Dogfish Head Raison D Etre

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

Serve in Trappist glass, Tulip, Tumbler

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12 oz bottle pours a amber/brown color with a medium white head. Aromas of sweet malt, dark fruits. Medium bodied, complex, nicely balanced, great.

I have not had many of this style of beer but from what I have had this one definitely stands out as very excellent.

mahogany, almost no head. Aroma is raisin....mostly sweet, dark, wine... Same with flavour, plus plum, sugar, caramel, chocolate. Exceedingly sweet.....cloyingly so...very complex.

Good look and lots of flavor, but, like all Dogfish Head brews I’ve had, it is more bitter than I care for. I like the flavor, I just wish it went down smoother.

Pours dark mahogany with a thin white head that dissipates quickly. The aroma is sweet with notes of spicy belgian yeast, candi sugar, raisins, and dark fruit. Taste is sweet, fruity, and complex with obvious notes of raisins and belgian yeast and a warm malty finish. Very good beer.

Pours an amber appearance with a white head. The aroma is pleasing and consists raisin (of course) and plum. This is very smooth to drink, and while the taste a bit on the light side, there is quite a bit going on. Raisin, plum, sugar, alcohol, and a bit of pine all wraps together very well. I was expecting much more raisin in the beer overall. The fact that there is that much more involved is a nice surprise.

Sample from a friend, served cool. Clear reddish brown with a thin white head, little lacing. Aroma dominated by raisin aroma like a fortified wine, similarly a bit of alcohol, but also plums, a lot of spices and some malty sweetness. Flavour also dominated by raisin and dark malts with a complex blend of spice flavours. Sweet to start, hard to identify the beet sugar but this didn’t have the strong candy sugar sweetness of some Belgians. Finished fairly dry and a little bitter with mild alcohol burn as it warmed. Medium-full bodied with very soft, smooth carbonation. A nice sippable, complex Belgian.

Bottle: Very, very good belgian strong. Strong aroma of alcohol with little head. Very flavorful.

Pours a hazy reddish copper, with a minimal white head. Aromas of raisins, plums, bananas and belgian yeast. Taste has a good amount of fruity sweetness, and it is a bit fizzy on the tongue and also has a bit of an alcohol burn. A slightly buttery texture and some caramel malts come through as well. Nicely balanced offering from DH.

I didn’t really get any raison flavors from this beer, or wine flavors. It just tasted really harsh to me. Certainly interesting, but not the kind of beer I would drink and enjoy.