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Dogfish Head Ancient Ale: Nordicthern Europe

Dogfish Head Brewery (Boston Beer Co.)
Milton, Delaware
Beer style: Gruit
Ref: ratebeer.com May2024

Common descriptors are
Our newest Ancient Ale offering is based on evidence from drinking vessels found in Northern Europe; from Scandinavia and Scotland, dating as far back as mid-4th millennium B.C. Neolithic times and as far north as the Orkney Islands. The tag team duo of Dr. Pat McGovern and Sam Calagione studied and culled biomolecular, archaeobotanical, and palynological evidence from tombs and settlement sites in Denmark, Sweden, and Scotland. They developed this gruit-like brew with ingredients including Bog Myrtle, Meadowsweet, Yarrow, Bog Cranberries, Lingonberries, Birch Syrup, and Wildflower Honey, which were added to a toasty malt base of 2-row, Special Roast, and Red Winter Wheat (a type of wheat typically cultivated in colder climates). The aroma is an herbal blast with Meadosweet and Yarrow followed by a piquant honey-scented pungency. The flavor follows with doughy malts and the tart Nordic berries, with a lingering interplay between fruity acidity and grassy herbal notes.