Dogfish Head Indian Brown Ale

Brewed by Dogfish Head Brewery
Style: Brown Ale
Milton, Delaware USA

Serve in Dimpled mug

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Cask gravity @ GBBF 2007, London. Medium brown color with a small to average, frothy, fair lacing, mostly lasting, off-white head. Aroma is moderate to heavy malty, raosted, caramel, licorice. Flavor is moderate sweet and bitter with a long duration. Nice balance. Body is medium to full, texture is creamy, carbonation is flat.

[Cask at GBBF 2004] A brown beer with no head. The aroma of roasted coffee and chocolate. The flavor is sweet with notes of coffee, roasted malts, as well as alcohol. The mouthfeel is very soft.

(Bottle 35,5 cl) This is a fine example of the completely disrespectful way American brewers approach traditions. From the name you would expect this to be a hybrid between a Brown Ale and an IPA, but the brewery claims it to be a hybrid between a Scotch Ale, a American Pale Ale and an IPA. But a curious hybrid it is. Very dark mahogany, brownish head, very malty (burned malt). The 50 IBU are pretty well hidden underneath the sweetness of the malt - to some extent. Quite an extreme brew.

12 fl oz bottle. Pours dark brown with a huge and slight brown head. Aroma is dark and slight chocolate malt. Smooth malty and slight chocolate flavoured. Smooth chocolate and malty flavoured, light vanilla note. Smooth malty into the far finish. Ends nice and easy.

Cask@GBBF2007. Dark brown colour, mediumszied beige head. Aroma is roasted malts, and some fruity hops. Flavour is alcohol, malts and hops in a mix, where alcohol is quite aggressive.

Brown, big maltiness, somewhat sweet and very round. Defies any attempt of classification. Very interesting brewery.

Bottle. Clear red brown coloured with an off white head. Aroma of malts, caramel and fruits with notes of nuts. Flavour of caramel, fruits, dried fruits and nuts. Hoppy finish.

UPDATED: DEC 23, 2009 Bottle, 7.2%. Vinous aroma, roasted, smells a little lagered. Clear dark brown colour. Small stable light brown head. The flavour is nicely roasted, slightly sweet. Not as vinous as the aroma, but still a bit vinous. OK balanced. Roasted aftertaste with a good deal of barley bitterness which gets a bit rough after a while.

UPDATED: JAN 17, 2009
Date: August 19, 2000
Mode: Bottle
Source: Total Beverage, DC
Appearance: hazy brown, whispy tan head
Aroma: rich candy sweet malt aroma
Flavor: well balanced complex malt flavor, light bitter finish, dogfish house character from the bottle
Overall: a clean well hopped brown ale with aromatic barley, carmelized brown sugar, and whole leaf liberty and goldings hops, 7.2%

Date: April 10, 2007
Mode: draft
Source: brick store
Score: 3.1 to 3.2
Aroma: lightly sweet nutty chocolate aroma
Flavor: rich chocolate flavor well balalnce with an earthy and citrus hop blend
Overall: rich and flavorful but more brown than IPA

Date: September 10, 2008
Mode: draft
Source: summits woodstock
picking up more of the hops in the aroma but flavor is still on the brown ale side but well balanced with plenty of hops,

Date: October 14, 2008
Mode: draft
Source: summits woodstock
chocolate flavor is coming through big time, hops have a light citrus character but are taking the back seat,

Aroma: 7/10; Appearance: 6/10; Flavor: 7/10; Palate: 6/10; Overall: 14/20
Rating: 3.4/5.0
Drinkability: 7/10
Score: **4

While it is totally unique, I just couldn’t get into this for some reason. I think it was those bubblegum notes. Where the hell did they come from?