Brew Reviews

Dogfish Head Chicory Stout

Availability: Nationwide in the US, year-round.

Price comparison: About the price of everyday beer.

Alcohol percentage by volume: 5.2%.

Cute bottle/label? Twelve ounce standard brown glass bottle. Labeled in earth-tones with a background image of coffee beans, presumably because roasted chicory roots are visually unattractive, and chicory leaves, while very pretty indeed, are actually radicchio, which has nothing to do with this beer and would therefore be very misleading indeed.

The above information has been provided by the Department of Useless Knowledge.

As always, the copywriters at Dogfish Head have provided a folksy description of the bottle's contents on the label, in this case, reading "A rich, dark brew smoothed out with a touch of roasted chicory and organic Mexican coffee. Goodness beneath a bone white head."

Appearance: The stout itself is a luxurious dark brown, with a dark, old-gold luster when held to the light.

As to the "bone white" head, apparently this is some strange definition of "bone white" with which I was not previously familiar, said definition being "dark tan".

I thought perhaps my eyeballs were dirty, so I called for a color confirmation from others in the vicinity, but by the time they reached me (about twenty seconds from my hail of, "Hey, come here for a minute"), the head was dissipated. So they didn't get to see the head, but we all agreed, from the threads of brown lace clinging to the glass, that my eyes were as clean as they are ever going to be, and bone-whiteness, by our standards, was simply not present.

Scent: Definitive espresso prominence, but also whiffs of strong black tea and an easy, toasted maltiness.

Flavor: The richness of the aroma loses in translation with the comparitively thin mouthfeel. The first flavor characteristic I was aware of was chemical carbonation, always a disappointment after such a promising scent, but it opened up a little once it warmed; black coffee and a bit of bitter chocolate, with maybe a hint of the promised chicory at the finish.

Impressions: The "bone white head" thing threw me for a loop, as I mentioned. Leaving that out of the equation, I felt the overall flavor profile was just not all that balanced. By far not the worst beer I've ever tasted, and certainly superior in my opinion than domestic macrobrews, but the mouthfeel would have had to be a little creamier for me not to feel a bit let-down by the whole experience.

Will I buy this beer again? I probably won't. The flavors are strong, but not pleasant enough to enjoy on their own, and other stouts - in fact, other Dogfish Head offerings - are as readily available and better executed.

Normally I'd say this is "worth a try, once", but I'd really prefer not to encourage the brewery to stick with this formula. If this is the only Dogfish Head beer carried by your local packaged goods store, ask them if they'd mind check their distributors' catalogs for other varieties.

Rating:

2 out of 5 cute beer glasses

Cerveza Potro

Price comparison: About $3 per sixteen ounces.

Alcohol percentage by volume: 4.7%

Cute bottle/label? 25 ounce cobalt-blue bottle with a squat base and extreme long neck. Label is silver and blue; very eye-catching and attractive.

A tag hung round the neck by a silver elasticized cord gives a bit of history: The Cervecera Mexicana, an old name in Mexican brewing trying to reestablish itself, apparently bought a brewery in Illinois and had its equipment dismantled, shipped in twenty flat rail cars to Guanajuato, and reassembled.

Appearance: Very dark, with a thin brownish head and no lacing.

Scent: Nice, grainy scent like cornmeal or toasted white bread.

Flavor: A thin bitterness like unsweetened instant coffee, with a slightly chocolate reminiscence as it warmed, but very little in terms of fruit or hoppiness. I wished it tasted as good as it smelled.

Impressions: I have been on the lookout for more Mexican beers, because I don't care for Corona, XX and Modelo are decent but get boring from their mere ubiquitousness, and Casta, my favorite, isn't always readily available. I was immediately attracted to this based on its pretty bottle, but its low ABV and lack of character were kind of disappointing.

Seemed kind of silly, when they could just as easily have left those vats in Illinois.

Will I buy this beer again? About the only reason I see for buying this again myself is if I decide I want another of these pretty blue bottles so I'll have a pair. I think they'd make nice candlesticks.

