Celebrating their shared history, Stranahan’s Colorado Whiskey and Flying Dog Brewery recently created two new specialty products for their “Osopher project.”
The two brands have collaborated over the years to share beer mash and barrels, and The Osopher project marks the first joint product release for the two companies.
The collaboration, it is said, will also celebrate George Stranahan, an astrophysicist, writer, photographer, rancher, and philanthropist, who founded the Flying Dog Brewpub in Aspen, Colorado in 1990. He did so a decade after discovering the “flying dog” while on a mountaineering trip to K2, one of the world’s deadliest mountains.
The Flying Dog brand expanded to become one of the top 50 production breweries in the U.S. and today brews at its facility in Frederick, Maryland.
In 2004, George Stranahan and Jess Graber co-founded Stranahan’s Colorado Whiskey in downtown Denver. The original Stranahan’s Whiskey utilized mash from Flying Dog’s Road Dog Porter.
The new, limited-edition beer created for The Osopher project is an imperial version of the original Road Dog Porter that has been aged in 10-year-old Stranahan’s Whiskey barrels.
Road Dog was also the beginning of Flying Dog’s collaboration with renowned artist and friend of George Stranahan, Ralph Steadman, whose art still adorns Flying Dog’s labels after 25 years.
The brewer’s notes show that the result of barrel aging the porter is a velvety taste of chocolate, vanilla cream cocoa beans, toasted pecans, toffee, and maple. The richness of these flavors balances with the added notes of caramel, spice, and a hint of tobacco from the whiskey.
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After the imperial Road Dog Porter matured in the Stranahan’s barrels, they were returned to Stranahan’s Distillery in Colorado.
With these barrels, Stranahan’s created The Osopher, their oldest whiskey ever bottled.
The Osopher matured for four more months in the same barrels used to age Flying Dog’s Road Dog Porter, in addition to the 11 years it had already aged at the distillery.
The distiller’s notes for The Osopher are:
- Nose: Coffee cake. Roasty malt mingles with toffee and barrel char.
- Palate: Dark chocolate caramels, sherried-soaked plums, and a dash of aged hops.
- Finish: Bread pudding and barley wine temper to a dry finish.
“We’re excited to partner with Flying Dog Brewery and celebrate George Stranahan’s illustrious legacy with the release of The Osopher,” said Owen Martin, Stranahan’s head distiller. “This release honors our storied past while showcasing our evolution. Both Stranahan’s and Flying Dog are committed to their craft, and the marriage of our whiskey and their brew creates flavor profiles bursting with complexity and passion.”
“The teams at Flying Dog and Stranahan’s loved the idea of commemorating George in a way that spoke to the art, science, and creativity that he instilled in both companies,” said Jim Caruso, CEO at Flying Dog Brewery. “George was a man of many talents, he considered himself a ‘pilgrimosopher,’ so The Osopher speaks to the idea that you can pursue anything if you’re just crazy enough to try it.”
Stranahan’s The Osopher clocks in at 47.3% ABV and will be available in 750ml bottles at the Stranahan’s Distillery in Denver, Colorado for $159.99.
Hand-bottled and packaged in a commemorative box, Flying Dog’s The Osopher carries a 12% ABV and will be available in limited-edition 750ml bottles at retail locations in Maryland for $29.99.
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