Dogfish Head Au Courant

Formerly brewed at Dogfish Head Brewery
Style: Fruit Beer
Milton, Delaware USA

Musty, eggy malt aroma. Color was just wrong - peptobismol pink head. Thinnish mouth. Flavor was mildly tart, very lightly sweet, underhopped and boring. Not worth the effort.

Golden, light amber, pouring with a massive airy head. Super sweet nose. Nice alcoholy-sugary flavors ... distinct flavorof sweettarts, almost. Different, and good.

Red and clear with a very intriguing pink/purple head. It looks like cranberry juice. Alas, it doesn’t come with a nice aroma, more like wet cardboard and burnt rubber, that kind of unpleasant stuff. Taste satrts very sour and the fizz doesn’t help. Kind of a shame because the fruity aftertaste is pretty nice. No hops, no malts, I couldn’t tell the difference if it were a soda...

Before I begin, I should say I’m generally a fan of Dogfish Head. That said; however, I’m giving this one 2 tongues down. Visually, it’s an extremely interesting "beer" which poured a crystal clear cranberry with a pink/violet head. For me, the rest was downhill - fast. The aroma was more of a bad smell which made me wonder if I may have gotten a bad bottle. Very sour and very pungeant. The flavor was overwhelmingly sour. I expected some intense fruit (currant) flavor but I didn’t think the currants would prove so overpowering. Unlike their Ari-hop and Raison de E’rte, this beer was all fruit and no hop or malt. n trying to give this beer a fair shake, I went back to it again a couple of times to let it temper (or to let myself get used to it) but nothing worked. I just didn’t like this beer. Dogfish routinely tests the boundaries with interesting combinations and brewing techniques, unfortunately, they failed this test in my book.

I don’t know what to make of this beer. I have tried it twice in two days. First off, I should state, I hate currants. But this beer jumped off the shelf at me. It poured purple with a lilac head, very interesting! first time I had it, I hated it. But the second time my wife and I tried it, we were enchanted. It was a nice beer to drink when decorating our Christmas tree. I don’t think I would but it again, but it was interesting to try.

Bottle. I saw the DFH truck in the parking lot at the liquor store when I pulled in and thought: what blessing have you given me today? I was not let down. The au courant was very good for a fruit beer. It was very beery without tasting like too much added fruit. I love you Dogfish Head. This beer lit my fire on this cold December night

I’m not a big fruit beer fan, but once you get past the strong currant aroma and start drinking, this really hits the spot. It pours a hazy light orange color with a short lived fizzy head. Medium bodied with a fizzy mouthfeel, this tastes fruity, grassy, and moderately sour with a dash of hop bitterness. The currents and hops return on the finish. Quietly warming once the abv settles in.

You have to give these guys credit, I don’t know another brewer who pushes the envelope and succeeds as many times they do. This was a marginal success but I hope they keep trying