Friday, October 17, 2008

Raison D'Etre by Dogfish Head

I hate to review beers seriously because it makes me sound like a pretentious ass, but I can't help it; I love what Dogfish Head Brewery is doing. First, they're American, and second, they make my favorite beer ever (their 90-minute IPA). I bought a six-pack of their Raison D'etre the other night, a Dark Belgian Ale weighing in at 8.0% ABV. Typically, I find Belgian beers to be too sweet all-around and lacking of hops, but this one balances a wonderfully fruity taste of raisins (hence the "raison") and dates with a somewhat sour, but malty taste in the back. It finishes pretty clean for such a complex profile. Because of its' high alcohol content it doesn't make a great session beer, but it'd be a perfect complement to a great piece of steak.

RATING: 81%

8 comments:

John said...

I had a bunch of IPA's this afternoon at the flying saucer, Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA among them. Live Oak IPA was decently tasty (less citrous and brassy than Stone IPA), but Dogfish Head had more balls. I wouldn't drink it all the time, though. Propellor makes a nice IPA, but they're Canadian and they don't export. The worst IPA is Alexander Keith's. It's not even a real IPA, it just says it is on the bottle.

Chris said...

Live Oak makes some pretty good beer. Nothing I've ever had from Dogfish Head is a great session beer. The alcohol content is too high and the profile is too bold, but they make great beers when you just want one or two.

Thanks for the spelling correction. It was actually already a label so I didn't double-check to see how it was spelled.

Chris said...

Since I can nerd out as much as I want within this post, I've got 2 bottles of Sierra Nevada's 12th Release Harvest Wet Hop in my fridge right now. I'm not sure if you can get them anywhere in Houston anymore. If you like a good IPA it's incredible.

Are you coming back to Houston soon?

DCP said...

I brought back some micro from Nashville that was terrible. It was some brewery called "Yazoo." Lame. I picked out their Mexican style lager Dos Perros. It had an awful, syrupy aftertaste.

John said...

They had 2 kinds of unfiltered IPA at the Saucer. One of them might even have been DFH. Ever tried it?

Chris said...

Wow. No, I haven't. There's a Saucer in Houston and I wish it wasn't in Downtown. They've got a good selection. An unfiltered DFH? I'd definitely like to try that.

Glenn, are you holding out on me with other stuff too? I probably would have bought a microbreweries Mexican-style lager if I saw it too. Sounds interesting.

laurie said...

I love this raisin beer. They have it on tap at this hipster bar in Williamsburg called Barcade. It sucks because it's full of hipsters, but it's wonderful because its also full of old arcade games and has tons of great beers on tap.

John said...

I just got a sixer of this stuff based on this review, and I'm a little disappointed. It's got a nice colour, and the flavour isn't bad if it's cold, but the mouth feel is just slimy. I wonder if it's the snail trail of the boiled green raisins.

I only drink as an excuse to smoke cigarettes anyway. And I want to get a nice beer belly on the go for t-shirt season so I can really sweat up a storm on those walks to school