I got John Trogner of Troegs Brewery on the phone Monday afternoon. After some artful dodging on his part, he finally revealed the origin of the name of their ale,  "Flying Mouflan."

He made it up.

This hop-heavy ale, aged for 9-10 months, does not fit in any beer category, he said. So he and his brother, Chris, were looking for a moniker that "would convince people that it is something that doesn't already exist."

They settled on the name "Flying Mouflan" because it harkened back to a joke they had pulled off some years ago. When Trogner was a college student at LaSalle University, he and some buddies from Dickinson College were visiting Washington and Lee. While there they made up a tale, telling folks there that they were searching for "the Flying Mouflan." The Washington and Lee types bought their story, Trogner said.

So there it is: the Flying Mouflan is a comic name, a private joke, given to an unusual beer. That beer, a knockout, is pretty much gone. 

 "We only made a very small batch we don't have any more at the brewery," Trogner told me. In Baltimore, it was distributed by DOPS.  It sold for $8 for a bottle that held 1 pint 6 ounces. It has been seen at the Wine Source in Hampden and Wells Discount Liquors on York Road but was disappearing fast. Flying Mouflan, Trogner said, " has a very short flight."

Next year, however, they will probably make another batch, he said.