Dogfish Head Unveils 2018 Beer Calendar, Announces Collaboration with The Flaming Lips

Posted on by mashingin

DFHglassDogfish Head Craft Brewery (Milton, Delaware) released its 2018 Beer Calendar today, and with that comes the exciting news that the brewery’s next band collaboration will be Dragons & YumYums with The Flaming Lips.

Alright, we all know the drill by now.  Dogfish Head’s full 2018 Beer Calendar is posted below for you to go over at your leisure, but you best believe that we are going to first give you some details on that new collaboration with The Flaming Lips and a few other releases headed your way next year.  Let’s get to it:

  • To continue “their decades-long tradition of banding together with the uniquely epic and imaginative”, Dogfish Head has teamed up with The Flaming Lips to bring you Dragons & YumYums in Spring 2018.  This “intensely tropical yet subtlety bitter” Pale Ale is “brewed with a combination of dragonfruit, yumberry, passionfruit, pear juice and black carrot juice providing an explosion of fruit in every sip.”  Clocking at 6.5% ABV, Dragons & YumYums will be available in 6-packs of 12 oz. bottles and on draft from April to August.

“The Flaming Lips are one of the most innovative and collaborative bands of all time and Dogfish shares a similarly playful and adventurous point of view,” says Sam Calagione, CEO and founder of Dogfish Head Craft Brewery. “Their art is a full-on otherworldly sensory experience and we strive to create that same intense sensational experience for craft beer drinkers in the development of our liquid art.” Good tunes and great beer are at the heart of Dogfish as the brewery composed a musically inspired series of brews with artists like Miles Davis, Deltron 3030, The Grateful Dead, Pearl Jam and Guided by Voices. “Our brewery has been obsessed with music since the day we opened,” says Calagione. “And we have enjoyed every opportunity to weave together the art of brewing with our love of music, as often and meaningfully as we can.”

  • Speaking of musically-inspired brews, Wood-Aged Bitches Brew will return in February with Year-Round availability in 6-packs of 12 oz. bottles and on draft.  “Brewed as an homage to Miles Davis’ 1970 landmark jazz-rock fusion record”, Wood-Aged Bitches Brew is a “bold, honey-enhanced, imperial stout” that will be boasting “a new, wood-centric spin as this version is aged and blended in giant oak and Palo Santo wood tanks resulting in a vanilla, chocolatey-licorice wood aroma with a sweet, roasty, coffee flavor finish.”
  • Lupu Luau IPA and Namaste White will both be available in cans as Year-Round offerings in 2018.  They will join Wood-Aged Bitches Brew, 60 Minute IPA, 90 Minute IPA, SeaQuench Ale, Flesh & Blood IPA, Indian Brown, Palo Santo Marron, Burton Baton and Midas Touch to round off the full Year-Round lineup.
  • Mixed Media – “a rustic Saison and Farmhouse blend with a crisp and quenching finish” – will arrive in May 2018 as a new Limited Release offering.  Created to be “the ultimate beer-wine hybrid”, Mixed Media is “brewed with 51% of the fermentables coming from pils malt, malted wheat and flaked oats, and 49% coming from late harvest Viognier grape must harvested for Dogfish by friends at Alexandria Nicole Cellars in Washington.” Mixed Media will have availability in 6-packs of 12 oz. bottles and on draft (May to September).
  • Fruit-Full Fort will also debut in 2018 as a new Limited Release.  Brewed with Pils malt, Munich malt and Malted Wheat, this special offering is then fermented “with a big ol’ bundle of fresh berry juices including boysenberry, blackberry, raspberry and elderberry.”  This results in an “ageable” Belgian-style Ale that “leaves the taste buds warm with jammy dark fruit notes and deeply complex flavors.”  Fruit-Full Fort will have availability in 4-packs of 12 oz. bottles and on draft from July to September.
  • Dogfish Head will also celebrate its Off-Centered Art Series in 2018.  For this series, the brewery has “partnered with highly acclaimed artist, Marq Spusta, to create custom pieces of art for beers that brings their unique stories to life through visuals.”  Art Series Beers include Romantic Chemistry (February – May), Dragons & YumYums (April – August), Punkin Ale (August – November) and Liquid Truth Serum (November – February).  All beers in this series will have availability in 6-packs of 12 oz. bottles and on draft.

That should cover just about everything we wanted to go over, but there are still plenty of amazing beers left to discover on the calendar below.  Give it a good look and get ready for another ridiculously good year of craft beer from Dogfish Head Craft Brewery.  Prost!

DFH2018BeerCalendar

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Tasting Notes: SeaQuench Ale from Dogfish Head Craft Brewery

Posted on by mashingin

SQ2Tasting Notes journeys into the world of Session Sour Ales this week by taking a look at SeaQuench Ale from Dogfish Head Craft Brewery (Milton, Delaware).

