I had a vision of some nerve-rattling geek all covered with matted hair and string-warts showing up in the press office and demanding Scanlan’s press packet. Well…what the hell? We could always load up on acid and spend the day roaming around the clubhouse grounds with big sketch pads, laughing hysterically at the natives and swilling mint juleps so the cops wouldn’t think we’re abnormal. Perhaps even make the act pay: set up an easel with a big sign saying, “Let a Foreign Artist Paint Your Portrait, $10 Each. Do It NOW!

- Hunter S. Thompson on meeting Ralph Steadman for the first time, from “The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved”

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That first encounter between Hunter and Ralph wasn’t far off from Hunter’s prediction, although we don’t think they made any money that weekend off of Ralph’s drawings. If anything (as Hunter wrote), Ralph “was regarded with fear and loathing by nearly anyone who’d seen or even heard about his work.”

The significance of that first meeting 40 years ago goes beyond the now infamous resulting article, “The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved.” It represents the birth of Gonzo - a term coined by Boston Globe magazine editor Bill Cardoso, which he claimed is South Boston slang for the last man standing after an all-night drinking marathon. Ralph once said:

“Nobody I have read knows what GONZO is, was, or ever could be, not even Hunter, an if he doesn’t know what it is, I do. I am the only one who does. Gonzo makes you feel GOod rather than BAd, which is BANZO. Pursue BANZO if you must but don’t blame me or even credit me or you will make me sick. GOnzo is GOod. BAnzo is BAd. It is a simple equation.”

From those mace and whiskey-filled days during the Running of the Roses on, Gonzo became the lifestyle of Hunter and Ralph, which have been beautifully illustrated through both sketches and words.

From riding motorcycles to blowing shit up to getting drunk (sometimes simultaneously), Hunter was a long-time co-conspirator of Flying Dog owner George Stranahan and had a profound impact on George’s life. Hunter’s greatest contribution to Flying Dog was introducing George to Ralph, who now illustrates all of our labels.

This past week, we filled oak Stranahans whiskey barrels with our Gonzo Imperial Porter in Hunter and Ralph’s honor. It made us feel good.

For “The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved” and more from Hunter S. Thompson, purchase The Great Shark Hunt: Gonzo Papers, Volume 1 on Amazon.

Studio 35 is Columbus, Ohio’s oldest independent movie theater and draft house. Recently they showed Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas and featured a plethora of Flying Dog beer on tap. We found out about this via Studio 35’s twitter site. We were also contacted via twitter by Shaun Adams, who attended the event. He snapped some photos and was nice enough to answer a few questions about the venue, the beer, and the experience of watching Fear & Loathing while drinking beer inspired by the late, great Dr. Gonzo, Hunter S. Thompson.

What is Studio 35 all about?

Studio 35 is an independently run single screen movie theater & draft house. They’re very community driven and hold a lot of free events there, as well as offering a lot of movies that you can’t see in other theaters in Columbus.

What was the atmosphere like at Studio 35 before, during and after the film?

People are always really relaxed at the beer tastings (I’ve been to three now). People sit in their seats as somebody stands at the front of the theater and reads off descriptions of each beer, and theater staff come around with pitchers and pour you each sample. Each person is given a list of the different beers, and many people bring pencils or pens to write notes on it. It’s really easy to meet new people as the samples come around just by talking about which beers you like and dislike. The movies they show are comedies, and during the film people tend to laugh more or quote along with it a little more than they would at a normal screening. After the film, people linger around a while as they finish their food or drink and chat as they close out their tabs. Some people stuck around for the next movie, District 9.

What Flying Dog beers were on tap?

The different beers sampled were (in order) Garde Dog, Tire Bite, In-Heat Wheat, Dogtoberfest, Old Scratch, Doggie Style, Snake Dog, Double Dog, Horn Dog, and Gonzo. [ed. note: holy shit, that's a lot of Flying Dog!]

Aside from playing Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas and serving Flying Dog beer, what’s else is awesome about Studio 35?

There is a lot of great things about Studio 35. They’re the only theater in Columbus that still shows The Rocky Horror Picture Show on a regular basis (first Saturday of each month), they show kids movies for cheap during the day in the summer, they show a lot of sporting events (soccer, Ohio State football games, etc) for free, a free Academy Awards event that I went to, a Cult Classics screening each month, they host monthly beer tastings where a low price gets 10-12 beer samples and admission to the movie afterwards, and they have Guitar Hero tournaments. They also have a better beer selection than a lot of bars that I’ve been to. When they show older movies there, they usually themed events for it, such as a Wii bowling tournament before they screened The Big Lebowski, they’re having a John Hughes weekend this week and having a Pac-Man playoff and mix tape/ CD exchange. They’re also on myspace and twitter, so it’s really easy to find out about events and bargains/deals going on there.

What made that night memorable?

I met up with some friends there whom I don’t get to see that often because we have different schedules, so that was nice. I also met a few new people while I was there, heard stories behind tattoos that people have, and got to try some great beer and watch a movie that I really enjoy. A lot of people just walk to the theater, so it’s really easy to meet a neighbor or someone who just lives down the block while you’re there. Flying Dog has always caught my attention because of Ralph Steadman’s artwork, but I hadn’t tried many of the flavors, so it was an easy way to try a lot of new things for a pretty cheap price.

What’s your favorite Flying Dog beer and why?

