Dogfish Head Raison D Etre

Brewed by Dogfish Head Brewery
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
Milton, Delaware USA

Just realized I have not rated this beer even though I have had it a number of times. Smell is malty with dried fruit and taste is sweet and powerful. I tastes prunes, raisins, honey, syrup, candy sugar...a pretty nice beer. Meant to drink nice and slow.

bottle. nice subtle aroma with coffee beans, vinilla, and bread. Darker brown color with some reddish hints, small creamy head, no real lacing seen. slighlty fruity taste to start (maybe thats the raisons?), rich coffee, mocha, finish is fairly thick and long lasting, no real hop taste is evident. complex in a subtle way, not overpowering, pretty satisfying.

Verre de 4 oz, d’une bouteille au Mondial 08. Arômes sucrés de caramel et de fruits rouges. Robe brune claire, trop faible effervescence. Goût âcre de caramel, de fruits rouges et d’alcool. Une finale métallique et peu agréable couvre le tout. Définitivement une mauvaise bouteille...

Interesting beer, picked up three dogfish head beers in Seattle so I finally get to taste (we don’t get them in southeastern idaho I guess) - no head, very little hopping but a very complex taste of sweet malt, raisins, plums, toffee. Very very good and it makes me even more sorry now that I know what it tastes like and that I can’t get it where I live. Very reminiscent to me of the Boone’s Farm winter seasonal.

Dark red/brown beer with off-white head. Nice nose with sweet and has raisins, banana, pepper, dusty malts, whisky... Taste is sweet, dominated by earthy caramel, dark fruit, and pepper. A little weak in the palate. A nice, complex beer, and easy to drink.

Brown with small head. Aroma and taste of roasted malts, toffee, carob, alcohol (at first), spice, rich sweet fruit, wood, smoke, hop bitterness. Very complex, rich, full bodied, and especially tasty as it warms up. Like a big St. Bernardus or Trappist brew in many respects...challenging, very flavorful and complex...a lovely brew I always love to have on hand. 7/10/08 Accidentally reviewed again..hehe!:: - Copper brown, small head. Caramel, toffee, powder sugar aroma. Full body and flavors of caramel, black pepper, raisins, candy sugar, dark malts, bitter chocolate, cocoa, powder sugar, chicory, vanilla, cola, bitter bark - all blended splendidly together. Pungent, bitter-sweet finish. When I lived in Denver, this was often my house beer. Lovely fresh or aged, cold or room temp. Up there in my mind with many of the big, strong, dark Belgian beauties.

This beer has a lot going for it. The aroma is pleasant, it smells of quality, it has a good sized ABV, and of course it won American Beer of the Year. The green raisons give it a weird flavour.

Bottled 11/27/06, with thanks to john_adam2002. Lovingly poured into my Sierra Nevada snifter after our long separation (thanks for taking such good care Tim!) as a clear iced tea brown with a two finger tan head that lingers. Aroma is sweet caramel, raisins and other dried fruits, and some woodiness(?). Flavor has more raisin and dried fruits, caramel, molasses and sweet malts. Regardless of my inability to properly describe it, this is a fairly complex and certainly interesting beer; nice stuff.