Dogfish Head - Faithfull Ale

Every once in a while we drink a random beer to break up the weeks a bit. Today it's Dogfish Head's Faithfull Ale purchased at Vintage Estates.

This is "a celebration of Pearl Jam's 20th anniversary as a band and their seminal album Ten - In recognition of these milestones this Belgian style golden ale is delicately hopped to 20 IBUs and fruit-forward from 10 incremental additions of black currants over the course of the one hour boil." Faithfull Ale is the third beer in the brewery's Music Series, following their Miles Davis-inspired Bitches Brew and their beer tribute to blues man Robert Johnson, Hellhound On My Ale. This is 7% ABV.

Overall average rating: 8.3/10

It pours a translucent Belgian blonde color that is partially unfiltered. We smell Belgian yeast and crystal malt. Chris thinks it smells kind of like a crayon. The taste is very subtle, with wheat, currant, and Belgian yeast (with a slight banana flavor).

Shawn- The flavor develops really well; every sip tastes better than the last, 9/10.

Angela- This is a really good Belgian-style beer. I'm glad Shawn finally decided to share it! 8.5/10.

Chris- This has a punch - it starts out mild, has a strong middle, and finishes mild. I enjoy the development, but it is too strong in one flavor, 7.5/10.

Happy birthday, Shawn! (Beer #1: Dogfish Head Bitches Brew)

We rang in Shawn's birthday after midnight by opening our year aged Dogfish Head Bitches Brew.

In hind sight, listening to the album while we drank probably would have made the experience that much better, but we were so excited to pop open the bottle and ring in Shawn's birthday that we didn't think of it. This ale is brewed with honey and gesho, has 38 IBUs and started out as 9% ABV.

Overall average rating: 9.25/10

This beer pours opaque and tar black with a mocha head. The aroma gives off scents of chocolate, malt, coffee, a little smoke, honey, and molasses. The taste is thick, clean, and smooth. The flavor is mainly a roasty chocolate with coffee undertones which are not predominant but spread throughout the beer. The honey pleasantly offsets the bitterness of the hops and coffee.

Shawn- It is extremely well-balanced; the flavor points are spot on. It's reminds me of coffee honey ice cream. The only problem is that I may never have this vintage again, 9.5/10.

Angela- First off, yum! This is a rich, delicious beer with an awesome balance of coffee, chocolate, and malt flavors. It is definitely one of my favorite beers, 9.25/10.

Chris- The coffee flavor is perfect because it stays throughout the beer without feeling like I'm drinking a cup of coffee. I would give it a better rating if the other flavors were as perfect, 9/10.

Dogfish Head - Punkin Ale

Our next pumpkin beer has a pretty awesome backstory: DogFish Head Punkin Ale purchased at Havana House.

Backstory: It is located in southern Delaware and was first released in November 1994. The cool part is that it is named after a locally-known event - Punkin Chunkin, which from what I gather, is where people build devices to launch pumpkins into the air and then into the ground. Sweet! It is a full-bodied brown ale brewed with real pumpkin, brown sugar, allspice, cinnamon, and nutmeg. It is 7% ABV.

Overall average rating: 7.2/10

The appearance reminds Chris of Blue Moon - it's translucent and orangey amber in color. The aromas are allspice, pumpkin, cinnamon, and light nutmeg. The taste gives a front tongue bite, a slight metallic taste, and a clean, crisp finish. We taste brown sugar, molasses, and a little wheat.

Shawn- I like that the flavors are poignant and not overpowering. You can definitely taste the flavors without them consuming what you're tasting, 7/10.
Angela- I would definitely drink this again. It has a good taste and a good pumpkin flavor, 7.5/10.
Chris- I get more out of the smell than the taste, though I think it is well-balanced. The metallic taste knocks down my score a bit, 7/10.