Dogfish Head Noble Rot

July 1, 2013 by Steve Leave a Comment

Dogfish Head Noble Rot Review

Fine beer sells itself, up to a point. The better pale ales or stouts in a market should sell well enough. But every brewer has at least one of these styles in their lineup. What is a brewer to do when they want to do more than perfect the standards? At Dogfish Head, attempts to discover new tastes has led them to extremes. 120 minute, a beer they call an IPA, is hoped for 2 hours before being dry hopped and left to age on more hops for a month, bringing big booze at 15%-20% ABV and a sweet malt bill for balance. Another booze bomb World Wide Stout was first brewed in 1999 as an attempt to brew the strongest beer in the world is a huge stout coming in around 18% ABV. After going big, they decided to find influence in history via the Ancient Ales series as well as music inspired beers such as Bitches Brew and Hellhound on My Ale. In the quest for the new, there have been some success and some failures. In Noble Rot, Dogfish Head continues to expand the bounds of beer, this time merging brewing and the world of wine. Will it be a successful new brew, or a creative drain pour?

THE BEER

First brewed in 2011, Dogfish Head Noble Rot employs the juice—must—from two distinct wine grapes. First, must from Washington viogner grapes that have been infected with botrytis, the “noble rot” that drains water leading to sweeter grapes. The second must comes from pinot gris grapes, also intensified in flavor, this time by clipping some grapes from the vine, for more potent shoots known as dropping fruit. Belgian yeast and a pils/wheat malt mix rounds out this farmhouse style ale.

Dogfish Head Noble Rot

TASTING NOTES

A well carbonated beer, Noble Rot pours a translucent yellow with a foamy white head. The nose is big on lemon, Belgian esters and tart white grape. The body is light, with wine and tart citrus elements, paired with the spiciness likely from the yeast esters. A very refreshing and dry finish, Noble Rot makes for a delicious light bodied ale, with a backbone of sweetness that seems to build, keeping the tartness from being too prominent. Could be too sweet for some, but the balance seems appropriate for something so close to white wine.

CONCLUSION

Dogfish Head is an American craft beer pioneer who refuses to sit on its laurels. From Midas Touch, a recipe purported to come from the tomb of Kong Midas, to collaborations such as Isabelle Proximus or Liquid Breadfruit, the creativity and sense of adventure exhibited by Sam Calagione and company continues to produce interesting, delicious beers. Dogfish Head Noble Rot keeps a good things going with a saison-like beer, white wine hybrid that would have great appeal to beer and vino fans alike. It is brewed irregularly, so ask for it where DFH beers are sold and stock up.

9.0/10

Maui / Dogfish Head Liquid Breadfruit

March 30, 2013 by Steve 1 Comment

Tropical vacations usually mean uninspired local beer. Can a Maui / Dogfish Head collab change our expectations?

[dropcap]W[/dropcap]hen James Cook discovered Hawaii in 1778, his crew bartered iron nails with the locals for a break in their erotic loneliness. The prices for vices have gone up on the isolated American paradise in subsequent years, but is there anything exotic left to be plundered from the islands?

Founded in 2005, Maui Brewing Company cranks out great beers such as their Coconut Porter in cans made to be taken to the beach. In 2012 they started a limited release series with creative beers such as Sobrehumano Palena’ole, a collaboration with sour beer brewer Jolly Pumpkin. The beers have focused on local ingredients such as Lilliko’i (passionfruit) and Mandarin oranges.

For Liquid Breadfruit, they continue that theme by incorporating a local staple. Breadfruit is a starch, potato or taro like fruit that is made into both sweet and savory dishes in the warm climates where it grows. The idea for brewing with it actually came from the creative mind of Sam Calagione of Dogfish Head who, having read about it thought it would pair well with Delaware Native Ale, a newly isolated yeast with ‘tropical notes’. Throw in some Papaya spicy seeds, Calypso hops, and over 8% alcohol by volume, and you have the recipe for a potent Hawaiian treat.

THE BEER

Maui brews all of their beer in Hawaii, and distribution is currently confined to the islands and a few western states, which limits the number of people who can sample their stuff. Even so, some took notice. Despite receiving little hype in most of the U.S., Liquid Breadfruit was selected a top 25 beer of 2012 by Draft Magazine.

TASTING NOTES

The style the brewers have gone with is imperial golden ale, meaning a lighter color than even a pale ale, with a thin body, and a modest spicy or fruity hop presence paired with modest malt. The ‘imperial’ reference goes to the higher ABV, and Liquid Breadfruit has additional sweetness from the native Hawaiian fruit to match the booze. You pick up the sweetness immediately on the nose, along with some mango notes, possibly from the Delaware Native Ale yeast. Nice but mild.

