Dogfish Head Red and White

Thanks to GbVDave for this one. 750ml bottle. Served in the new style Boulevard Chalice. Poured a reddish gold with a thin white head. Grainy aroma with a little Belgian spice. Full bodied with lots of Belgian yeast spice in the flavor. Malt sweetness. Nice oaky finish. I don’t get a much wine character. It only seemed evident in the red tint. Very tasty and drinkable Belgian style ale though.

Deep amber pour and a quickly vanishing head. Smells of wood and fruits. The smokey fruits extend to the flavor as well. I thought that it hid the alcohol very well. I wish I had taken notes on this one.

amber pour with a quickly diminishing head...nose is of sweet grapes, and citrus...flavor is on the sweet side with not much in the way of hop balance

Pours a dark, cloudy amber/ orange color with a thin foamy white head that quickly setles. Citrus orange peel aroma with malt and smokey wood or oak hints. Very smooth and well balanced with sweet citrus fruit and lemon peel countering the smokey oak dryness. Slightly sour aftertaste. Very quaffable, high ABV very well hidden.

Now this is the DFH I know and respect! Bottle pours orange with a red tint and a restrained whispy white head. The overall aroma is more kin to a light pinot, than your average beer. Nose is heavy in oranges, cherries, coriander, and definate notes of oak. The flavor is primarily the same and hides the high alcohol extremely well. The overall body is moderate and finishes clean. Definately a nice one to sit and ponder.

Tastes like a good Belgian style spiced strong ale, a la Maudite. I can’t detect the Pinot Noir at all though. Aroma, body and head are very good. Feels very alcoholic.

Bottle courtesy of BeerandBlues2. Color is a crisp brown with good carbonation and a thin tight head. Aroma is a cidery malt scent. Starting with a medium body it goes down crisp and smooth. Finish jumps in with a bright flavor of sweet wine, a hint of oak and vanilla then mild hop spice. In the after taste the wine lingers with a bit of alcohol showing. This is an amazingly flavorful brew.

The first couple of times I drank DFH’s Red & White were at the GABF. There, generous samples had buttered me up to the point where the whole latter half of the night’s tastings all seemed bewildering, confused, even numbed, but all, of course, exceptional. I was in good spirits, and gave the Red & White a generous margin of error - what I call “Drunken Mercy.” A sober tasting of the Red & White, and with a lot more to taste, has revealed that this is amongst the weaker of Dogfish Head’s offerings. The pour is fine - a thin, fuzzy head, a deep copper body, and a cloudiness which smacks “artisinal”. The aroma is a jumble of exotic scents, like tangerines, oranges, apricots, coriander and a burning crispness most heavily affiliated with laundry bleach. It’s a nice assemblage of fruits, but not very deep or immersive. The flavor is a step down in complexity, sweet at it’s core with oranges, and layered with tastes of orange pith, malts, vanilla and above all, alcohol. But these flavors don’t play together very well, and the alcohol is, as it so often is, overbearing and rough. The aftertaste too, is unexceptional, and really the only impressive bits remain in the nose. This experience deviates so far from my GABF impression that I’ve actually vowed not to conduct any reviews for future attendance at the GABF. There’s simply too many beers passing over my palate at too quick a rate for me to really do justice (or injustice) to what I’m sampling.