Dogfish Head Kvasir and Birra Etrusca

Dogfish Head Kvasir (2013)

Occasional Rarity (Limited Release).

25.4 fl. oz. / $9.99 USD / 10% ABV

About: "With the help of biomolecular archaeologist Dr. Patrick McGovern, we've re‐created another Ancient Ale, this time from the Nordic climes of Scandinavia. The recipe for Kvasir was developed with the help of chemical, botanical and pollen evidence taken from a 3,500‐year‐old Danish drinking vessel. The vessel, made of birch bark, was found in the tomb of a leather‐clad woman Dr. Pat says was probably an upper-class dancer or priestess. The analysis pointed to the ingredients used in this unique brew: wheat, lingonberries, cranberries, myrica gale, yarrow, honey and birch syrup.

The base of Kvasir is a toasty red winter wheat, and the bog-grown berries deliver a pungent tartness. While a handful of hops is used, the earthy, bitter counterpunch to the sweet honey and birch syrup comes from the herbs. Food Pairing Recommendations: Sweet-­‐and-­‐sour pork, beef tacos with pickled vegetables, smoked salmon, root vegetables, fresh gingerbread / Glassware Recommendation: Snifter / Wine Comparable: Pressac."

Thoughts: Kvasir poured a vivid orange-red with a thick frothy eggshell white head on top. The beer is incredibly clear, and carbonation is abundant.

Smells like a spiced, alcoholic fruit punch. There's a lot of cranberry all over this, and tons of honey as well. The birch and herbs are what really make this one rather intriguing. It's really sweet smelling, and the spices make it as if it's some exotic herbal candy. I actually really like it.

The first sip of this gives off such a light cranberry juice quality that's it's hard to believe that this is a 10% beer. Then suddenly a rush of bewildering booze flows in that is just strong enough to for you to say "oh there it is" and yet not too strong as to turn you off. This beer is very herbal, very spiced and luckily, not overbearing in the sweetness department. It's not an easy one to describe, since the herbs they used here I had to look up and that birch syrup is masking them a bit. The herbs still come through strong though, but pinpointing just exactly how they taste is proving to be rather difficult. Nonetheless, those two aspects of the beer itself blend together quite nicely. I used to drink birch beer all the time after I first tried it a couple of years back, I never thought that it would go this well with cranberry, but it does, and that's a good thing since this one reeks of cranberry though and through.

I like this beer, though it may be a bit too sweet for me. It doesn't exactly taste anything like a beer though, more like a mead mixed with juice, though that's not a problem for me. I like juice, mead and beer so whatever. Mouth feel is a bit frothy. It's got a soft tartness that you only start to notice as the beer warms towards the second half of the bottle. The bitterness isn't exactly anything I would describe as more than noticeable, as it itself drowns in herbs. You may get a slight puckering affect, but overall it's really fucking sweet and juice-like. If you can get this for 10$ or under I say go for it. I've seen some places trying to sell it for 12-14$ and in my book that's no good. I enjoyed this beer, but it's a bit too sweet for me and while really layered, not complex enough to cut through the sweetness that's represented here.

Dogfish Head BIRRA ETRUSCA Bronze (2012) 

Occasional Rarity (Limited Release).

25.4 fl. oz. / $10.59 USD / 8.5% ABV

About: "To develop the recipe for Birra Etrusca Bronze, Dogfish Head's Sam Calagione traveled to Rome with molecular archaeologist Dr. Pat McGovern. With the help of Birreria Brother Brewers Leo DeVencenzo of Birra del Borgo and Teo Musso of Baladin, they analyzed drinking vessels found in 2,800-year-old Etruscan tombs. The backbone of Birra Etrusca comes from two-row malted barley and an heirloom Italian wheat. Specialty ingredients include hazelnut flour, pomegranates, Italian chestnut honey, Delaware wildflower honey and clover honey. A handful of whole-flower hops are added, but the bulk of the bitterness comes from gentian root and the sarsaparilla-like Ethiopian myrrh resin.

Food Pairing Recommendations: Spiced pickles, marinated olives, hearty beer bolognaise / Wine Comparable: Malbec."

Thoughts: Wow. The head on this thing dissipated fast as fuck. I poured it, went for the camera, and it was just fucking full and then gone. Color is a dirty orange, and slightly cloudy. I see a fair abundance of carbonation rising despite what just happened. And then there's that cyclopean bubble gleaming freakishly in the light.

