Dogfish Head Palo Santo Marron

[bottle] Arome=coffee, mocha, pine, bubblegum, scotch tape, and notes of tobacco and raison. Opaque black with a light brown, bubbly, velvet on top. Usually I put taste before body on these ratings, but the full thick body of this beer is extreme. Velvety sweet molasses coffee chocolate dates raison. Vanilla and butterscotch woody notes. Medium carbonation, slightly salty, beautifully balance between chewy sweet and hops/black malt bitterness, but without the burnt/toasty characteristics of black malts.

Holy Cow. This is my new favorite beer. Bought a 4-pack for $10 at the brewery. The beer is so complex, but nothing about it is overwhelming. I would expect it to be too sweet, it’s not. I would also expect it to have a little sourness at the end, it doesn’t. The Palo Santo aroma is interwoven through the taste and aroma. The taste also has chocolatey and coffee tones throughout. Delicious.

Dense dark brown/black hue, thin layer of tan foam sustains, moderate lacing. Smell is delicious, big roast malts, hints of nuttiness, coffee, chocolate as well, dark fruits, cedar-like wood, slight tinge of sugary bubblegum, light booze. Taste is mostly roast malts with backbone of nut flavors, dark chocolate and light coffee tones, opens to toffee, dark fruits (raisins, figs), and grassy hops, the wood flavors are subtle in the background, finishes sweet with slight alcohol burn that lingers. Palate is full-bodied, dense and chewy malt texture, moderate carbonation. Overall, this is one tough brown ale at 12%, the specialty wood does a good job of accenting and not dominating the flavor profile, the stiff alcohol presence puts this in the range between traditional strong ale and "sipping" dessert beers, a nice treat for brown ale fans.

Bottle courtesy of rustychiles. Pours an inky blackness with a small tan head. Definitely a unique aroma. I am guessing that it as attributed to the Palo Santo wood. Heavy wood and malt smell. Tastes of strong dark malts; slightly roasty, raisins, and sweet. Aftertaste very reminiscent of eating cashews. Well balanced and tasty. Very smooth for 12%.

Pours out like a stout, with a small brown head that diminishes quickly. Aroma is a bit faint, but gives off a woodsy/alcoholic scent. Flavor was pretty sweet, with hints of raisins, vanilla and some molasses. For as high an alcohol that it is it’s remarkably smooth and you can hardly detect any alcohol other than the aroma.

Pours dark brown with a thin tan head. Smells oaky with some sweet hints and lots of booziness. Tastes sweet with lots of woody character. Enjoyable.

(Cask at GBBF, London, 5 Aug 2008) Black colour with brief, pale brown head. Roasted, malty nose with dried fruit and loads of vanilla and caramel. Malty, full taste with notes of vanilla, dried fruit, sweet liquorice, brown sugar and more vanilla. Powerful and full bodied, almost oily mouthfeel. Low bitterness, very sweet. Alcohol well hidden. Very warming, very tasty and very nice (but moderate doses are recommended).

Cask at the GBBF 2008, gravity dispense. Black colour, no head. Alcoholic but interesting aroma and flavour, notes of "oak" (actually palo santo wood), coffee and fortified wine. At 12% ABV this is powerful stuff. Good, but not easy drinking.