Where's Dogfish Head Palo Santo?

Pretty sure that DFH had to stop making it mainly b/c they couldn't replace the type of wood, Palo Santo wood, that they used to line the inside of the fermentation tanks they fermented this beer in. Back in 2007 when the idea to make this beer first came about, DFH had to import many planks/boards of this wood, which is only found in countries like Ecuador and Peru, so they could line their fermenter they used for this beer. Not an inexpensive investment to say the least. DFH totally encased the inside of at least one of their tanks w/ this wood, and for several years at least this tank/these tanks were used only to make this one specific beer. One special thing about wood from the Palo Santo tree is that it is one of if not the only type of wood that is so dense it doesn't float in water. It sinks like a stone. There is actually a 15-20 minute long DVD called Take Time that came w/ the first 4 packs of this beer when it was first released for the first time in 2008 where DFH explained all about the process of them making this beer and why they feel the Palo Santo wood is so special and was a key element in them making such an amazing beer. Anyone else here remember that DVD? I still have mine around here somewhere. Anyways, eventually, after about 10 years or so, as others here have already mentioned, there simply was nothing left in the wood to flavor/age the beer. At that point, for the brewery to import enough new Palo Santo wood to replace the worn out wood was/is either so expensive at the end of that 10 year period that it was/is unfortunately simply too cost prohibitive at this point for DFH to do it again, or the countries this wood comes from banned the importing of it, at least in such large quantities, to other countries due to the Palo Santo tree now being an endangered species or something like that. It was/is certainly 1 of these 2 things for the reason why there just is no way DFH could get enough Palo Santo wood to keep making this amazing beer. And it was/is an absolutely amazing beer that I still have one bottle of left in my cellar. And no I am not interested in trading it. Sorry.

Eric

 

A simple equation indeed, but one that can also be further simplified to:
No [beer] = sadness

Or, as the kids say:
!=

 

This short video from DFH has Caligione standing in front of a wooden tank (so, not a lined tank) labeled "Palo", explaining that the beer's initial fermentation was in stainless steel. Later, the entire tanks are shown.

DFH's webpage for the beer also makes the dubious claim

I don't know, one of the brewing industry's most well-known wooden tank builder was Dunck, and they were supplying numerous large brewers with tanks after Repeal (as late 1950, Tropical Brewing Company installed new wooden tanks).

Most sources don't give the size of tanks, unfortunately, but the small Humboldt brewery in California had 345 bbl. tanks installed, suggesting large brewers like Anheuser-Busch, Miller, Blatz and Hamm likely used wooden casks of that size or larger?

Also, while Caligione in the video says most tanks were oak, a shortage of oak after Prohibition saw many breweries installing tanks of redwood (as noted above), cedar and cypress (the recently revived August Schell's tanks from 1936 are cypress as were the long-lived Dixie Brewing Co. tanks).

 

Great beer. Even better with age. I had a couple 2014’s floating around for a long time but I believe I drank the last one in 2020 when I was running through my cellar while keeping myself entertained during Covid. I think I still have a 2015 as my last one. Had no clue that the prospects of it returning are so bleak. Will be sure to savor that last one just a little bit more since it will probably be my last.

A related side note, not that I’ve looked terribly hard but I haven’t seen a Raison D’extra in years whcih is also a beer I absolutely love.

 

Goes to show how craft beer loses the dedication and passion to experimentation and innovation once it’s sold to a publicly traded company, then all the orders from above are simply to maximize the bottom line. Well there are always plenty of other artisanally passionate brewery owners out there still. I really respect Sam C and all that he has done and contributed to the American craft beer movement. He belongs in the Beer Hall of Fame for sure.

 

I would hope that this isn't the case, but yeah, I did think the same thing when I started reading this thread. However, on a more optimistic side, I do see some of the larger breweries having a segment of their beer which are not necessarily popular styles being available in small batches. The challenge with the small batches is that they tend to be regional and not distributed across all states. Of course, I could just be making all of this up and just need a beer.

 

How do people claim something is "since before?" What would that even mean? Maybe I'm being as dense as palo santo wood.

There might be truth to your comment, but do you really think that DFH would be sourcing more heavy palo santo wood from Paraguay if the company wasn't acquired? It's a bit strange to use the discontinuation of a beer as an example of the loss of "experimentation and innovation." Isn't that the opposite? (I realize I'm being a stickler and I get your intention. )

 

I guess my point is that DFH historically would get very creative with their brewing processes and ingredients and frequently release new beers and styles of beer regularly, but not only is there less crazy new beers coming out but what seems to me as a contraction of their historical wide variety of beers styles and crazy hybrids as well. Palo Santo was just one of many we aren’t seeing any more but now we just get another IPA variety or new adjunct into their WWS like every other brewer is doing.

 

I hear ya. I don't know if what you are seeing has more to do with the current state of the marketplace or their ownership though. One also has to wonder how much the changing marketplace conditions encouraged Calagione to sell... so that relationship might make my separation of causation a pointless distinction. Cheers.

 

I think you are spot on in that with Calagione selling to BBC, he probably doesn’t have as much decision authority on beer making and BBC is most likely just following market trends now to hit their quarterly targets (ie make a portfolio of IPAs) vs being an eccentric innovator of beers in the craft beer industry.

 

Sad but true, unfortunately

 

DFH is a brewery that once was. A by-gone era brewery.

 

I also greatly miss this beer. Who else here is a homebrewer? I plan to (attempt to) brew my own in the future. While I couldn't find a recipe directly from DFH, there are plenty of clone recipes out there. Here's one: https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/96272/schubrew-palo-santo-project . While expensive for a large-scale commercial brewer like DFH, palo santo wood is readily available and while not cheap, doable on a homebrew scale: https://mountainroseherbs.com/palo-santo-sticks.

Get brewing!

 

At some point (hopefully not too soon) we will need a list of the top 100 beers once easily obtainable but no longer available.

 

That FW collab with cigar city was absolute magic. Los Lenadores. I pray they do something like that again

 

Actually saw it hidden on an end cap at a liquor store in Fall River over the weekend. Was surprised to see it.

 

Which store? I live like 20 minutes from Fall River lol

 

Jay’s Wine and Spirits - it was tucked away on an end cap in the beer aisle.