I tried a Flying Dog mix pack a while back and was not a big fan of it, either the branding or the beer. The issue I have with the branding is that I find their label artwork a mixture of obnoxious, juvenile, and creepy (In a bad way), and their cutesy names are pretty lame. The issue I have with their beer is that it's often off for the styles it goes for -- things like porters with a ton of hops, or using some weird off strains of hops or malt in their golden ale that seem more suited for something else. I do like their Snake Dog IPA, though -- that one's a quality beer, and their hefe was fairly good for a hefe-- so it isn't all bad.

Wild Goose, on the other hand, I thought had very distinguished labeling and beers that matched their styles well. I'm sorry to see it go. I think with it's milder styles, if they had been able to widely distribute at a low price point (i.e. the "bargain" craft beer), it could have really taken off. It never got the right push from marketing or distributors, though -- a lot of times one couldn't find it consistently stocked in stores (and sometimes when one did find it, it wasn't always that fresh) .

I wonder if this makes my Wild Goose hat and pint glasses collector's items. ;) That'd be something at least.

Over all, though, this is a little bit of a bummer.

Interesting decision. I have never been a big fan of Wild Goose, but I was under the impression that it was a well-distributed beer. Either way, long live Flying Dog and the illustrations of Mr. Steadman.

I'm pretty sure the lack of availability of Wild Goose beers the past couple years had something to do with the 'lack of a market'.
If they don't distribute it, it probably isn't going to sell too well.

Very disappointing. For my money, Wild Goose IPA is the best beer with crabs. And I agree entirely--lack of availability resulted in the "lack of a market."

Very disappointing.

No more Snow Goose? I find this to be sad.

This is a sad day indeed. Let's not forget about the loss we have already suffered with this brewery and the Blue Ridge Ales and now this. I am shocked that they couldn't open another facility and grow and expand. I am not a big fan of flying dog. The label is obnoxious and gives me a headache just to look at it. With the dozens and dozens of varieties to choose from it's hard to get a feel for what they do best. The snow goose was a wonderful beer and I had many great cold winter nights with it close by my side. The line will be sorely missed. The company had long ago let this brand wither on the vine with a lack of marketing and push for shelf space. Now with sales predictably sagging they choose to divesture the entire line. What a terrible way to destroy all that brand equity. Maybe someone can pick up the receipe and open a brewery somewhere else in the State.

I also shall miss Snow Goose. We'll have one more keg on this season and then come enjoy what will probably be the last keg on earth at Mahaffey's annual Christmas in June celebration on 6/25.

Oh this is a sad day for me. Thursday when I walked into the liquor store I was extremely excited to see that Snow Goose was in stock. Now I get this news today. It makes me want to drive around and collect as much Snow Goose as I can find.

Everyone's crying about "I don't like Flying Dog, just because of the labels." Go have a Sam Adams then, yuppies. It's all about what's IN the bottle, not what's on it.

Sad that Wild Goose is being discontinued, but it's true--Flying Dog's a far more popular brand. And for those who don't believe, try their 20th Anniversary Raging Bitch Belgian-style IPA!

Tim, the FD brand is far more popular NOW because FD expended lots of marketing effort and money on the brand, and some of that happens to be tied into the artwork and language used in the marketing. If the same effort and money had been expended on Wild Goose--and similar money was spent in the early 1990s--it would be a far different picture.

Wild Goose's original recipes and equipment, like those of Oliver's, Red Brick Station, and Baltimore Brewing, were somewhat labor- and capital-intensive, and not easily/cheaply made on the scale Frederick/Flying Dog demanded. It's similar to the idea that you can just crank out barrel-aged wine or whisky in a place with all stainless tanks--it just doesn't work. It was at least possible to compromise half-way so that most drinkers wouldn't notice the difference, but Frederick didn't even do that. I will give kudos to FD for at least reintroducing the old yeast strains to WG (or so they said), but in the end it was wanton and deliberate neglect of the brand that did it in at the hands of FD.

I would make the case that there's still room for another brewery to acquire the brand and recipes, but I'm skeptical that FD would easily enable a competitor in its own market....