If you like porters, you might want to try this, just for the experience of it, but I'd be more inclined to recommend a different brand to fans of the variety. Given a choice at a Mexican restaurant between this and, say, Heineken, I'd personally grab the Heinie (or, more likely, drink soda or water).

Rating:

2 out of 5 cute beer glasses

Belhaven Best Draught

Price comparison: Slightly more than the average domestic.

Alcohol percentage by volume: 3.9%

Cute bottle/label? 440ml nitro can in a deep teal color with an oval logo.

Appearance: Clear dark gold with a lavish nitro head, cascading bubbles, and thick streaks of lace.

Scent: A little malt, but nothing too discernable.

Flavor: Not much. An unpleasant sense of alkalinity that I suspect derives from its low ABV in proportion to its high carbonation.

Impressions: This is Belhaven's Best? This? I think, in terms of light beer, this is one of the better ones I've had, and it's got to be fairly low-carb if that's what you're in the market for (though, as an import, there is no nutritional information on the can), but honestly. I was disappointed.

Will I buy this beer again? I think I'll just stick with Belhaven's Wee Heavy, thanks.

Rating:

2 out of 5 cute beer glasses

Belzebuth

Price comparison: About 2½ times the price of everyday beer.

Alcohol percentage by volume: 13%

Cute bottle/label? Skinny little 8.4 ounce brown glass bottle with a gold foil wrap on the neck and a nearly-cartoonish depiction of the devil on the label.

Appearance: Beautifully clear orange with not much head but fairly decent carbonation and some floating lace.

Scent: The alcohol hit my nose first; heavily sweet scent of bananas and sugar and faint traces of malt followed.

Flavor: Very strong alcohol flavor; almost spicy. Some hoppiness once it warmed.

Impressions: This gave good buzz but frankly, I've had stronger beers, malt liquors, and barleywines that were far less in-your-face. This wasn't unpleasantly alcoholic, as such, except that I'm pretty sure it started life as a lager and mutated badly into something almost completely unlike beer in flavor. If I wanted Jim Beam I'd have bought some; I'd have gotten a bigger bottle for my money, too.

Will I buy this beer again? While I wonder vaguely whether it'd be worthwhile to try to let this age into something more mellow, I don't care enough about it to shell out extra money for such a teensy little bottle that didn't taste that good to me. I can get good buzzes elsewhere.

Rating:

2 out of 5 cute beer glasses

Millenium Brew

Price comparison: Nearly three times what I pay for everyday beer.

Alcohol percentage by volume: 10% at bottling.

Cute bottle/label? 9.3 oz brown glass capsule bottle. Corked, but the type of cork requiring a corkscrew. Be forewarned.

Appearance: Cloudy amber, fair head with no lacing.

Scent: Alcohol, white grapes, slight cherry.

Flavor: Alcohol prevalent, very tart with a dry finish.

Impressions: This ale has a bit of a bad reputation for not having aged consistently. Half of the bottles are reported to have corked out (a slang term for losing palatability over time), so you have a one-in-two chance of getting something drinkable for your money.

If only my luck was as good in playing the lottery as in picking the correct bottle of old beer.

Who knows how high the alcohol content is at this point? 10% at bottling in 1997 after having already aged eighteen months, this didn't taste quite right to me at first, but by the time I'd got to the bottom of the bottle I didn't really give a damn. It had not gone bad; the smell and taste were very strong and peppery, but not unpleasantly so. And I got a damned good buzz off of it.

Unfortunately, I woke up at my usual time the next morning and felt like a tree full of owls. So even if you get a good bottle, you may regret it in the morning.

Will I buy this beer again? At three times the cost of more stable beer, I'd as soon not take a chance on getting a corked-out bottle. Just because I was lucky this time round doesn't mean my luck wouldn't change next time. The only way I can in good conscience recommend this ale is if you are a) a gambler at heart and don't mind the concept of possibly having to dump most of your investment into the sink; and/or b) are prepared for the possibility of a persistent need for headache remedies the next day.

Rating:

2 out of 5 cute beer glasses