Why Dogfish Head is Great For Craft Beer

While writing yesterday's beer review of Dogfish Head's Indian Brown Ale, which is a cross between an American Brown Ale, India Pale Ale and a Scottish Ale, I couldn't help bu think of Dogfish owner Sam Calagione going off on a set of beer geeks on a Beer Advocate thread a few months ago.

Dogfish Head takes some heat in the court of public opinion due to the fact that it gets fairly liberal in terms of combing different styles of beer into one finalized product. In my opinion, the brewery's finest hour was the release of Noble Rot, a combination of wine and  beer, as a full-bottle production this past January.

I think the thing that was closest to that type was Dogfish Head's Midas Touch, which was brewed with ingredients found in ancient bowls in the tomb of what's supposed to be King Midas. What about Raison D'Etre? It's brewed with beet sugar for God sake.

How can you criticize any craft brewer, even if you don't approve of a particular beer? Craft brewers put more heart into their final product than any of the American majors do. This post is also inspired by the comment I received on my review of Blue Moon Summer Honey Wheat by founder, Keith Villa.

When I've written something about you're everyday craft brewer's beer on here and they've found the post concerning them, I've received an email asking if they can send me some of their beers to try for free. It doesn't end like that when it comes to the American majors. God only knows if that was really Villa or some Public Relations intern just getting the company's two cents out there on everything that mentions Blue Moon's name.

If you're going to say something bad about any brewer, it should be the big-time American companies that continue to ram down your throats a product that has been watered-down by more and more by the year and only worries about profits and its public image. A craft brewer only worries about the product it puts on taps across his or her distribution area.

Beer Review: Dogfish Head Indian Brown Ale

Serving Type: Bottle

ABV: 7.2 percent

Appearance: Indian Brown Ale pours a dark brown with some ruby undertones elsewhere within the beer's body. The head is beige-colored and vary thin. It dissipates fairly quickly, but you will have a thin, bubbly layer on the crown of your beer for most of the drink. The beer appears to be decently carbonated. Has a very intriguing texture. Reminded me of your typical cola soft drink.

Smell: This beer smells very piney with some sweeter undertones behind that. I got hints of brown sugar, caramel and toffee. There was also a strong aroma of smoked malt.

Taste: Of the sweeter flavors, the toffee is the most dominant in the taste department. The smoked malt adds a great bit of smoked taste to this beer, which features chocolate hints as well. Really really sweet on the tongue. The only thing separating this from a can of soda or pop is the alcohol content.

Overall Rating: 

Dogfish Head is known across the land as being very liberal in terms of combining different beer styles and taking liberties with many different flavors. This beer is a fine example of exactly what the brewery tries to do. The beer is a hybrid of an American Brown, India Pale Ale and Scottish Ale. A very interesting concoction.

Recommended Summer Samplers

Sometimes a craft beer fan is searching for a good sampler pack that will last them a good while, and at the same time has quite a few options in terms of trying some different beers. The versatility of sampler and variety packs is a key factor that helps me hold them in high regard compared to just a case of the same beer. In my opinion, an entire case of the same beer sometimes can get old.

Since it's almost summer (mine has already begun) here are a few of my favorite summer seasonals you can pick up almost anywhere in the Pittsburgh area. If you're lucky you can even find these quite a ways from here.

1. Troegs Anthology No. 1- This is not only my favorite  summer sampler I try to pick up, it's my personal favorite sampler pack in existence. Two beers set this pack apart from any challengers: Hop Back Amber Ale and Sunshine Pils.

Both are among my favorite beers. They contrast each other in color and in taste, but have similar hop characters. Very tasty beers. Troegs also includes DreamWeaver Wheat and its Pale Ale. Dreamweaver is a wheat beer that gives you strong hints of clove and banana, while Pale Ale is a bitter compliment to all of the other beers.

2. Leinenkugel Summer Sampler- The pride of Chippewa Falls brings us my second favorite Summer sampler pack. This variety pack features two of the Leinenkugel's flagship brews in Amber Ale and Sunset Wheat. Remember, Sunset Wheat is the beer that's apparently internationally known as the "Fruity Pebbles beer."

The second half of the sampler includes the ever-so-sweet Honey Weiss and the very underrated Summer Shandy.

3. Great Lakes Sampler- As far as I can tell, this sampler is sold year-round, but I feel that it can be included on this small list due to the fact most of the beer that comprise it fall into the summer category. This sampler is also one of my personal favorites.

