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Score
9991
OVERALLStyle
Serve in Snifter

bottled
common

on tap
common

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RATINGS: 512   WEIGHTED AVG: 3.92   SEASONAL: Special   IBU: 38   EST. CALORIES: 270   ABV: 9%
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COMMERCIAL DESCRIPTION
In honor of the 40th anniversary of the original release of Bitches Brew, Miles Davis’ 1970 paradigm-shifting landmark fusion breakthrough, we’ve created our own Bitches Brew - a bold, dark beer that’s a fusion of three threads imperial stout and one thread honey beer with gesho root, a gustatory analog to Miles’ masterpiece.Featuring the album’s iconic artwork, created by the late Mati Klarwein, on its label, Dogfish Head’s Bitches Brew will be unveiled at SAVOR, An American Craft Beer & Food Experience, June 5, National Building Museum, Washington DC. Haven’t experienced the Bitches Brew album? Two 40th anniversary editions of Miles Davis’ Bitches Brew -- a Legacy Edition and a deluxe Collector’s Edition -- will be available Tuesday, August 31. The newly created ale is designed, according to Dogfish founder and president Sam Calagione, "as the ultimate partner for chili or spicy curry chicken" and best enjoyed "sipped cool, not cold, from a snifter or red wine glass while listening to the Bitches Brew album." Calagione was drawn to the alchemical spirits in Bitches Brew right out of college, acquiring a copy of the album "within months of the first time I brewed a batch of homebrew in my apartment in New York City. I listened to it when I was writing my Dogfish business plan. I wanted Dogfish Head to be a maniacally inventive and creative brewery, analog beer for the digital age. You could say that my dream was to have Dogfish Head, in some small way, stand for the same thing in the beer world that Bitches Brew stands for in the jazz world. You can imagine how excited we are to be doing this project 17 years after I wrote that business plan." "There’s a spirit of innovation, of creativity and individuality, thats at the core of Miles’ music," said Adam Block, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Legacy Recordings. "Sam and Dogfish Head approach their art from the same place and consequently the marriage is an easy and cool one." Dogfish Head and its "off-centered ales for off-centered people" were the subject of "A Better Brew," an article in The New Yorker (Nov. 24, 2008) examining the rise of extreme beer. "Beer has lagged well behind wine and organic produce in the ongoing reinvention of American cuisine. Yet the change over the past twenty years has been startling," wrote Burkhard Bilger. "Dogfish is something of a mascot for this unruly movement. In the thirteen years since Calagione founded the brewery, it has gone from being the smallest in the country to the thirty-eighth largest. Calagione makes more beer with at least ten per cent alcohol than any other brewer, and his odd ingredients are often drawn from ancient or obscure beer traditions. It is to Budweiser what a bouillabaisse is to fish stock."


4.2
   AROMA 8/10   APPEARANCE 5/5   TASTE 8/10   PALATE 4/5   OVERALL 17/20
slats1221 (59) - Ohio, USA - FEB 8, 2012
I prefer this style of beer and this was pretty solid. It’s a little bit spicy and smokey with great coloring. Definitely would recommend. ---Rated via Beer Buddy for iPhone

4.2
   AROMA 8/10   APPEARANCE 5/5   TASTE 8/10   PALATE 5/5   OVERALL 16/20
drunkenpolack (319) - Virginia Beach, Virginia, USA - FEB 2, 2012
Bitches Brew pours pitch black with a two finger dark brown colored head. Really good retention. The aroma is nice and roasty up front. Definitely more roasty than the pilot batch I had. There’s also a nice smokiness to it with a small aroma of chocolate. Overall I loved the smell of this beer. The roasted malt just came out beautifully. With the taste the roastiness is once again up front. It dominates the beginning. Then the beer transforms from roasty to sweet with the mixture of chocolate and the honey. The ending consists of a good amount of earthiness and a small amount of a bitter hop taste. The earthiness could be a mixture of the hops used in this beer and the actual gesho root. Whatever is is I really enjoyed this brew from start to finish. Way better tasting version then what I had when I tried the pilot batch. Mouthfeel is really nice too. Like Sam said in the show he wanted to lose some of the dryness in the mouthfeel. The pilot batch had a bigger dryness to it and this batch the dryness was pretty much gone. It’s creamy, full bodied, and velvety. Good stuff.

3.8
   AROMA 8/10   APPEARANCE 4/5   TASTE 8/10   PALATE 3/5   OVERALL 15/20
AirForceHops (1116) - Epping, New Hampshire, USA - JAN 31, 2012
Draft in a sniffer. Sunset Grill and Tap. Tons of retention, lacing coats the glass. Nose and taste is complex. Licorice, coffee, chocolate cake. Oak and a slightly more bozzey finish. The flavors mingle and change as it warms. Lots of roasted character with a slick, oily mouthfeel. Good but not amazing at $8.99 for 10 oz. Glass.  

