Day 44, Feb 13 / Old Brown Dog Ale

Day 44 / February 13

Old Brown Dog Ale

Smuttynose Brewing Company, Portsmouth NH

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NG

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VG

O

I just drank an Old Brown Dog.

I used to have an old brown dog.

I met “the” Old Brown Dog.

I now have a new brown dog.

And another dog.

I guess I’ve got a thing for old brown dogs.

Harley was our first brown dog, a chocolate lab we got from a farm in Lucketts, VA in 1992, two years after Linda and I got married.  She was the sweetest girl, full of personality, and was just great with our daughter.  And she loved to romp with her dog friends Maude and Josie. 

When she passed away in 2005 we went dogless for a little over a year.  In October 2006, we got Sadie, an English Pointer with orange markings, from a breeder south of Pittsburgh.  She was … let’s just call her a handful.  She could be sweet as can be one minute, but then just ripping around the house the next.  She was a escape artist (knock on wood), and sometimes just wouldn’t come in at night.

So Linda had the idea that maybe if Sadie had a friend, they could take out their energy on each other, and wear each other out so they’d be calm at night.  But deep down, I think she also wanted another brown dog.

Linda’s sister hooked us up with a breeder in Slippery Rock, PA, where they had got their English Lab Samson.  I knew if we went to see the puppies, we’d end up a puppy.  And we did.  Bo joined the family just before Christmas 2009.  He’s a great big boy, and he and Sadie are the best of friends.  Yeah, Linda was right.

Back to the beer.  I visited the Smuttynose brewery in Portsmouth NH in 2006 (The Year of Living Doglessly) and met “Olive”, the old brown dog, and snapped the picture below of her sleeping in her chair.  Check the link to see more pics of Olive.

Smuttynose is definitely a funky brewery with a lot of funky people.  But they definitely made some good beers!  Maybe that’s why they make good beers.

Old Brown Dog is a American Brown Ale, slightly hoppier and fuller bodied than an English Brown Ale, but still not too heavy.  Definitely an enjoyable beer.