our new Spring Seasonal, Garde Dog is getting some great reviews from our fellow beer bloggers. Here are some of our favorites so far:

• Home Brew Beer - featuring a pour shot video
• Musings Over a Pint
• Hail the Ale
• Blog About Beer

One of the comments we’re hearing a lot is that this is a great beer for beer drinkers new to craft beer - not too malty, not too hoppy. So, if you have someone you’re trying to “show the light” of drinking better beer, Garde Dog might be your answer.

Technorati Tags: garde dog, beer, craft beer, flying dog, reviews, beer

There are many great beer bloggers that help Flying Dog and other breweries spread the gospel of better beer. Brainard Brewing recently posted a video review of our Double Dog Double Pale Ale. Check out the video below.

Technorati Tags: Double Dog, Brainard Brewing, Double IPA, Flying Dog

Flying Dog’s analytical brewer Matt Brophy waxes poetic in a Q&A session with Bryon Turner from the renowned Home Brew Beer blog. For the full interview follow this link.

Technorati Tags: Matt Brophy, Interview, Brewer, Stephnie Kerchner, Josh Mishell Flying Dog