Aprihop - Dogfish Head

Aprihop
India Pale Ale (f. Apricots)
Dogfish Head
Milton, DE

2 posts in 2 days! 2 seasonal brews! And a 2nd post on Dogfish Head! What a coincidence. The double entendre in the name of this beer - A brew made with real apricots, and released around April. It's a warm weather drink for sure.

Apricots have been used in all sorts of styles and fashions since before anyone could ever remember. Some estimates say Apricots reach further back than 3000BC! Alexander the Great brought them to Greece, Egyptians dried them and turned them into sweet drinks, and Dogfish Head puts them in beer. While I might not see eye-to-eye with the apricot, its fair to say that I can respect all of its wonderful accomplishments.

I don't think I have ever eaten an apricot before, outside of one that I mistaken pulled out of a bag of trail mix while hiking in 7th grade. Popping what I thought was an oddly shaped huge cashew into my mouth left a gross impression that kept me away from Apricots for a while. (Full disclosure - I though it was a dead larva.) I've always had a hard time picking out fruit at a grocery and since I'm too afraid to ask for help, I have stayed away from fruits that aren't apples and bananas.

In my mind, beer with fruit has a negative connotation - Corona and Blue Moon never did it for me. It seems like a bad excuse to make a boring beer more interesting - like a guy who wears novelty t-shirts to parties. I'd rather just have a good tasting beer.

If I can point to a single beer that defies that notion, its this. Aprihop is surprisingly fun! The bitterness and sweetness play off each other really well. The smell and first taste is almost all hops - business as usual for Dogfish Head. But as the taste lingers, the fruitiness starts to take over. The aftertaste leaves me with what I can only equate to sweet Banana Breath. The flavor sticks around for a while, and it's so good that I don't think of my unfortunate past! This is a classic case where more is better - a concept that DfH has down. Hops and 'Cots are pushed to the max in this brew.

Something I'm starting to learn about seasonal brews - I don't think they have staying power for me. Its probably best this is served in a 4-pack. I don't know if I could spend a long night with this beer, but it is a real treat to throw into the mix!

Summerfest - Sierra Nevada

Summerfest
Pilsner-style Lager
Sierra Nevada
Chico, CA

Sorry for the delay folks, but I've been out and about in search of more beer to try and tell you about. I've stocked up the fridge, and I'm going to hopefully get to a few over the next few days. Right now, we've got a heaping helping of in-your-face seasonal action.

Sierra Nevada is another one of my favorites. I think their Porter is one of the best beers available on the planet, and their Pale Ale has become a stand by in my fridge. I'm glad to see it is showing up on more and more beer lists in bars and pubs around me that typically only have your standard Bud/Coors/Miller faire.

Pilsners are brewed and fermented in cold temperatures. It's a crisp tasting, clear, and straw-colored. There isn't all that much difference between a Pilsner and "American Lager" - except what ingredients are used (Rice like in Bud).

Its probably fair to guess that most people started out on a variety of Pils - stuff you sneaked from the nearest adult's fridge. This particular drink reminds me a lot of my first beer - it tastes like what I thought all beer tastes like.

A seasonal beer calls for a seasonal anaolgy:

On a perfect summer day, there isn't a whole lot going on. It's hot and you don't want to move around much. You'll mow the lawn, because you have to, and you'll smell like grass for a while. Then you'll call up some friends, who are also not doing much, meet up by a pool, and do nothing together until it gets dark. And that's just fine. That pretty much sums up what I think of this beer.

This particular drink stays true to its namesake. The taste is subtle, a little flowery and spicy, but nothing crazy. It's all about the after taste here, hoppy and like a summer evening - full of reflection on a day that rolled by just slow enough. Nothing outstanding, but nothing awful. At 5% ABV, I could kick back a few of these and watch the day go by with no problem.

In a word it's... nice.

Not a fan of the style, it's not very bold tasting, and I can see why this isn't a Fall beer. Good for a BBQ, and keeping cool in the heat. I don't love it, but I like it enough.

Palo Santo Marron - Dogfish Head

Palo Santo Marron
Brown Ale
Dogfish Head
Milton, DE

I don't live far from DE so fortunately for me, I have an opportunity to try out a lot, if not all, of Dogfish Head. Dogfish Head is the reason I started actually tasting beer, not just drinking to get crazy. It still makes me crazy sometimes, and at 12% ABV, Palo Santo Marron gets me feeling warm after the first few sips.

Palo Santo (Spanish for "holy wood") is a type of wood that according to the tale on the bottle, comes from Paraguay. It is one of the hardest woods available on the planet. Outside of brewing in Milton, its also used for cricket bails, police clubs, mortar and pestles and even as an insulator for wiring in the San Francisco Street car system (Thanks wikipedia!). It also is a fragrant wood which adds to the complex flavor of this ale.

I credit my understanding of what I'd call "Malt Beverages" to my college experience. They were what you got when you were partying econo - cheap, big, high in alcohol, and awful to taste. The classification of a "Malt Beverage" is really just an indication of high alcohol content usually created by adding an ingredient to the brewing process to boost ABV. As I'm sure you can imagine, Dogfish Head did not create their own 40 guzzler with this.

I should probably talk about the taste, but I'm finding that describing beer flavors can be boring. It is more similar to the Scotch Ale I had recently than it is to a lager, so I don't want to sound too redundant. It comes in strong, and like the bottle says there is definitely vanilla and caramel going on. It leaves a little tart and a little smokey and maybe even salty, like a good Port wine. If you drink it too fast, besides having a lot of fun, you might also get a sticky ring around your mouth.

Dogfish Head wants you to know about this beer, and in order to do so, they posted a really incredible series of youtube video's where they describe it a lot better than I ever could (though I was still set on trying!) Find it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWNo2oKNmTU


--Joe