Dogfish Head "In Your Mace"

Five years? Seems like if that's what you think you should put the date further back to the founding of the brewery since they're just doing what Dogfish Head has been doing since the beginning.

 

Are you a DFH apologist? Something tells me that you are.

That aside, what they do was cool at the beginning. Treating beer as a base for a more culinary take on recipe construction. Then they started adding ingredients that didn't show up in the finished beer and then they made their foray into pure novelty. Just make great beer. Leave the novelty at home. Nobody wants it.

 

No, I’m a DFH realist. They are doing what they have done since their founding. That culinary take was behind the origin of 60 and 90 min IPAs.

 

Their idea of "pushing boundaries" and "innovation", however, is far from that. They are a caricature of the brewery that they once were. They've undoubtedly done some really neat stuff over the years, but they've become a joke as of late. I would simply like to see them stop being a joke and just brew great beer. I'm not holding my breath.

 

I was there on Friday and they had it available as a 4 oz taster. I didn't try it but I am going again today and I think I will give it a shot.

 

I had a taste of it at EBF and it was not good. I felt awful after drinking my first taste, poured the rest out. Needed 20 minutes, a lot of water, and a grilled cheese to set me right. Hard pass.

 

Probably just as well as I don't see them changing.

Successful innovation doesn't just happen as if by magic, it takes lots of guided trial and error. Or, as a vintage 1960s (?) poster I once saw featuring a picture of a Princess holding a frog expressed it, "You have to kiss a lot of frogs before you find a handsome prince." Some of the DFH experimentation resulted in one off beers that eventually disappeared, indeed some have never been seen again after test batches at their brewpub. Some of their experimentation has resulted in beers that are now part of their core lineup.

Personally I don't see them as being any different now from what they were and were doing 10 years ago. Yet, (sort of like the Engergizer Bunny) they seem to keep growing and growing and have even have to limit the production of some of their beers so that they don't become a one or two beer brewery.

So whatever they are doing, whether right or wrong from our perspective, seems to be working for them.

 

I'm not debating DFH being a successful brewery. They obviously are. I'm debating how relevant and/or exciting their novelty one-off beer have become. Two different things.

In other words, how many frogs do they have to kiss before they realize that kissing frogs isn't a good strategy for finding princes?

 

Two things? Sure and there’s no debating your degree of excitement with them, that’s only for you to decide.

My point is, as it has been from my first post, they aren’t doing anything differently now than they were 10 or more years ago.

BTW, the history of innovations that stick is that a lot of frog kissing goes on and what counts is the ability to recognize the prince when he comes along.

 

I tried it today. If you are into spicy stouts, you will prob love it. It starts out a little sweet and roasty and then you get some coffee, followed by the spice. It’s not overpowering at all. It’s just a nice smooth spice. The first sip was the best. The heat was at the finish and took a few seconds to hit. But the second, third and fourth sips the spice started to take over take a little bit. Glad I tried it but 4 oz was enough. Just not what I crave.

 

A couple of years ago a local brewery (Iron Duke, I think) made a beer with mace as part of a friendly additives/cask competition witha few others in the area. I was like "wtfffffff" but it was fine. A little spicy/bitter, if I recall.

 

I tasted it at EBF as well. Left a horrible hot pepper taste in the back of my throat. One mouthful was enough for me. Not my cup of tea.
But Long Trail had an interesting onion beer at EBF. Onion on the nose then a sweet carmalized onion flavor.

 

I have enjoyed these pepper/hot beers but the problem is about halfway through the glass I'm not so hot [pun intended] about it anymore. I would try this but I'm sure it would be the same result.

If anyone is interested in trying an interesting beer in this category look for Flying Dog Snake Oil.

 

Mace is in many sausages and wursts. It is something I do like.

 

But do you like pepper spray in them?

 

Not at that level. I do like the beef jalapeño hunters sausage the local butcher shop makes.

 

I absolutely loved Flying Dog's run of pepper beers (hotbox variety, carolina reaper ipa, mango habanero ipa, jalapeno white)!!! Ballast's habanero sculpin was just too goodamn much and almost scratched the throat when going down. I'm curious to see what Dogfish has to offer

 

Is this relevant if the beer doesn't have pepper spray in it either?

 

And you just hit on the reason why DFH is ridiculous.