[BW] Beer Blog

Brewery: Dogfish Head
Style: Fruit Beer
BeerAdvocate.com Rating: 87
RateBeer.com Rating: 3.66 (92nd Percentile)
Serving: Champagne bottle

Dogfish Head’s website describes this brew as “A big, belgian-style Wit brewed with coriander and orange peel and fermented with Pinot Noir juice. After fermentation a fraction of the batch is aged in Oregon Pinot Noir barrels, and another fraction is aged on oak staves.”

This particularly appeals to me because I like pinot noir and I happen to be from Oregon. Let’s see what I think:

Appearance: Hazy ruby color with no head. Pours just like a barley wine.

Smell: Hues of citrus come through in what smells like an amalgam of barley wine and pinot noir.

Taste: This backs up my sense of smell as this initially tastes like a citrus-inspired barley wine. The real treat is when you wait a couple seconds for the pinot taste to come through. This is a truly delicious and unique treat. I’d highly suggest this for any hardcore wine aficionado to give this a try as I don’t think it will disappoint.

Dogfish Head ceases to amaze me when it comes to the oddities they brew. So far I’m 2 for 2 in terms of delicious Dogfish Head brews from champagne bottles.

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Brewery: Rogue
Style: Imperial English Style Bitter
BeerAdvocate.com Rating: 86
RateBeer.com Rating: 3.42 (79th Percentile)
Serving: Ceramic Swing-Top Bottle

Today I have a very special guest who will be adding his thoughts on today’s brew. Ladies and Gentlemen, let me introduce my friend Jake. Jake is currently an intern working with me from Wisconsin, so believe me, this guy knows beer. Is his taste similar to mine? We’ll find out. If you like what he has to say then you’re in for a treat because we’re working on a couple ideas as to how he can help contribute to the site when he goes back to Wisconsin.

Appearance: Dark amber in color with no chance of light shining through. Literally no head after pour.

Smell: You can smell the alcohol already with a slight hue of fruit. Think of it as almost a light barley wine in terms of said combination.

Taste: I’m a huge bitter fan and this certainly doesn’t disappoint. This brew is absolutely honest in what it claims to be; a traditional bitter gone imperial. Everything about a world class bitter shines though, but with the obvious kick of the added alcohol content. You owe yourself a pint of this if you are a bitter fan and can get your hands on some. Be forewarned that as with every imperial to take your time with this one.

Jake: Tastes like a bitter, but the aftertaste has a little more lingering effect to it. Doesn’t go away instantly, therfor each sip doesn’t blend into eachother. This is not in a bad way as in “I’m drinking such a heavy beer,” but clear and distinct. When you first take a sip of the beer it doesn’t taste above and beyond what has come before it. Yet, as you develop into the taste of the brew you can feel the distinct textures present. It’s like taking vanilla ice cream and making it vanilla ice cream 2.0, the same thing but better. It feels distinct, but has a down-to-earth quality that so many beers overstate with macrobrewing standards.

I also have one last bit of news and that is I move to Pullman, Washington two days from now. I’m going to start grad school at Washington State University and will be leaving the Willamette Valley. While from what I have seen Pullman has nowhere near the beer selection that I currently enjoy, expect to still see updates. There are many more breweries from Washington, Idaho, and the rest of the world that I haven’t even began to touch on yet. I’ll miss Corvallis and Oregon in general, but this is yet another adventure that I am looking forward to.

Thanks again to everybody out there who reads my completely unprofessional reviews on a regular basis. It still amazes me how many of you seem to enjoy what I write for this site. You all rock.

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Brewery: Dogfish Head
Style: Fruit Beer
BeerAdvocate.com Rating: 85
RateBeer.com Rating: 3.35 (74th percentile)
Serving: Champagne Bottle

This is a brew that has intrigued me for the better part of a year. BeerAdvocate even did an entire article on it last summer, so why wouldn’t I try it? To be honest, $16.89 is quite a bit for a bottle of beer. Sure it’s Dogfish Head and yeah it’s in a champagne bottle, but it’s still a $16.89 beer. Was it worth it? Let’s find out.

Appearance - Hazy, dark amber in color. Incredibly thin head that dissipates immediately.

Smell - Raspberries! Initial smell is tons of raspberries and a hint of alcohol fumes. Smells sweet, but not overwhelmingly so.

Taste - Raspberries! They sure weren’t kidding with the raspberries. I really didn’t know what to expect, but this is delicious. Alcohol also hits you, but in a much more subtle way than I would have imagined. I assumed this was at about 10% ABV before I read up more and saw 18%. The alcohol is very sneaky until it warms up a bit. This brew is very one-dimensional in that it relies so heavily on raspberries, but that isn’t a bad thing.

If you’re into trying something completely unique then you have nothing to lose by trying this brew out. My suggestion would be to drink it out of a red wine glass and make sure you have at least one other drinking partner. To be completely honest this could easily satiate three other friends while enjoying dinner.

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