You also get four with this purchase, but the lone beer that's not exactly known as a good summer drink is the infamous Edmund Fitzgerald Porter. Dortmunder Gold is a crisp, golden lager. Burning River is a decent pale ale with plenty of refreshing citrus. Holy Moses White Ale is a spicy, Belgian White.

Beer Review: Blue Moon Summer Honey Wheat

Serving Type: Bottle

ABV: 5.2 percent

Appearance: Summer Honey Wheat is a lovely chroma of golden honey. I've never seen any other beer that was meant to resemble honey come anywhere near as close as this one does. The body has a severe unfiltered look to it as you can see just about anything through it. I feared initially that it would taste watered down. The beer's head is bubbly, yet very thin.

Smell: With any beer that features honey, you expect the aroma to be floral and that's exactly what I got with this one. With the floral scent comes the sweetness of the honey and the wheat comes right behind that. Extremely appetizing. I also got the slightest scent of oranges or orange peel.

Taste: I wasn't expecting to have a party on my taste buds like I did when I took a sip of Summer Honey Wheat. I could have sworn that I was drinking honey on a biscuit, in a glass. This beer had a heavenly taste. The sweetness of the honey and the wheatiness of the rest of the body rocked my world.

Overall Rating: 

I've been really hard on Coors/Blue Moon Brewing Co. over the years, but I'm a man that gives credit when it's due. This beer tastes and smelled amazing. The only thing I'd prefer to be different is some extra thickness to the beer's body. I'm used to be disappointed with Blue Moon's seasonal lineups, but this one was a knock out of the park.

Monday Rant: Do Sam Adams Brews Feature Artificial Flavors?

I had quite a few different types of beers this past weekend in celebration of my graduation from Slippery Rock University. One of the first ones I had after I finished the last project in my collegiate career was Sam Adams Cherry Wheat.

Now, before I realized the multitude of the beers in the craft industry there were to try this beer was in the upper-echelon for me, as were other brews from Boston Brewing Co. As time has went on I've had a love-hate relationship with Cherry Wheat.

I've had glasses of Cherry Wheat that tasted like freshly-baked cherry pie and I've also had it taste like cough medicine which leads me to believe that Sam Adams beers sometime feature artificial flavoring. I've come across two other instances questioning ingredients with Sam Adams beers.

Around Christmas, I was able to review Sam Adams Chocolate Cherry Bock. I concluded that I had come across that familiar Robitussin taste when it came to the cherry flavor. I've also had chances to have Summer Ale, which is prominently featured on television commercials and boasts the inclusion of "grains of paradise."

Summer Ale doesn't ever seem to feature any actual lemon tartness on my tongue. I honestly don't pick up any citrus or tartness in the beer's flavor. Is Boston Brewing becoming so much bigger than other brewers in the craft beer industry that they can get away with possibly half-assing the ingredients of its beers?

We really won't ever find out. I've seen hundreds of commercials of head brewer Jim Koch talking about how great some of his concoctions are and I'm sure they were at some point. My question concerns whether or not Boston Brewing has come to be too commercialized and has its care for each product began to slip as we have seen with the major American brewing companies in recent times?

Since Boston Brewing is one of the figureheads of the craft brewing movement, I sure hope that isn't the case.

 

Beer Review: Commodore Perry IPA

Serving Type: Bottle

ABV: 7.5 percent

Appearance: Commodore Perry IPA is a beautiful shade of orange. It's look is one that I haven't seen in many other beers. Very attractive. The head is white, foamy and bubbly. it also was a fairly weak retention. It will fade and become weaker as soon as you begin to drink the beer. The next thing you know, it's just a thin white layer on the crown of the beer.

Smell: This beer smells very piney and boozy at first waft. The alcohol scent is very strong, as evident by the high ABV. Some malts and a sour aroma of grapefruit also make their way out of this beer. Not exactly my preference, but an interesting take nonetheless.

Taste: Really, really bitter. There's a load of citrus and hops that feels like a punch in the mouth. There's also plenty of bitterness on the finish. It's somewhat what I expected from this beer, with it being brewed by Great Lakes Brewing Co. I'm used to drinking beers with potent flavor and strong hop character from this brewery.

Overall Rating: 

I love quite a few of the Great Lakes lineup, but this one was a little rough for me in the taste department. If you're a fan of intense bitterness and a strong hop taste this beer might be up your alley. Wasn't exactly my type, though.