3.8
   AROMA 7/10   APPEARANCE 5/5   TASTE 7/10   PALATE 4/5   OVERALL 15/20
MrFecesious (122) - British Columbia, CANADA - JAN 28, 2012
Airy cap reducing to rocky, dense tan head. Good lacing. Black colour. Smells of coffee, dark fruit malt. Licorice. Chocolate. Some sandiness in there. Maybe cuz I’m following black damnation with this. Taste of chocolate, some coffee, raisins, roasty malt. Pretty good beer.

3.6
   AROMA 6/10   APPEARANCE 3/5   TASTE 6/10   PALATE 5/5   OVERALL 16/20
zdk (1625) - New York, New York, USA - JAN 24, 2012
bottle: tons of chocolate. Thick and creamy with nice roast with coffee and molasses. Better than I was expecting.

4.4
   AROMA 7/10   APPEARANCE 5/5   TASTE 9/10   PALATE 5/5   OVERALL 18/20
Aml42000 (381) - Washington, USA - JAN 22, 2012
Black as night with a dark brown, thick head. Deep aromatics of espresso and black licorice. Full bodied, complex demands heavy food or an extended period of time to drink. Chocolate/mocha finish which persists and persists.

3.6
   AROMA 7/10   APPEARANCE 4/5   TASTE 7/10   PALATE 4/5   OVERALL 14/20
callmemickey (795) - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA - JAN 21, 2012
A: Jet black body. Thin mocha colored head. Moderate lacing. S: Dark roasted malts, coffee, bittersweet chocolate, and some residual honey sweetness. T: The nose was a good indicator of things to come. All together, a rather mellow display of coffee, chocolate, honey, some spicing, and roasted malts. M: Smooth, medium-full bodied. Good carbonation. Mellow finish. O: Solid, but nothing to indicate that this beer can hang with the big boys in this style... with the hype and price associated with it, I’ll look elsewhere next time.

3.3
   AROMA 7/10   APPEARANCE 4/5   TASTE 6/10   PALATE 3/5   OVERALL 13/20
DavoleBomb (1143) - Pennsylvania, USA - JAN 20, 2012
Poured into a snifter. I had a few ounces of the first release and didn’t really care for it, but not I have a full bottle to myself and a reasonably clean palate. 4.0 A: About as black as it can get. Three fingers of medium brown, creamy/frothy hybrid head. Retenetion is good with moderate amounts of semi-regular lacing. 4.0 S: Smells quite nice. Rich roastiness without any burntness and plenty of chocolate. Big sweetness featuring plenty of dark crystal malts and touches of toffee and molasses. The honey adds a pleasant complexity. I’d glad it wasn’t overused since I don’t like the way strong honey meshes with roasted flavors. 3.5 T: The taste isn’t bad, but I like the nose more. Moderate roastiness. A bit too sweet and too bitter at the same time. Waves of caramel and to a lesser extent molasses are met by waves of boiled coffee-like burntness and astringency. The honey seems a bit out of place. I’m not sure what the hell gesho is, but I’m sure it’s doing it’s thing. Still, in the grand scheme of things, not too bad. 3.0 M: This is the part I remembered hating the first time I tried it. Medium body. Good moderate carbonation. The problem is that this feels watery from lack of creaminess. Damn you gesho, I blame you. Also, the residual sweetness causes some amylase ball formation in my mouth. 3.5 D: Respectable, but as far as DFH stouts go, I’d much rather spend my money on WWS and forget about it for several years. Serving type: bottle Reviewed on: 11-23-2011 05:07:46

4.1
   AROMA 7/10   APPEARANCE 5/5   TASTE 8/10   PALATE 4/5   OVERALL 17/20
dfhhead25 (154) - Pennsylvania, USA - JAN 19, 2012
Aroma- mostly normal stout qualities, such as chocolate, big roasted notes, some funk, oak? Appearance- black velvet, dark brown head, nice carbonation Taste- licorice, oakiness, chocolate, monster roasted notes, pretty high carbonation Palate- would have been near perfect if not for the monster carbonation Overall- Quite a nice offering here from Sam and Dogfish Head. I actually had this beer for the first time on my honeymoon last June. It exhibits the sexy qualities of a quality impy while adding a certain element that only Dogfish Head can.

4
   AROMA 8/10   APPEARANCE 5/5   TASTE 7/10   PALATE 4/5   OVERALL 16/20
talon1117 (1066) - Fort Collins, Colorado, USA - JAN 19, 2012
The pour is black with a full, dense, frothy, light brown head which settles to a thin froth and leaves just a bit of lace rings. The nose is chocolate shake, English toffee, honey, a slight blueberry note, chocolate cake notes, some leather, and faint roast. The flavor is full of chocolate cake, light fudge, very leathery, more roasty, maybe tobacco, slightly oaky, and the similar blueberry note. The palate is soft to lively, full, very silky, and drying. The beer finishes long, drying, leathery, fudgey, and, slightly roasty. A very drinkable impy with interesting complexity and a curious, reoccurring blueberry note. The malt richness was nice and the balancing notes were complementary. The leathery notes did seem to be overwhelming at times and the beer was quite dry for this style of IS. Overall, a nice, unique beer but not one the better beers in my favorite style.


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