Before we get to the review, let’s cover some background information on this exciting new brew.  SeaQuench Ale is a new limited release from Dogfish Head that combines the stylistic worlds of Kölsch, Berliner Weisse and Gose in one beer.  This union features a good dose of wheat, sea salt, black limes, and fresh lime juice to create a highly drinkable Sour Ale capable of quenching any thirst.  This 4.9% ABV offering is still hanging out on shelves in six-packs of 12 oz. bottles and pouring on draft, but its limited availability is nearing an end.  Look for this brew at craft beer establishments in Florida and throughout Dogfish Head’s distribution footprint.  For more information on this offering, click here to read the release profile I published back in August.  Now that the formalities are out of the way, let’s see what SeaQuench is all about with some Tasting Notes!

Tasting Notes for SeaQuench Ale from Dogfish Head Craft Brewery

Appearance: SeaQuench hits the glass as a hazy, straw yellow in color.  When held to direct light, lemony yellows develop and that haze holds fast but also divulges that it is not completely opaque.  The body displays a carbonation level that judiciously streams bubbles in single file lines found randomly along the full circumference of the glass.  The pour produced a fizzy half finger of bubbly white head that dissipates almost as quickly as it appeared.

Aroma: Just as it should, lime citrus saturates the air as soon as the beer is poured.  Lime zest and peel account for the majority of the aromatic profile, but a touch of the briny black lime hints at its role in this beer with a salty citrus quality turning up as well.  Trademark lactic sour notes develop around just a whisper of wheat.  It may be cliché, but this smells of summer on the coast.

Taste: Tart lime and lactic sourness initially grab your attention with a quickness on each sip. Lime juice, peel and zest shine brightly along with a nicely timed interjection from the preserved lime character.  The brininess of the black lime and the added sea salt jump in to clean things up with a breezy, saltwater quality.  Coriander and spicy hops add a little dynamic jolt at times.  The wheat is a bit of a wallflower here, but it does timidly wave hello just as the beer’s flavors vanish from the palate. Bright, clean, and delicious.

Mouthfeel: This beer is wonderfully light in body with a moderate carbonation level.  It is mostly tart on the palate, but salt and a touch of sweetness tickles the taste buds as well.  The ABV is absolutely nowhere to be found, allowing the beer to be incredibly crisp, refreshing and quenching.  The aftertaste is all freshly squeezed lime.

Final Thoughts: By combining the easy-drinking German styles of Kölsch, Berliner Weisse and Gose, the folks at Dogfish Head have an absolute winner here.  The lactic hit of the Berliner easily works with the limes to create a refreshing tartness that is balanced by the subtle, grain sweetness you expect from a Kölsch.  The saltiness from the Gose then kicks in and finishes things off with a perfect level of salinity that wipes the palate clean to entice another sip.  I also have to say that I am totally sold on the idea of black limes making an appearance in future Gose offerings.  Simply a perfect choice in ingredient and I feel like a fool for not thinking of it myself.  All in all, SeaQuench Ale has achieved the level of an ultimate thirst quencher.  Each sip is bracing and a delight. I simply cannot get enough.  Prost!

Dogfish Head launches SeaQuench Ale as new limited release

Posted on by mashingin

SQ2Dogfish Head Craft Brewery (Milton, Delaware) recently announced the limited release of SeaQuench Ale Session Sour this week.

To kick off a “new partnership between Dogfish Head and the National Aquarium that will focus on inspiring conservation of the world’s aquatic treasures,” Dogfish Head Craft Brewery has brewed and released SeaQuench Ale Session Sour.  This new offering is a sessionable Sour Ale that is a blend of three German styles.  SeaQuench starts with a “straightforward Kolsch with lots of wheat and Munich Malt, then . . . a salty Gose with black limes, coriander and . . . sea salt,” and it is all finished “with a citrusy-tart Berlinerweiss made with lime juice and lime peel.”  The National Aquarium contributed by helping the brewery replicate the sea salt from Maine and the Chesapeake Bay to give the Gose portion of this beer its satisfying salinity.  The blended, finished beer comes in at 4.9% ABV and has “amazingly tart, refreshing crisp flavors of lime and the deeper slight bitter of black lime, a touch of salt on the tongue, [and] a bit of malt sweetness in the finish.”

The limited release of SeaQuench Ale officially shipped from the brewery on August 1st and will be hanging out throughout September.  Look for this one on draft and in 6-packs of 12 oz. bottles in Florida and in other select markets within Dogfish Head’s distribution footprint (full list below).  Additionally, SeaQuench Ale will be available year-round in the National Aquarium’s cafe and at select National Aquarium events.  Get it while you can and be sure to enjoy this refresher during the hottest months of the year.  Prost!

Vital Information on SeaQuench Ale Sour Session from Dogfish Head Craft Brewery

Release – Limited, August through September
ABV – 4.9%
IBUs – 10
Distribution – FL, AZ, CA, CO, CT, DC, DE, GA, IL, IN, KY, MA, MD, ME, MI, NC, NH, NJ, NV, NY, OH, OR, PA, RI, SC, TN, TX, VA, VT, WA, WI
Fun Fact – “Releasing just in time for the 500th anniversary of the Reinheitsgebot – aka the ‘German Beer Purity Law’ that says it’s illegal to brew with anything other than water, barley, and hops – SeaQuench Ale both commemorates (and disintegrates) this art-censorship law.”