Dogfish Head- Method to the madness

I am drinking one right now. Solid stuff.

 

It's very available in the NY metro area, as well as popping in the Hudson Valley; can't speak for further north though.

 

DFH 90 is decent. 60 tastes like soap. I don't understand how anyone enjoys it.

all that experimental stuff is great if you don't like beer that tastes like beer. Maybe their pumpkin is the best one going, if you go in for that stuff. I'll keep my pumpkin in my pie personally.

I am a DFH fan because they helped to bring about the current American beer renaissance, but I never am even slightly tempted to buy their beer. I'll grab a 90 on tap, but that's about it.

Instead of playing with fruit, they should update their IPAs so they actually taste good.

 

I like their 90 Minute IPA, Indian Brown, and Pumpkin. Wasn't a fan of their 120 minute. I picked up a bottle of Bitches Brew today. I haven't had any of their more experimental brews but their regular brews rank among my favorites for their ABV/style. This conversation intrigues me to try them out.

 

You echoed my sentiments almost exactly. But I will say this - try palo santo, burton baton, bitches brew, 120 minute IPA and theobroma. Those are stellar.

 

120 is ok. It's a little too boozey tasting for me. 120 was actually my introduction to DFH about 12 years ago.

 

I'm all for experimentation, I just think their normal stuff could use more attention, and it might be better if they didn't spend so much time experimenting.

That being said, I remember when competition wasn't so stiff thinking their stuff was great. There is just a lot of much better stuff out there. and IDK what's going on with the 60, but it tastes like soap

 

I love DFH. I love their beers and I love how they explore ancient brews. These aren't weird beers, they are attempted recreations. They are precursors and something any beer drinker should take seriously. It isn't just DFH either. Dr. Fritz Briem and a bunch of other companies have ancient ales and see the importance of analyzing the past.

I look at it the same way I see cooking. I cook for a living and it is progressive and will leave you behind as techniques change, especially in the Michelin starred restaurants, just to keep a job we have to constantly read and adapt. But at the same time, we are constantly looking back to Escoffier and Careme. We are looking back to ancient dinners for emperors to see what techniques and ideas can be brought into the future. Sometimes it isn't about doing something new, it is about doing something that sparks thought, and I think DFH does that. They are willing to take risks that a lot of other breweries are not and they get my respect for that. The idea that they stand for more than anything in what they do, is a constant big screw you to inbev and other companies that want to see flavorless lagers riddling store shelves across the US.

And it isn't a hipster mentality, that is a low cutting insult that makes no sense what so ever.

 

The reason they fill their food with their beer is because they want to promote the bridge. In creating a perfectly paired drink and food combination, the rule of thumb is almost always beer in hand, beer in dish or vise versa.

 

I agree completely. Their regular beers are excellent. I think the entire purpose of their experimentation though is to look at the past and where beer came from, and to inspire the rejection of inbev and other companies that seek to mass destroy beer.

 

Happy holidays y'all. I have enjoyed reading this thread instead of wrapping gifts. I am happy that many of our beers bring out passionate opinions. We brew and distribute over 30 beers and we believe our portfolio is diverse enough that there is a few things in there for every beer lover. Statements like "I'll try the pear pils if I can find it, but it sounded weird at first." seem to be a recurring theme in this thread. And a reoccurring theme throughout the history of our brewery. When we began bottling the wood-aged maple syrup infused Immort Ale in 1997. Or 90 Minute, which Greg Koch tells me was the first imperial IPA, in 2000. Or Festina Peche, which I think was the first bottled American Berlinerweiss so many years ago. Each of these beers were considered very "weird" by most beer drinkers when they first came out. I don't take offense to "weird" at all. And while we may do the occasion Rehoboth-pub only out-there experiments like a beer with moon dust we learn a lot from pushing the envelope on little one-off projects like this. Like how certain minerals and salts in the moon rocks interact with yeast. But we don't bottle and distribute any beers that aren't thoroughly coddled, tweaked, and improved through our 8 person micro/sensory QC program. There are multiple test batches of every recipe before we bring them to market. And we dump many hundreds of thousands of dollars of beer that doesn't meet our exact specs every year. We have the resources to put into QC as a 200,000 bbl brewery that I couldn't have even fathomed when we were a 400 bbl per year beer brewery. We are obsessed with quality and consistency in the same way we are obsessed with not following what is already out there in the beer world. We are thankful for the willingness of so many folks in this community for taking a risk on the outside-the-reinheitsgebox we have been brewing since they day we opened and we love seeing so many creative American Craft breweries take gorgeous risks too. Can't wait to try so many of them with so many of you at EBF. Cheers!

 

Wow, looks like you need a better QC team

 

First, there is plenty of the Pils in NY. Any reasonably good beer store should have it by now.
Second, Sam, you just keep on keeping on. I've always been a supporter, but at the same time, I have had a few "WTF?" moments with DFH. But DFH is one of the breweries that taught us to open our minds, long before craft beer was "a thing". There have been some clunkers, and there will be more, but so be it. And Sam pays attention to what goes on. Whenever we have a tasting, we text him pics of whatever crazy aged bottle or vertical we have that day, and he never fails to respond with a craft beer fan response.
I'm a fan. Until he brews an "Old shoe leather and dirty socks inspired" beer. Then I will rethink it.

 

@BellportBeer “Until he brews an "Old shoe leather and dirty socks inspired" beer” sounds like a beer brewed with Brett to me!

Cheers!

 

I personally have no problem with DFH. They perfectly embody what craft brewing should be all about, don't they? I think it's great that some breweries are still exploring and trying to push the envelope in a time where really all anyone talks about is barrel-aged whatever or the most Citra-filled IPA. If I'm not looking to try anything different, I simply don't buy one of their beers. There are plenty of breweries out there that make amazing true-to-style beers, DFH shouldn't be punished for not falling in line.

 

I would wager that you have been drinking a lot of good local and regional IIPAs and your taste buds have shifted. Its not that big of a deal, put down those one dimensional hop bombs and take a break from beer for a week and 60 minute will taste right to you.