Name: Flying Dog Dead Rise Old Bay Summer Ale

Style: Summer Ale

Country: U.S.A.

ABV: 5.6%

Beer description: The Dead Rise by Flying Dog showcases Old Bay seasoning.  For those not in the know of this wonderful seasoning, it’s used heavily around Maryland, U.S.A. on their wonderful blue crabs that they catch out of the Chesapeake Bay. It also goes well on shrimp and many other types of seafood. Flying Dog decided to see whether it would go well in beer, because why not?

The colour is the typical yellow straw colour of a summer ale with a distinct red tint to it due to the Old Bay added. This gives it an almost glowing orange quality. It’s relatively lightly carbonated.

The smell! This beer smells like a Maryland crab shack on the side of the bay. It’s salty and spicy and you can even get a sense of the newspapers on the tables. Crabs are typically cooked steamed with a little bit of beer in the pot as well, so of course that comes through too. Unlike the cheap lager used to steam crabs though, cutting through the salt and the spice is a hint of great maltiness and just a little bit of lemon and citrus.

All this stays in the taste. This is a very salty beer. Up the front the beer is very thin without much to it, but it ends tart and with the taste of Old Bay. The citrus plays around a little bit, but it’s hard to find. This, of course, is only to be expected as it’s called the Dead Rise Old Bay Summer Ale!

The beer is a summer ale so it’s fairly light drinking. Good or bad, without the Old Bay in there, there’s nothing much else to say about it. There may be other flavours in there, but they’re completely taken over by the Old Bay. Put simply, the beer tastes like crab, Old Bay, and salt water.

This may sound terrible, and, for those who don’t like crab, don’t go near this beer. For those from Maryland and those who even think they might like crab, give this beer a try.

Check out more summer ale reviews.

Check out reviews of Flying Dog beers.