Dogfish Head Belgian Tripel

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Dogfish Head, Belgian Tripel

April 16th, 2016 is RECORD STORE DAY (started in 2007) and Dogfish Head is the official beer. "What is Record Store Day?" you ask. It is a national day to support indie music stores around the country. In honor of this, Dogfish Head has released a new beer called Beer to Drink Music To. Dogfish Heads liquid tribute to Record Store Day, Beer To Drink Music To, was created as the perfect beer for fans to pair with their favorite songs. The ingredients are inspired by some of our favorite tunes: Orange Peel {Orange Crush by REM} Peppercorns {Sgt. Pepper by The Beatles}, Candi Sugar {Sugar On My Tongue by Talking Heads}, and Cardamom {Mock Song by Phish}. The result is a Belgian-style Tripel and a perfect marriage between beer and music. “The enjoyment of a beautiful beer with an amazing album at the same time is an exponentially awesome experience,” -Dogfish Head founder Sam Calagione

Chad the Tie Guy's Drink of the Week: Belgian Tripels are a great style of beer for everybody to try because they are light in body but bold in flavor. These beers are very easy drinking, despite their high alcohol content (9%). If you really want to experience the full flavors of this beer, serve it cool but not cold and put it in a wine glass (or a belgian tulip glass if you have it). This is a must have for enjoying a warm Spring day of yard work!

Style: Belgian Tripel

Alcohol Content: 9%

IBUs: 30

Food Pairings: Enjoy this beer after shopping at your favorite local record store with our Surfer Sandwich made with our curried mango chicken salad and organic field greens on a fresh multigrain roll.

Items in italics are available at the Market at White Horse Wine & Spirits

Dogfish Head, Piercing Pils

A new winter release from Dogfish Head Brewery. This is replacing the Chicory Stout in the seasonal line up. Off the bat, I do have to say that I love Dogfish Head and their off center beer styles especially their historical series. However it does seem odd to release a lighter style beer in the Winter. Just thinking of pears and Pilsner make me think Summer refreshing flavors. 
This is as Dogfish Head explains a "Perry-Pils hybrid, Piercing Pils is a Czech Style Pilsner brewed with a White Pear Tea and Pear juice.  Both the juice and the tea were added in the kettle during the whirlpool (after the boil) for maximum flavor and aroma contribution.  The Pear fruit complexity pierces right through the spicy Czech Saaz hops beautifully, adding a gentle acidity to this pale lager that makes for a crisp refreshing sipper.  Amarillo hops add nuanced citrus notes that meld perfectly with the fruit."
I picked this up for the wife for dinner knowing that she likes sweeter fruit beers. She enjoyed it with dinner but said it just tasted "like a beer beer". I enjoyed one of these beers after dinner and found that although the aromatics are more interesting then a typical Pilsner, this one still tastes like a basic Pilsner beer. I do enjoy the style, but I was expecting something a little more unique and interesting. Overall, this is a good kickback and enjoy Sunday football beer, but not something I would recommend for our normal craft beer geeks. 

Personal Rating: 6/10
Style Rating: 8/10
Wanna try it now? Order it online at: https://www.whitehorsewine.com/proddetail.php?prod=638489001104

Dogfish Head | 60 Minute IPA

Poured into a Dogfish Head snifter, 60 Minute has a crystal clear golden amber color with minimal white head. The aroma hints at bitter hops but mainly features a sweet, buttery, and bready malt. The flavor, while similar to the aroma, has more hop flavor, but is more akin to the east coast and british style of IPA: Bitter, pine, grass, and grapefruit.

What I feel this beer lacks in complexity, it makes up for in drinkability. 60 Minute is very easy to put down, and I could see myself finishing this six pack tonight.

There's nothing I really dislike about this beer, it's just that there are so many better IPA's out there. And I'm tired of all the Dogfish Head hype. Putting down the haterade… 60 minute is one of their reasonably priced beers, and represents the style well. While I might not want to buy this at a liquor store, if I saw it on the menu at a bar/restaurant, I would be very excited to get a pint. Ya feel me?

Personal: 6.5/10
Style: 8/10

Dogfish Head | Festina Pêche

Dogfish Head's Festina Pêche, a very popular, yet somewhat quirky summer seasonal offering from a brewery that likes to brew way outside the box. They call it a neo-Berliner Weisse, mainly because Festina Pêche has peaches in it. A traditional Berliner Weisse is fermented with lactobacillus yeast which imparts a sourness that on its own, would be off putting for most drinkers. So when drinking such a beer out at the pub, people will ask for a red (raspberry flavored) or green (woodruff flavored) syrup to be added to make the sourness more palatable. With Festina Pêche, Dogfish Head used peaches for the sugar in fermentation, and then infused more peach flavor and aroma into the finished product, so no syrups are needed.

Poured into a weizen glass, Festina Pêche has a cloudy, very pale golden color. The fizzy soda-like head stacks up high, but falls to a minimal ring. No lacing to speak of either.

