Milkshake, anyone?

Dogfish Head Craft Brewery in Milton, DE

I think it’s telling that our 400th post here at Barbeerians is a review of a Dogfish beer. Even before my days of getting into Dogfish beer at Michigan, the mystique surrounding the Delaware craft brewery was at atmospheric levels. It was unobtainable in Montana, and their 120 Minute IPA was one of the costliest beers on the menu at our favorite bar in Ann Arbor. So when I first started diving into craft beers, Dogfish rose to the top quickly. I still like seeking out all of their selections. Even if a raspberry or blueberry puree beer doesn’t sound like the best thing, there’s a damn good chance the beer will be drinkable and unlike anything else you’ll ever try. But with this innovation comes some luck. Even when I do try a funky Dogfish beer, I’m afraid the ~$15 I’ve spent could deliver something like a glorified grape juice. So sometimes, it’s nice to find a solid and down-to-earth beer from Dogfish that isn’t made from insect wings or golden pixie dust gathered from a lunar module, which is partly why I’m such an enormous fan of the Dogfish Head Immort Ale, a beer packed with some rather stock flavors that come together to form a tasty crescendo of everyday beer elements.

The Immort pours a really crisp looking dark golden red color and has deep flavors popping off the top of the beer in form of roasted, smoky malt and almost some lighter touches of chipotle mixed with vanilla. The head on the beer hung around for generations, and the carbonation was higher on this one than I expected. The taste, though, was the strong point (thankfully) with a sweet blast from the vanilla and maple coming through right away. The vanilla taste in the beer really trumped almost everything else and combined quite well with the high viscosity to create a smooth and sweet treat. If you made a rich milkshake with vanilla, lots of bourbon, some maple sweetness and some malt and blended the bad boy for a few years, you might have a pretty good analogue for the Immort Ale.

Granted, this might not be what most people are looking for in a high gravity beer from Dogfish Head, but the creaminess and the smoothness combined with the vanilla really created a beer that was unique and still didn’t taste like a Smirnoff Vanilla Milkshake Icy Fun Time Beverage drink that some sweeter beers can start to emulate. This is certainly a beer worth seeking out even if you don’t like softer, sweeter beers–it still packs a boozy punch with enough elements to please a range of beer fans.