Dogfish Head Fort

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

At first sight a beautiful red raspberry color fills the glass almost rose wine like. A nice fluffy head tops the goblet. The smell is very pleasant with sweet fruit and a tart fresh raspberry aroma. The taste was not as appealing as the aroma. The raspberry was nice not perfume like as raspberries often come across. After the raspberry fads there is not much to this beer that really finish the beer out for me. First impressions were very high until tasted and then it was a long run to the end of the goblet and warming this beer did not seem to help it for me.

Red color with strong fruit aroma. Light white head. At first taste, it is way to sweet. Almost like juice. Warmed a little it felt more balanced and the fruit didn’t take over the malty flavor. Very strong alcohol taste with little flavor in the aftertaste. I didn’t know it was 18% so I guess it didn’t taste that strong. Pretty good overall for this type of beer (especially since it’s not one of the types I usually like to drink).

A reddish beer with a nice head. The aroma was sour fruity in a good way with some alcohol. The taste was very good with rasberries in a fermented fruit sort of way. This beer is quite good & very pleasant for 18% ABV & is my favorite fruit beer so far. The name is very fitting as this is very fortified with alcohol.

Tap at Barcade: Headless sticky deep blush color. Sticky cough syrup aroma- very medicinal with a syrupy artificial sweetness and mild fusels. Slick, burning body. Sweet and syrupy cough medicine flavor with a strong ethanol burn and fusels. It’s a DFH beer...

Fort is a very interesting beer. Nice raspberry aroma, however the beer itself is very unbeer like. Almost raspberry wine like. Very interesting. Hides the 18% well.

Location: 750 ml bottle from Gilly’s, 1/29/10

Aroma: Lots of fruit (raspberries obviously) and lots of booze
Appearance: Hazy copper-amber color with almost no head
Flavor: Taste is very sweet, some tartness, not much balance
Palate: Medium body, somewhat syrupy, and quite hot
Overall Impression: I’m not sure this one is really my style, I found it to be both too sweet and too hot. Maybe it would have been better with a little age, but based on this tasting, I’m not a huge fan.

Drank a nearly three year old bottle on near years eve 2009. One more month would’ve been a full three years. I drank another bottle when I purchased the one I’m reviewing now, and there were distinct differences. The ’young’ Fort was hazy, as everyone reports, and the alcohol was very apparent. Almost a bit much depending on who you’re talking to. The aged Fort was head and shoulders above what I remember of the other. It had clarified considerably, and poured an amazing, clear, deep, rich, vibrant, nearly glowing ruby-copper. Not a lot of head, but nice lacing that stayed around forever. The smell was intoxicating. Full-bodied, highly developed, complex raspberry that you could smell a mile away. Not too sweet, though. It also reminded me of very dark chocolate. The alcohol wasn’t nearly as bold, but you could still tell right away that this was a raspberry beer for men if there ever was one. It tasted like it was about 12-14% alcohol. The mouthfeel was substantial and wonderful. Not too thick or syrupy, though. Once about three quarters of the beer was almost gone, I swirled the bottle to agitate the sediment and poured that into what was left. I will just say that I preferred the taste without the sediment. I figured I would, and it was still great, but the amazing clarity is half the point of aging it. Anyway, this was a truly unique and remarkable beer experience, and the perfect way to kick off the new year.

Another fun unique beer from these guys. Had on tap a couple of weeks ago at Capital Ale House Midlothian and I believe it is still available. Just a ton of raspberries on the nose and really not much else other then traces of alcohol. No head to speak of really. It is very strong. Full bodied beer. I taste hops a bit with a lot of sweet malts but then my mouth is just overwhelmed with raspberries, raspberries and more raspberries. Nice beer but very different.