The aroma is of light toasted wheat malt, somewhat floral, but with a nice hint of sugary canned peaches. There is a mild tart funk in the nose that doesn't necessarily sting the nostrils, but definitely makes its presence known.

WHAM! The first sip is like popping a peach flavored War-Head candy into your mouth. Intense carbonation, sweet peach flavor, and an unexpected sourness that throws your salivary glands into overdrive. The lactobacillus yeast really smacks you in the face upfront, but slowly blends into peach, green apple, and wheat malt towards the finish. Crisp, light and bubbly right to the end with a clean and dry finish.

Festina Pêche is really something else, it's not a typical German wheat beer, and it's not really like any Belgian flemish or lambic ales either. While I can't say I've had any other Berliner Weisse beers before, I am definitely a fan of the style. It's a shame that the style has fallen out of favor over the years. Anyway, I would recommend this as a great beer to drink on a hot summer day, and I have a feeling that if you're a fan of hard ciders, you might really enjoy Festina Pêche.

Personal 8/10
Style: ??

Dogfish Head | 75 Minute IPA

First time on our shelves, Dogfish Head 75 Minute IPA: a blend of 60 Minute IPA and 90 Minute IPA with maple syrup added and bottle conditioned. Let's not forget the generous dry-hopping with whole cone Cascade hops.

Poured into a pint glass, the head stacks up very high, probably 3-4 inches of big fluffy off-white head. This ale has a moderately hazy orange/amber hue with tons of thick soapy lacing after the head recedes. This beer looks awesome.

The aroma is a nice blend of sweetness and bitterness. Citrus fruit is very noticeable, the likes of tangerines and grapefruit, as well as apricots and mangos. Sweet malt is backed with a definite hint of maple; not overpowering sweetness in any way, just that unrefined natural sugar aroma. A hefty swirl releases a bit more of a floral Cascade hop aroma.

The taste starts off with a fairly strong citrus hop punch. It's a bit spicy and floral, backed with the classic grapefruit flavor we all crave. Hints of pine resin fade in through the back end, while a deliciously smooth malt also creeps into the finish. The earthy flavors from the maple syrup smooth out the bitter finish of this beer perfectly. It's like the beer starts as 60 Minute, then finishes as 90 Minute.

One of the best features of 75 Minute IPA is the mouthfeel; it is out of this world. Light-medium in body with bright biting carbonation that builds into a velvety froth that goes down incredibly smooth.

Now I'll be honest here, I've never been a fan of 90 Minute IPA. It just seemed like a malt bomb, which isn't a bad thing, but I wanted more hops from it, since it's an IPA and all…. With that in mind, I almost didn't buy 75 Minute IPA when I heard it was a blend of 60 and 90, but man am I happy I did. This beer is the best of both worlds. It's super hoppy up front, but it maintains a great malt body, and the maple syrup addition is genius.

Better get this one while it lasts, we only have a couple cases!

Personal 9/10 for the style 9/10

Dogfish Head | 90 Minute IPA

Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA:  Poured into a pint glass from a 12 oz bottle.  This is another east coast style IPA which Esquire Magazine called "perhaps the best IPA in America."  This is quite a lofty claim considering the sheer amount of high quality IPA's being produced by countless craft brewers around the country.  We know right off the bat that this one is going to be a heavy-hitter considering the 9% alcohol content and the 90 IBU rating.  Another interesting tidbit on this IPA and all Dogfish IPA's for that matter is the continuous hop addition during the brew process.  Whether it is 60 Minute, 90 Minute or the completely over-the-top 120 Minute, the number in the name refers to the amount of time they are continuously hopped as well as the IBU's of that particular offering.

Ok, on to the beer...this Imperial IPA pours a nice light golden amber color.  There is a good half finger of frothy head which slowly recedes with a ton of lacing left sticking to the sides of the glass.  A continuous stream of bubbles continues to rise from the entire bottom of the glass.

The aromas are of floral and resiny, oily, citrusy hops.  The bitterness of this ale is also quite apparent. There is a slight smell of sweet malts detectible too as well as a slight alcohol smell.  Overall not quite as good of a nose as some Imperial IPA's but it still smells good and hoppy.

The taste is actually quite balanced, considering the extreme hopping this ale undergoes.  The hops are definitely at the forefront, but the malts do actually stand up with the hops and most likely keep this ale from being too hoppy.  The hops are a citrusy raisinated taste that are somewhat sweet yet mostly bitter at the same time.  It just tastes very fresh sweet malts and hops up front with a balanced bitter finish that easily overpowers the buffalo flavored pretzels I am eating and continues to linger.

An overall great example of an Imperial IPA.  I'm not quite sure I would call it the best IPA in America, (as I could easily name a few better examples), but this is definitely a world class brew that can stand up to the majority of IPA's on the American market.  Personal 8/10 and style 8.5/10.

Ok Esquire Magazine, just popped open a Lagunitas Sucks Ale and I think that is definitely better than the 90 Minute.  There's one that's better already.  Guess they never tried that one...