Sah'tea
Dogfish Head Craft Brewery

Sah'teaSah'tea
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From:
Dogfish Head Craft Brewery
 
Delaware, United States
Style:
Sahti
Ranked #4
ABV:
9%
Score:
87
Ranked #16,486
Avg:
3.88 | pDev: 14.43%
Reviews:
606
Ratings:
1,855
Status:
Active
Rated:
Jul 16, 2022
Added:
Sep 28, 2008
Wants:
  229
Gots:
  251
This Ancient Ale is a modern take on a 9th-century Finnish beer.

The wort for Sah'tea is caramelized over white-hot river rocks, and the beer is fermented with a German weizen yeast. In addition to juniper berries foraged from the Finnish countryside, Sah'tea is flavored with black tea, cardamom, cinnamon, ginger, cloves and black pepper.

The spicing is subtle and balanced, and Sah'tea is a highly-quaffable, truly unique brew with a full mouthfeel.

6 IBU
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
Ratings by doktorhops:
Photo of doktorhops
Reviewed by doktorhops from Australia

4.33/5  rDev +11.6%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 5 | feel: 4 | overall: 5
Dogfish Head is the type of brewery I would own (if I owned a brewery). Not content just to brew the staple craft beer styles (APA, IPA, DIPA, Imperial Porter, etc) these guys like to branch out and brew beers from other times and other cultures. QED: With Sah'Tea - based on a traditional Finnish ale known as Sahti and brewed to a 9th century recipe, then adding black Chai tea (not in the original recipe) Dogfish Head are testing the limits, and now hopefully my taste buds.

Poured from a 757ml bottle into a Chimay chalice.

A: Presents with a cloudy orange/gold body and a white head that soon dissipates to a ring of lacing (no head is the norm in 8% ABV+ brews).

S: The aroma is dominated by the black Chai tea - think of tea and spices like: cardamom, coriander seed, cinnamon, clove and throw in some honey as well. Not much else to report, if you put Chai tea in a beer it is certain to overpower the olfactory senses.

T: The flavour is where the balance comes in to play: cardamom, coriander seed, cinnamon, clove, juniper berry, sweet rye and honey all intermingle and balance sublimely. Finish is both dry (with some tea leaf astringency) and bitter with earthy green herbs. The way this ale moderates the competing flavours is a master-class in brewing by Dogfish Head. For a flavour comparison this is like a glass of fine spiced mead with some herbal bitterness thrown in.

M: Medium bodied with a reasonably dense carbonation.

D: Well I am impressed with my first Dogfish Head brew. I never expected any less though, and there are so many of their beers I would love to try - the Midas Touch was a beer I was keen on finding at Plonk! (to no avail). There is a proviso when trying this beer - you have to like Chai tea and spiced mead - if either of those don't agree with you then I would suggest stepping away from this ale: It is a spice roller-coaster!

Food match: Take a bottle of this to your local Renaissance fair or medieval themed restaurant (that does BYO) and you will be thick in the action.
Jun 29, 2014
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Photo of imnodoctorbut
Rated by imnodoctorbut from Texas

4.55/5  rDev +17.3%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
this brew was an absolute experience. loved every second of it.
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Sah'tea from Dogfish Head Craft Brewery
Beer rating: 87 out of 100 with 1855 ratings