Dogfish Head Raison D'etre

I had never heard of Dogfish Head Brewery until my brother gave me a Dogfish Head t-shirt and coaster for Christmas back in 2009. From what I understand they are a fairly small (and growing) brewery from Delaware that started a small Brew Pub in Rehoboth Beach, DE back in 1995.

About 2 weeks ago I picked up a six pack of a Dogfish Heads brew that I had never heard of before, Raison D’etre. Since I always enjoy trying new beers that seem to be different than most of the crap that is mass produced I figured that I’d give it a shot.

The beer pours a ‘mahogany’ color with a ‘bourbon’ appearance and a healthy head that subsides moderately. It has a sweet smell, similar to, well, you guessed it, Raison’s! It also has an “organic” type of smell to it. You know when you pop open a Budweiser and it has a nasty chemical smell? Well, it’s just like that, but opposite! It’s actually quite nice.

It has has a great taste with a thick mouth feel and the carbonation is not overly powerful. You can pick up on the fermented raisons and the belgain beet sugars which give this brew a sweet and tangy flavor at the same time. It’s not an overpowering flavor at all, just a very nice fruit-’ish’ type flavor.

While I was drinking this brew I noticed that the abv is listed at 8%! So, if you’re planning on drinking a lot of these just be careful, they’ll creep up on you very quickly. It’s a great tasting brew that is most likely considered to be more of an “extreme” ale than most other beers that I have tried.

I would highly recommend trying this beer. It was absolutely delicious! Two thumbs WAY up. Thanks Dogfish Head!

Cheers!

-Mybeer

It’s that time of year again! Fall is finally here and it’s time to start thinking about a little Christmas cheer, or is it Christmas beer? This weekend I am going to make a Spiced Christmas Ale that should be ready just in time to warm us up on Christmas day.

Here’s the recipe I plan on using.

Christmas Spiced Ale

Target OG – 1.082
Actual OG. – 1.084

Fermentables:
6 lbs light DME
4 lbs light LME
1 lbs wheat malt
1.5 lbs Munich light
1.54 lbs crystal 80L

Hops:
2 oz. Kent Goldings pellet (5%AA – 60 min)
1 oz Tettnanger plug (4.5%AA – 2 min)
1 oz Hallertau pellet (4.5%AA – 2 min)

Spices:
.5 tsp fresh ground cinnamon (10 min)
.25 tsp fresh ground ginger (10 min)
.25 tsp ground nutmeg (10 min)
1.5 cinnamon sticks, 2 inch (secondary)

Wyeast 1056 – American Ale (primary)
Wyeast 1056 – American Ale (secondary)

Please keep checking back for future postings with pictures of the brew process.

Cheers-

Mybeer