Dogfish Head's World Wide Stout: a Kick in the Teeth

I figured I was in for a mouthful when cracking this one open and boy was I ever right. I'm not sure I've ever had a 12oz bottle that took me longer to drink than this one.

Even after taking it out of the fridge a half hour or so before opening it, the beer was still way too cold to be enjoyable. When over-chilled, you get a touch of roast and a touch of dark fruit, but what you primarily get is the 18% ABV of this beast. Based on my impressions of World Wide Stout cold, I really thought I was going to hate this.

Only when it begins to warm and the surprisingly high carbonation begins to fade does WWS come into its own. That is not to say that the 18% goes away; it's 18% for Pete's sake. When it warms to a proper drinking temperature, it really opens up and becomes much more complex in terms of flavor. The booziness of it is always there with you in the passenger seat, but it's no longer what drives the beer. The dark fruits (raisins, plums) really come out as the temperature rises, along with a hint of smoke, coffee, and caramel. It is a pretty sweet beer, yet is never cloying.

The carbonation at first really detracts from the thickness and weight of the beer, but once it calms down a bit, you get a sense of how thick and mouth-coating this beer really is. It's not milkshake thick (ala: Dark Lord), but it is heavy and filling.

All in all, by the time I was finished with this, I was sad my glass was empty. It took me almost two hours to drink it, but the hours were well worth it. This is the perfect beer to exemplify what serving temperature does to a beer's taste and smell. I'll probably have a hard time justifying the upwards of $10 a 12oz WWS commands, but I would love to try to get my hands on an aged bottle or two to see how it has mellowed with time. Overall, a great effort from DFH which is far, far better than their other big beer I've tried (120 minute). I'd recommend it if you haven't tried it before and also recommend perhaps splitting it with a friend. This was definitely the only thing I drank that night.

Day 59 (9/21/2011): Punkin Ale by Dogfish Head Craft Brewery

Context: Not a bad day at all. An uneventful day at work, some super big and exciting news, and a trip to Marty's Hops and Vines made for a pretty darn decent day. Not to mention I finally got to use my nifty fall-themed glass I grabbed from Kroger (for a buck! What a deal!)

Beer: Another pumpkin beer. I heard this one had been flying off the shelves, so I scooped up a four-pack when I got the chance. My understanding of Punkin is that is aims for the more balanced side of the pumpkin ale spectrum (much like Smuttynose's version, and unlike Southern Tier's Pumking), with the spices balanced well against the brown ale base.

This ended up being completely true and it translated into a tasty drink that you could drink every day without being overwhelmed by the sweetness or richness of a dessert beer. The smell is pretty much all spices, with cinnamon, allspice, and nutmeg being the dominant forces here. There is also a bit of earthiness that I'm guessing it from the pumpkin. As I said in an earlier post, I'm not entirely certain what roasted pumpkin smells/tastes like when it's not in a pie. There is also some yeast breadiness and a slight bit of roast from the brown ale base.

The taste comes at you from a different direction. The spices shine clearly, for sure, but the it is much more balanced than the smell. The earthiness is joined by a slight tartness that must be the pumpkin used. A touch of caramel malt evens things out by adding a touch of sweetness. If hops are there, they aren't noticeable. The spices are still the thing that gets your attention here, but it never seems over the top. Both the body and mouthfeel are roughly medium; nothing out of the ordinary there.

I really liked this beer. It's a little more spice oriented and a little less hoppy than the Smuttynose pumpkin ale, but it never gets out of hand. I would say it pushes right to the threshold of becoming a mess without quite getting there. In fact, you can even sometimes get a good taste of the brown ale underneath all of the other smells and flavors. To many people, this is the epitome of a good pumpkin ale and I don't think they're wrong at all. It's a unique beer without even being too unique or cloying. I'm definitely going to keep trying pumpkin ales, but this one is the measuring stick now. I give Punkin Ale by Dogfish Head Craft Brewery an A-.

Style: Pumpkin Ale 
Beer Advocate: B+/A-
Ratebeer: 90/95

Day 14 (8/7/2011): Indian Brown Ale by Dogfish Head

(Sorry folks; no pictures today. Got too preoccupied and drank the bottle without snapping a shot!)

When you get a Dogfish Head beer, you can pretty much guarantee you're not going to get a traditional, beer following typical style qualities. Though sometimes this is a disaster, often it leads to a great beer that you never would have thought was possible. If nothing else, you certainly can't say they lack innovation or ingenuity. Dogfish Head's Indian Brown Ale shows this innovative approach, but does it lead to a good beer?

