Dogfish Head Palo Santo Marron

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

Serve in Snifter, Trappist glass

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Dark borwn, lingering amber head. Aroma of vanilla and burnt malt. Rich and flavorful...some burnt notes on the tongue...complex, woody, slight dry, but flavorful.

The beer has a pleasant aroma. A nice malty aroma. I watched the DVD that came with this beer, and they made this huge deal about the wood they used to age the beer. I can say they went way too far with that facet of the brewing process. There is a slight presence of hops, and a nice sugar malt aroma. The aroma is very sweet and very nice. The beer had a decent caramel head that quickly faded away. The beer is pretty much black, and opaque. Decent appearance, but nothing special . The beer has a very nice roasted malt flavor. I don’t know about the special wood that they used for aging the beer, but I have tasted brews that are better that didn’t spend $150,000 on a brew tank made of wood. I taste coffee somewhat, but it is mainly the sugar and the malt, a nice roasted flavour. Even though there is a 12% ABV you can’t taste that at all. The beer is pretty smooth, but again nothing special. I like this beer for its malt and sugar aroma and flavor. This beer has a nice ABV, aroma, and flavor, but it looks average and the beer when it is in your mouth feels semi-thick.

deep brown pour with a medium sized frothy head. slightly sweet aroma with a hint of vanilla. flavor had some dark fruit, vanilla, and sweet malt. some smokey ashy flavor comes through as well and balanced some of the sweetness out nicely. alcohol is amazingly well hidden for 12%. nice and definately different. would like to see how this ages.

Bottle Date February 2008; Sampled February 2008
Pours with an almost three-finger thick, light brown colored head. The beer is a deep, burnt amber, dark brown colored head. Despite being a clear, rich brown color as I pour this beer, it is completely opaque when held up to the light. Aromas of vanilla, interesting spicy wood that is not the same as from oak (slightly peppery, cinnamon and a touch of fenugreek), candied caramel malt, almost a bit of smoke, . A substantial fruit character provides notes of cherries, raisins and red grapes mixes very well with the wood aromatics. The alcohol is hidden quite well, especially given the 12% abv. Supporting, toasty malt notes, with ample browned bread and biscuit notes and a hint of roast character; really the toasty, browned bread crust like aromas of this beer are quite distinct if you dig around in the aroma for them. This has a very interesting aroma, the use of the Palo Santo wood definitely adds a unique dimension that is a derivative, but still uniquely distinct from, the more typical oak.

Thick and viscous, though not nearly as sweet as I was expecting. A creamy, velvety mouthfeel couples with flavors of vanillin, chewy toffee and dark fruit flavors. This is pretty well carbonated (with a nice prickle to the tongue at the beginning of each sip), but it is thick enough that it is not noticed as much as it would be otherwise. Concentrated fruit forward flavors of cherries, raisins and blackberries couple with a very light alcohol presence to contribute a Brandy like finish. This finishes with a toasted soda cracker note at times, but often this takes the backseat to the sweet, concentrated fruit notes that tend to linger on in the mouth. The wood components are a bit more subdued than in the aroma; it does provide a spicy backbone as well as a bit of tannic astringency, both of which provide a sharp note in the finish that provides balance like hop bitterness would.

As the beer warms up a bit, the aroma really starts to pick up a complex mix of cherry, mace, and distinctly sweet spices. The aroma of this brew is a bit more intriguing and interesting than the flavor, though that is by no means a dud. The malt and brown ale character seems to come through more in the aroma as does the wood. With the added wood component this is one of the more complex, even balanced big beers from Dogfish Head.

Purchased: <a href=http://www.ratebeer.com/Places/ShowPlace.asp? Liquors, Tucson AZ

This beer has a dark body with a bit of reddish tint around the side of the glass. The beer has a ton of nutty caramel and very malty aroma. The flavor is very nutty and with a bit of spice with a bit of a fruity flavor.

Opaque black with medium caramel head. Sweet raisiny aroma, but otherwise generically brown smelling with a bit of smoke. Taste is the same, but with brown sugar, and burnt biscuit. Sweet into the finish, and no residual bitterness. No wood that I could discern. Almost like a DFH WWStout diluted by half. $3/12oz

Dark brown, near black color. Dense tan head. Aroma of wood, roasted malt and molasses. Flavors are resinous, sugary, sweet. Very low bitterness. Not really all that much wood character present. Still, an interesting complexity and a massive malt flavor.

pours a thick opaque black that looks like a stout with a medium sized creamy brown head. aroma is less than exciting with lots of alcohol and only traces of blackened malt and wood. flavor is chocolaty, with coffee, and some smoke. full bodied, creamy mouthfeel. could pass easily as an imp stout. lots of talk about this special wood. i only really notice a slight woody mustiness(moth balls, cedar) in the finish after it’s been swallowed for several seconds. i gotta say i love this breweries experimentation though. always trying something new. nice dvd on the side of the box. i almost threw it away on accident! talks about the brewery and the making of this beer...mostly the wood.

12oz bottle shared courtesy of TomDecapolis. Poured a deeper brown color with an averaged sized off white head. Aromas of wood, earthy, roast, and chocolate. Tastes of wood (although lighter than the aromas), vanilla, roast, and chocolate. Alcohol content well hidden.

Poured a thick dark brown with a reddish hue and a small light brown head into a unibroue goblet. Aroma of Caramel, Vanilla, Wood, malt and barley. Taste is chocolate, barley, coffee, wood, brown sugar, vanilla and the beer has a creamy mouthfeel. The finish is bittersweet and the 12% alcohol is apparent but not overbearing. I was expecting more wood flavor in this one to be honest, but it is still pretty good. I am interested to see how this one ages.