My favorites of the night were Old Scratch, Horn Dog, and Gonzo. I think I’m partial to barley wines, and the Old Scratch really caught my attention being a lager / ale hybrid. The Gonzo was a really smooth, delicious way to end the tasting. There wasn’t a single beer that I didn’t like (which honestly, is a first for me).

Thanks a lot Shaun!

Our favorite artist Ralph Steadman is anything but predictable (just take a look at the awesome drawings on our beer labels). You can’t be predictable when you’re a Gonzo co-conspirator along with Dr. Hunter S. Thompson. We were delighted to see this YouTube video of Ralph giving a talk at the Promax BDA conference in NYC. There’s no better way to captivate an audience than by smashing the shit out of their favorite phone.

Having seen Ralph give a presentation (on his book tour for “The Joke’s Over” in 2006), I can tell you that Ralph is one of the most unique public speakers I’ve had the pleasure of seeing. Ralph’s trademark wit shines through the whole time, and he always seems to give his unique perspective on the world. If you get the chance to see Ralph speak, make it a priority to go.

Magnolia Pictures is releasing the long-awaited “GONZO: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S, Thompson” on July 4, 2008.  The film is narrated by Johnny Depp and features an array of Hunter’s friends, enemies and co-conspirators including Ralph Steadman, Jimmy Carter, Jann Wenner, George McGovern, Pat Buchchanan and even our very own George Stranahan (Flying Dog Founder and Hunter’s Landlord).

Check out the flim’s website, which includes the trailer.

Click here for the film’s release dates.

Technorati Tags: hst, movie, film, release, gonzo, flying dog, hunter s. thompson, documentary, ralph steadman

Flying Dog Lead Dog, Eric Warner, will be hosting Olney Ale House’s Pint Night tonight. Come schmooze and booze with the man that pulls the strings for Flying Dog.

6pm-8pm
Olney Ale House
2000 Olney-Sandy Spring Rd., Olney, MD 20832
301-774-6708

“Here are some bears, Dogs, as part of a tree that just fell down in a storm….” This from an email Ralph Steadman sent us a few weeks back. He took these photos and created some pretty great art, but then again, when isn’t he creating cool shit? Check our more of Ralph’s stuff at www.ralphsteadman.com

A company called GelaSkins is now offering iPod and iPhone covers with Ralph Steadman art. Check it out.

Click here to go to their site.

Rolling Stone has recently released a gallery featuring all 8 of the Gonzo covers Hunter Thompson and Ralph Steadman teamed up to create for the magazine. Hunter wrote for Rolling Stone as a political and social journalist for over 20 years starting in 1970. Click on the image below to see the gallery.

This is my first crack at “The Session”, where one day per month a plethora of beer bloggers white about a common topic. This month’s Beer Blogger Friday is devoted to beer labels with animals on them, and is called The Brew Zoo. Rick over at Lyke 2 Drink got to come up with this month’s topic. Being the Creative Manager at Flying Dog, I am in a unique position to talk about what I do for a living for this month’s session. If you know about us, you’ll know that most every style we have has an amazing illustration of an animal (Woody Creek White, Gonzo Imperial Porter, and our limited release Wild Dog being the only exceptions).

We’re very lucky to have Ralph Steadman illustrations on all of our bottles. In case you’ve been living under a rock for the last 35 years, Ralph Steadman is one of the world’s most recognizable illustrators who worked closely with his friend Hunter S. Thompson.

I had just started working at Flying Dog last year when Ralph came to town to promote his book “The Joke’s Over”, a memoir about his relationship with Hunter. After watching his presentation (complete with over a hundred slides) in Downtown Denver, a few brewery employees went out with Ralph and his wife for a few drinks. There I got to talk to him for a little while as he related a few choice stories to us about hanging out with Hunter. Getting to meet Ralph better helped me to understand where his artistic style, cynical humor and sharp wit was coming from.

My time around Ralph inspired me, big time. When I was hired, one of the projects the brewery wanted me to tackle was a redesign of our labels. I was eager to keep the spirit of Ralph’s illustrations while better organizing and standardizing the label content. Due to circumstances beyond our control, the project took longer than expected, but our new labels are in the process of being printed, and with any luck they’ll start appearing on shelves before November 1. Below is our redesigned label for Doggie Style, our Classic Pale Ale.

You’ll notice similarities between this dog and our logo, as it plays a large part in the inception of the brewery. Rather than relating this story to you myself, please watch this video of brewery co-founder George Stranahan explaining where the Flying Dog came from (click the below image to start the video):

Click To Play

Since we’ve got the word “Dog” in our brewery name, it makes sense that many of our labels feature dogs on them. These aren’t your run-of-the-mill pooches, though. Many of his illustrations are mythical beasts related to the dog. The character on our Horn Dog Barley Wine is part Rhinoceros, part dog, part T-Rex. To me, this is the most wonderful illustration that we’re currently using on our labels. That is to say, amongst the labels we’ve got on shelves today. We have a few things up our sleeves that you’ll just have to wait to find out about.

The process in which we work with Ralph is relatively simple. We determine a style and then a name. Ralph lives in England, so we email him our general thoughts. Within a few weeks Ralph emails us a high-resolution JPEG which we then review. If we have any changes (which is extremely rare), we write Ralph back and he sends us finalized work. I then trim out the background in Photoshop and place the artwork into our label template. The non-traditional look of our labels makes them unique in the beer world. These aren’t symmetrical, centered, and certainly aren’t boring. Our labels give our beers a personality of their own, and we think of them not merely as pieces of paper affixed to a glass bottle, but as art themselves.

Please feel free to review the rest of our redesigned labels here.