Dogfish Head Black and Blue

Brewed by Dogfish Head Brewery
Style: Fruit Beer
Milton, Delaware USA

Medium amber, red color, clear. Aroma with dark fruit and licorice. Heavy sweet flavor. Long duration. Medium to full body. Soft carbonation.

Lightly hazy, glowing, reddish-orange amber body with some floating particulate. A small, fizzy, off-white head quickly recedes to a wispy film. Virtually no lacing noted. The aroma shows a surprisingly strong caramel malt base. Strawberry jam shows on the nose, perhaps a weird mixture of the blueberries and blackberries. The aroma is quite sweet, though not exceedingly so. Flavors are lighter than expected, with sweet caramel and berries dominating. There is a light toastiness that fades into sweetness pretty quickly. Moderate, peppery spices add a nice balance on the finish. Medium bodied and smooth. It’s lightly syrupy, but not as badly as I was expecting. Pretty nice brew. A bit underrated.

(on bottle)Like taking a walk in the late-summer forrest; earthy, fruity, zingy and heavy.

Even though I’m allergic to black berries, I gave this one a go of it anyway. Luckily there was not enough black berry in there to make me too uncomfortable. The fruit flavors were actually really subtle and faint. I was expecting a little more form it there. The aroma is sweeter and more pungent than what comes through in the flavor. The experience is a little flat and light bodied. Would like to see a little more heft out of something like this.

The beer sluices from the 750ml bottle a slightly chill hazed golden amber color with a bright white creamy two fingered head that settles quickly leaving a thin blanket of lace to seal off the glass. Nose has a sweet and sour note, spicy with a modest hint of the berries, hints of fusel alcohol, and at 11 percent ABV, no wonder. Start is ambrosial, fair to middling malt presence, and a mild tartness from the black raspberries, but not overly so, top is light to medium in feel. Finish carries on the sweet and tart duo, hops understated, and the alcohol present but well hidden, acidity benign and the aftertaste dry and tart. I’ve learned to like this style, and “Dogfish Head” has been the reason why, a “Marvelous” brewery.

Poured from a 750ml bottle and served in a tulip. This beer poured a hazy, dark golden/red color with a thin, tight, light tan head that faded imediately. A few lingering bubbles lasted the duration of the glass. The aroma of the beer consisted of sweet berries, candi sugar, sweet malts, and also some faint alcohol notes. The flavor was made up of lightly tart, acidic berry notes, spicy yeast esthers, and some warming alcohol at the finish. The mouthfeel was medium to full-bodied with a decent amount of fizzy carbonation. Overall, this was not one of Dogfish Head’s better efforts. The blackberries and blueberries didn’t really do much to make their presence know in the flavor. I would say it was just an average Belgian with a bit of fruit thrown in.

750ml & on draft @ BCTC 2007. Pours Amber Purple colored with pink head & berry flavor & aroma. Expected more. Belgian yeast characteristics. decent but sort of different

Bottle. Large off-white head. Mostly diminishing. Clear amber body. Medium to full body.