Dogfish Head Palo Santo Marron

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

Reviewed 12/25/2008 (bottle): Pours an extremely dark black brown colored body, tan colored head, somewhat lasting. Alcoholy aroma, dark fruit like plum and raisin. Very strong aroma. Coffee aroma too, wood and toffee. Sweet spiciness. Coffee taste with a strong roasted coffee aftertaste. A little alcohol, wood and roasted flavor, some chocolately sweetness.

20090105 12oz bottle from RB Spirits. Dark brown beer with sticky tan head of loose tan foam. Boozy aromas with clear DFH house character, there are subtle notes from the wood aging, though I could not pick palo santo wood from a thousand other woods, I am sure. Lots of dark fruits, prune, molasses, and harbinger notes of burnt toast. The beer is much more bitter than expected, clashing somewhat with what could be a mellowing woodiness. Maybe it is the wood that gives the tannic bite. Mostly a syrupy mess with potent alcohol present throughout. Grapey, twiggy, sweet, bitter, cloying, and astringent. Weird, and weirdly loved, this one has not done it for me after a few tries. While I can appreciate their cavalier attitude toward experimentation with the unique and historic, it would be great to see DFH get back to a focus on their hoppy brews and barley wine type stuff, and away from this kitsch.

[1746-20081002] 12floz bottle. Sweet floral molasses and light broccoli aroma with light perfume and heavy malt. Murky, dark brown body with a medium-lasting creamy brown head. Boozy heavy roasted malt flavour has lots of wood and something hoppy making it a little acidic? Full body. Very nice brew.
<i>(c/o GregClow, w/ him, blankboy, jerc)</i>

Dark brown black with a thin light brown head. Smells of caramel and wood. Flavor is interesting with a taste of toffee, vanilla, with a hoppy finish. If it is 12% alcohol it is very well hidden.

Pour is a dark brown with an average tan head. Aroma is wood smoke with some cherry an holy mother of god alcohol. Flavor is sweet at first then some chocolate, vanilla, coffee and cherry hit you in that order. Alcohol is there in the end to leave a burning on the tounge and a warmness in the belly. A truly different but tasty beer and a hot one at that.

Deep brown black with mild chocolate head. Sensational aroma of malts, light woodiness, caramel, toffee, and a strong presence of vanilla. Complex flavors of toffee, caramel and vanilla roll over the palate. Stunning symphony of tastes. Moderate roast malt. Dangerously drinkable as I would hardly reckon the ABV is more than 6.5% though it is stated at 12%. Superlative craftmanship.

12 oz. bottle, gift of Nate. Pours a lovely Mocha colored head, short duration, minimal lacing....over a totally opaque black body....nose of vanilla, coffee, molasses, caramel.....taste is initially sweet malting, then coffee, chocolate with a bitter hop finish....wonderful chewy, sticky sweet mouth feel....complex and well balanced...an utterly gargantuan brew.

Pours very dark, almost black impenetrable brown with about 5mm dark tan head. Aroma is full of alcohol and roasted, biscuity malts The flavor is much better than the super high ABV Dogfish beers I have had lately - it is still sweet, but there is plenty of roastiness going on too. The flavor goes through four distinct phases - sweet malt, roasted malts, that meadlike component that is in all the DFH beers I have tasted lately, and finishes with very nice roasted bitterness at the back of the tongue. Mouthfeel of this one is mildly thick and warming. This is a good roasty beer, but I’m not sure the Palo Santo wood was worth the effort.