This brown ale pours very, very dark; almost black. You get a couple fingers of sand-colored head, which dissipates quickly. The smell is of espresso, a nice roastiness, caramel sweetness, and a slight hint of hops. It should be noted that this bottle was three months old, so the hops may have faded some during that time. The smell isn't much different than most other brown ales I've tried before, other than the bit of hops.

The taste is delicious. Definitely more of a fall/winter beer than a 90+ degree day beer, but delicious nonetheless. The roasted malts is the first thing you taste, followed by a bit of coffee and chocolate. There is a malty sweetness that is perfectly balanced by an undertone of floral hops. The fact that this beer manages to stay balanced despite the plethora of flavors is astounding. There is a lot going on here, but it never seems unmanaged or overwhelming.

The mouthfeel is pretty full and robust with carbonation a bit higher than usual for a brown ale, but it is a Dogfish Head beer, after all. The body never seems thick or syrupy, but 'thin' would never enter your mind when you're drinking it.

This is a great beer. I have no idea how I haven't tried this before, especially considering how widely available it is. It's tasty, pretty affordable, and at 7%, both sessionable or a night-ender, depending on your motives and pace. I can't wait to drink this guy more once the weather cools down. I give Indian Brown Ale by Dogfish Head an A-.

Style: American Brown Ale
ABV: 7.2%
IBU: 50
Beer Advocate: A-/A
Ratebeer: 98/99

Purchased from Party Source for $2.05 a single. Six packs are also available for just over $10. This is a pretty commonly year-round brew, so you should have no problem buying it if you can get any other Dogfish Head beers.

Day 1 (7/25/2011): Palo Santo Marron by Dogfish Head

So, after a relatively false start, a trip out of town for a wedding, followed by nasty cold, I'm finally ready to get this show on the road. I still have the sniffles, but I don't think they'll greatly affect my ability to taste beer.

As some of you know, I recently got married AND bought a house. Why not take care of all the big stuff in one month, right? Anyways, yesterday evening's bit of backbreaking manual labor was tearing down an old compost bin and bagging all of the compost to be hauled away. This would theoretically be a simple task, but whatever Einstein built the bin constructed the walls out of wood lattice. This is roughly the equivalent of building a dam out of attached screen doors; it just doesn't work. What this means is that roughly half of the compost is no longer in the bin, but has slowly eroded and is now surrounding it. Fun!

The purpose of that story is to get across that after an hour or so of that nonsense in 90+ degree heat, I was ready for a beer. After a shower, I opened the fridge and gave the selection a look over. Any reasonable person would, of course, pick something crisp and refreshing like a hefeweizen or IPA (both of which I have in my fridge). What grabbed my eye, of all things, was a brown ale. And not just a brown ale, but one that is 12% abv. Sometimes I wonder about those hamsters running on their wheels making my brain work.

I popped the bottle, poured it into one of my favorite tulip glasses and simultaneously saw and smelled that I was not dealing with your average brown ale. I suppose I should have expected that from a Dogfish Head beer and one which is 12% and has been aged on wood.

It pours a dark, dark brown bordering on black, with about a half inch of tan-brown head.The wood aging is immediately evident in the smell, but after that, in descending order, the scent is booze, roasted malts, dark fruit, and a bit of vanilla. The booze is right up front there with the wood, though, and dominates pretty much everything else.

The same is true of the taste. The primary thing here is the 12% abv, with the wood, roastiness, coffee, and raisins/dates taking a back seat. It has a good amount of sweetness to it, but finishes with some hop bitterness. The 50 IBU is there, but not too pronounced. In terms of body and carbonation, I'd say it is roughly medium for both. It drinks more like a thin imperial stout than a brown ale.

Overall, I thought this beer was a boozy, hot mess. I probably wouldn't even consider it a brown ale; it's better thrown into the catch all category of  American strong ale. At the 12% showing considerably, it definitely is a candidate for cellaring. Hold onto a bottle of this for a few years and my guess is that the flavors would even out and the alcohol in it would cool down a bit. If you want to try it fresh, though, consider it a sipper and let it warm a bit before you dig in. The flavors became quite a bit more complex as it warmed.

I would like to try this cellared, but fresh I give Palo Santo Marron by Dogfish Head a B-. The booziness just overwhelms anything else good it has going for it.


Style: American Brown Ale
ABV: 12%
IBU: 50
Beer Advocate: A-
Ratebeer: 99/98

Purchased from Party Town (Florence) for $4'ish a bottle. Pretty readily available where Dogfish Head is distributed.