Dogfish Head Raison D Extra

This beer pours a deep red amber color with little to no head. WOW very sweet flavor, you can taste the huge amounts of raisins in this thing! This beer would probably do well when aged. The alcohol in this thing is almost non-existent. I expected it to have a much heavier alcohol blast, but it does not. This is a well crafted beer! Cheers! ******ReRate/Update****** This beer is way more alcohol than I first remembered.. But it is still very sweet. No change in the rating scores though, just thought I’d add some new comments.

12 oz bottle. Happy to find and even more Happily consumed at the Brickskeller in Washington DC on 11/25/06, 2nd brew of brew of the night. No discernable date on the bottle, but it did have the same little guy as on the olde school barley wine bottles. Pours a cloudy amber with a half there head. The nose is lightly fruity and sweet, with noticeable raisan smell. The taste is extreme, very very sweet and alcholic. The taste of raisans lingers on the tongue and warms the throat which is thorougly noticeable with further drinks. I was happy to find it and happier to drink it, I’d probably categorize it closer to a barley wine then anything else, though it was certainly strong.

11/2005 bottle. Pours deep red amber with absolutely no head. Aroma is sugar, alcohol, raisins, berries, and perhaps whiskey or bourbon. Flavor is very similar to the nose, but even sweeter. Raisins, syrup and slint hints of alcohol are the most prominent. No burn from the alcohol; it just glides through your mouth. Very nice! Not sure why this isn’t rated higher.

This one does have some raisins in the aroma but not as much as I was expecting or hoping for. There is plenty of fruitiness and alcohol with sugar. The appearance is mahogany with a small head. The flavor is like the aroma. The palate is smooth. I like this beer. It’s quality but not great.

12 oz. 2005 bottle: I’m still holding off on tasting my 2002 bottle, but I figured I’d give the new version a shot. It pours a hazy mahogany color, with no head whatsoever, even though it it opened with a good pfffft. Pretty potent aroma. Some alcohol poking its head through, but it is mainly caramel malt and raisins. The beer has a nice, silky feel on the tongue. Caramel and raisins are the predominate part of the taste, but it is still complex with more in there. Unique and enjoyable.

12 oz bottled 9/29/06. Aroma of grapes and alcohol with a red tinted amber color. Plenty of raisin characteristics(sweet and tart) and a little syrupy. Has some malt backbone and though the alcohol is detectable it is not overbearing. A very smooth and warming brew that would be well suited as an after dinner drink.

Sampled out of a 11/05 bottle. Pours a deep mahogany color with a very thin, quickly dissapating head. The aroma is powerful with notes of grapes, raisins (duh), thick malty syrup and some definite alcohol. The flavor is incredibly smooth. If it wasn’t for the scent, the labeling on the bottle and the neon green cap, it wouldn’t be apparent that this beer had any more alcohol than any given run of the mill ale. There is an intense fruit sweetness combining with notes of grapes, apricots, and again, raisins. On the palate, the moutfeel is silky smooth. The beer almost feels oily, but it quickly slides off your tongue and down your throat. There is very little carbonation but given the contruction of this brew, it is not sorely missed. Overall this is quite an interesting flavor adventure. It’s not something that you want to drink everyday or every week (maybe not even every year), but it is pretty cool. I’d definitley reccomend giving it a shot.

Quite clear and reddish amber with little head. Alcohol, rotting fruit, grape and leather in the aroma. Slick, thick palate. The sweetness is slightly more intense than the alcohol presence. Port like in flavor, fortifying but a challenge to drink faster than by the sip. Lingering sweet fruity finish.