The taste is a revelation! The sweetness from the nose is there with some complexity that comes with having fruit in a beer. The yeast and breadfruit pair deliciously, making this taste a bit like a Belgian blonde, with layers of flavor delivered briskly by the strong carbonation. Such a refreshing brew you can’t stop sipping. Could be a beautifully tempting choice on a hot summer day as the higher alcohol would never be detected until too late. Ravishingly delicious.

CONCLUSION

East coast brewing research and development meats Pacific rim wunderkind. The makers of 90 Minute IPA and relative upstarts on Maui, best known for a sweet coconut porter, get together to brew a beer. The results could have been mediocre, or even a small disaster. Instead, we are blessed with the birth of a one-of-a-kind brew. Both light and complex, refreshing and potent. If I could buy this locally, it would be a regular in the fridge. If you are somewhere out west that carries Maui, look for this winner.

9.0/10

What is the Best Pumpkin Ale?

October 8, 2011 by admin 3 Comments

Pumpkin Beer Tasting 2011 Part 1

About the beer

Pumpkin ales are a species fruit beer brewed to taste of that familiar American spice mix associated with pumpkin pie and mulled rum. Fall is the season for these foods as well as harvest time for pumpkins. Although many pumpkin ales contain canned fruit as they are brewed well in advance of the pumpkin harvest.

For our first pumpkin tasting of the year, we selected a wide variety of interpretations of the style. From the traditional Ichabod Pumpkin Ale by New Holland and Punkin’ from Dogfish Head, to the bitter end, Smuttynose’s offering. On the strong side we selected Heavy Seas Great Pumpkin bourbon barrel aged Imperial Pumpkin Ale at 10.5% ABV, a West Coast interpretation, the Autumn Maple at 10% ABV, yam based brew with pumpkin spices, molasses, vanilla and Belgian yeast from The Bruery, and from Hoppin Frog, Frog’s Hollow Double Pumpkin Ale at 8.4% ABV. Also included was a favorite from New York, the Southern Tier Pumking, another imperial at 8.6% ABV.

What is the best pumpkin ale? — A few of the contenders

Methodology

For the first round of pumpkin beer tasting we sampled seven beers blindly, no more than two at a time.

So what is the best pumpkin ale?

Southern Tier – Pumking: Splendid from first wiff to the sweet sorrow of the last sip. Pumpkin pie with whipped cream. Caramel corn with cinnamon and vanilla rainbows. This beer was in limited supply in 2010 but seems to be more available this year. Buy it now!
Dogfish Head – Punkin’: A traditional favorite of The Barley Whine, this time our samples lacked a lot of the pumpkin and spice that we remember. A solid showing but a bit dull compared to what else is out there.
Smuttynose – Pumpkin Ale: Smutty brings an assertive hop presence to everything they do, and this is no exception. For people who dislike the sweetness of fruit based beers but like pumpkin spices, this is a good alternative. Good pumpkin presence.
Hoppin Frog – Frog’s Hollow Double Pumpkin Ale: A mix of pumpkin spices, molasses and ginger. Not much gourd flavor, and a bit flat in the finish, but not a bad brew. The ginger is a unique touch and reminds us of their winter offering.
The Bruery – Autumn Maple: Dark in color, the strong maple flavors are up front on the palette. A lot of sweetness, with some of that funk that people love or hate in certain Belgian yeast strains. Super complex brew made from yams. Well worth trying if your glucose levels are in check. Steve loved it. Dave was ‘meh’.
Heavy Seas – The Greater Pumpkin: Big cinnamon/nutmeg nose. Very sweet, which helps cover up some of the 10+% ABV. Lots of vanilla/oak flavors coming from the bourbon barrels this guy was aged in. One of our favorites. If you see this one, pick it up.
New Holland – Ichabod Ale: Classic pumpkin pie smell (cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg) and solid malty sweetness. More spice than fruit but finishes cleanly and has great balance. This one was a real surprise and compromised what most people expect from a good pumpkin ale.

Conclusions

What is the best pumkin ale? Pumking! — Pumking: More popular than the wine at a recent wedding

Pumpkin beers are generally brown ales with pumpkin spices added along with some pumpkin, but a “typical” pumpkin beer is becoming harder to define. The style has a lot of diversity in the craft brewing world, and each of the beers we sampled were interesting and enjoyable on their own.

As far as the best pumpkin beer however, so far nothing for us has topped Southern Tier’s Pumking. It tastes like pumpkin and so much more. The high alcohol is well covered in the creamy nutmeg, clove, cinnamon medley. The sweetness is subtle, not cloying. Among this tough competition, Southern Tier comes out on top.

Update: Part II here