Dogfish Head - Red & White

welp, i figured id do a quick friday night post. tonight i cracked a large bottle of Dogfish head's Red & White. let me write what the description on the side of the bottle says..."Malt beverage brewed with coriander and orange peel with pinot noir juice concentrate added with 11% aged in Pinot noir barrels and 89% aged on oak barrel staves."....PHEW! Sounds half interesting and half disgusting if you ask me.....but i bought one a couple weeks ago without really looking at what it was. i just wanted to grab something that i havent tried yet. recently ive been picking up beer that ive never had. broadening my beer horizons, so to speak. instead of buying a 6 pack of sierra nevada pale ale every week, why not grab a random whatever and give it a shot.

this isnt exactly a 'random whatever.' i usually like most of the stuff from dogfish that i try. although much like my last post, i havent had a whole lot of their stuff. the IPAs, brown ales, raison d'etra and a couple others. let get to the review!

pours beautifully, a darker brown ale with a a hefty amount of head. looks great

when taking a good wiff, you really get the 'pinot noir' aroma. i didnt smell much of the orange peels, and couldnt tell you want corander smells like but there was almost a rubbing alcohol type smell if you really got close.

the taste reminded me of some of the beers ive had from unibroue brewery out of chambly montreal. a very malty, Belgium style ale with a crisp finish. the only difference.....the pinot. it really comes through in this beer. a few sec after it goes down your throat, you get that stinging alcohol taste in the back of your throat. not something im a huge fan of, but to be honest this isnt my style of beer. one thing i will mention is that, after one glass of this, i was feeling it. it was a large bottle and i filled up a few times. might be an expensive bottle, but id rather drink one of these than 8 bud lights, if thats what your going for.

i got to give it to dogfish for being so experimental with their ales, there really isnt another well know brewery in this country quite as ballsy as them. this one might work really well for somebody else, but probably wont be shelling out the big bucks for the red and white again. if someone were to give me a bottle, id drink and enjoy.

im going to give this beer a "paris france" rating. its a place everyone should probably go to before you die, but your average baseball loving, cheeseburger eating american joe isnt going to go back. (i was going back an forth between Paris France and Fenway Park for this rating)

Southern Tier - HOPPE

This week ill be doing a review of Southern Tier Brewery's imperial extra pale ale called "hoppe." Now, i havent had a whole lot of Southern Tier's stuff, and i apparently have a lot of difficulty spelling the word 'tier' (thanks spell-check), but what i have had from them, i really like. Phin & Matt, IPA, unearthly. So when i saw an imperial extral pale ale by them, i had to pick up a tall boy. This bad boy weighs in at 8%, brewed with columbus and amarillo hops, and dry hopped with the same.

When poured into my pint glass, it looked pretty much exactly how you'd expect. An appetizing gold/dark yellow color. Very little head and little to no carbonation bubbles rising to the top. it was quite foggy. i couldn't see thorough the glass.

The smell was amazing! I dipped my nose into the glass and was punched in the face with amarillo hops and pale malt barley. It was a great mix of those 2 ingredients. The smell actually first reminded me of last Feb when Balczak sent me a couple bottles of Hopslam, one of the best beers ive had the opportunity to try. (for ryan's review, see Hopslam)

However, the taste left something to be desired. dont get me wrong, i enjoyed every last drop of this hop heavy ale, but after smelling it for a min or so, i had very high expectations. It was cold and crisp and the front of my tongue was groovin' on it. it was the taste buds in the back that weren't so sure. there was a very subtle taste, just a little unnatural, that i was picking up after swallowing.

That being said, i would recommend this to any hophead or Southern Tire...teir...tier fan for at least one try.

As for the "beerswetry" scale.....ill give this one an Eli Manning. He's good, he won the big one, but lets face it folks.....he's no Peyton.

Q - "Eli, what do you think of Hoppe?"
A - "ddeeeerrrrrrrrpp"

Trappistes Rochefort 8

This is my first time trying a Rochefort (that i remember) but ive heard and read much about these trappist belgian ales and looked forward to trying this one. ive had it in my kitchen for about 3 weeks and put it in the fridge a couple days ago. before i start, ive never been a huge fan of the belgian ale style but tried not to let any previous experiences effect this tasting. to the review...

the first thing that caught me after i poured it was the color. it was much darker and foggier than i had anticipated. it had a very 'muddy' look to it. a whole lot of sediment came out at the end of the pour which i happily let fall into the glass. a small amount of foamy head, maybe 1 inch.

the smell was surprisingly subdued for a 9.2% ale. smelled very fruity with hints of raisin. very much enjoyed the smell

the beer was very very carbonated, almost like drinking a 7-up, which i think took away from the taste. not sure if this is how its supposed to be or just how the bottle i got was. i let the glass chill a bit. i think i had it a little bit too cold. this helped the carbonation. other than that, it went down pretty smooth.

pleasant taste. tasted alot like it smelled. also surprisingly light for it being a higher % ale. i didnt love the taste, but didnt hate it. i think i was just expecting a little too much because of what i had heard and read about it. what id really like to do is a taste test with the 6 8 and 10 to see how they differ. ill probably pick up another bottle at some point because it was enjoyable, but id like to try some of the other trappist abbey ales to see how they compare.

altogether i will rate this the beer equivalent of CJ Spiller. high expectations, a little disappointing the first time out, but could grow to love him.

Stone India Pale Ale

I had heard many good things about the Stone Brewing Company's IPA but had never taken the opportunity to try one until this past weekend. I'm a sucker for a great IPA and this one does not disappoint, in fact it's quite amazing. Incredibly flavorful with the prefect amount of bitterness. Smooth going down but still very rich. Each gulp was better than the last, and i was quite disappointed when the final sip had come and gone. Probably not recommended for your average beer drinker, but if you enjoy IPAs this one should not be overlooked next time you're at the package store.

This really should get a 10 but because its my first review i'll give it a...............


9/10 Doug Fluties