This smells sweet and just a little bit herbal. It's like a wine actually. Grapes are evident here. Actually, it rather reminds me of a mead once again. I've only had a few of those so far but this one really fits that description.

Well, this is some crazy tasting shit right here now innit? It's extremely herbal tasting, fully. It hits hard and instantly before swirling in a circular motion inside the mouth. Damn that sounds dirty. This beer tastes kinda dirty actually... it's malty, sweet and tart. There's a good blend of sweet and tart here and it's really balanced well. It's a pretty strong beer. There's a thick amount of haze that really lays in and spreads throughout the face. There's honey dripping all over my mouth. Spicy honey. Nicely done DFH.

The feel is a little drying, as if it's almost astringent like. That's fitting.  I like this beer a lot. It's out of its fucking mind, and that's a beautiful thing. Dogfish always intrigue me with their ancient ales, and I hope they keep searching for more to do. Trying all of them in a back to back tasting would be absolutely incredible now that I think about it. Someone better get on that, or I may just have to do it myself.

Cambridge Brewing Heather Ale and Weekapaug Gruit

Cambridge Brewing Heather Ale - Brewed with Heather Flowers (2012)

First Batch Brew.

22 fl. oz. / $6.99 USD / 5% ABV

About: "From out of the darkness of pre-recorded history, Heather Ale is an altogether unique brew. Originally crafted by the inhabitants of coastal Northern Europe, Scandinavia, and the Northern British Isles, fresh heather flowers and other herbs were used to balance and flavor the rustic yet sweet toasted character of the malted barley. Its brewing tradition existed long before the advent of hopped beers, and has continued, sporadically, in small rural communities for millennia.

Brewed with imported Scottish floor-malted barley, fresh hand-harvested heather flowers were added to the kettle during the boil along with sweet gale and lavender, with a further addition of fresh heather and yarrow to the conditioning tanks. Each year the CBC brew-staff handpicks the fresh herbs for this beer from a field along the Atlantic Coast, and adds them into the brew-kettle the very next day. The aroma and flavor are a surprising jog of ancient memory, with commingling subtle notes of heather and honey and an obscure wildflower spiciness complemented by the interplay of mild but assertive, toasty-sweet malt.

Note: Pregnant or breastfeeding women may wish to avoid consuming this beer due to the mild medicinal nature of the herbs used in crafting this beer."

Thoughts: Heather Ale poured a slightly hazy auburn yellow with a huge fluffy white head full of small incredibly small bubbles. The carbonation in this thing is going nuts!

This beer smells really cool. Probably no surprise that it smells of a floral brew. It reminds me a little bit of Samuel Adams White Christmas for some reason. It's got a winter spiced ale type of thing going underneath those huge floral notes. When breathing in real hard, it's like putting your nose right inside a blossoming flower. Really cool stuff.

Before I even get to the taste, I gotta comment on this mouth feel. This beer has an insane feeling to it, it's great. It's incredibly thin and airy, and it just explodes into bubbles and dissolves... now that probably doesn't sound too appealing, but it is so weird and unique and just feels so funny that I love it. It's reminiscent of a soapy type of texture, but doesn't really taste soapy which is a fear that some brewers have with lavender additions.

Of course it's got all of that floral tone from the scent right in there with the taste. A light malt backup gives off a gentle semi-sweetness, and among that there's a soft peppery flavor that goes along with it. It's very crisp. Toasted malts aren't all too sweet, and do have a little bit of raw touch to them, but that helps this beer right along without taking it to any extreme area. It's got a decent bitterness, a decent sweetness, tons of flavor all around and it genuinely interesting.

Overall the taste is pretty unique, and it's got a great aftertaste too. A fun little beer.

Cambridge Brewing Weekapaug Gruit (2012)

Limited Release - First Batch (April 2012)

22 fl. oz. / $6.59 USD / 5.5% ABV

About: "A modern take on a mideaval, unhopped herbal beer! Produced for centuries, long before the use of hops, Gruit (pronounced “grew-it” or “groot”) was what beer was throughout the Middle Ages. Our contemporary interpretation of gruit is brewed with malted barley, wheat, and oats, and fermented with our Belgian yeast. It also incorporates the traditional brewing herbs sweet gale, yarrow, and wild  rosemary, along with Labrador tea, licorice root and nettles, all organic and wildcrafted."

Thoughts: Weekapaug poured a deep and hazy dark-auburn orange and featured a big, light-auburn almost tan head that began to rapidly deplete as I started snapping photos. It's loud too. Definately the loudest head I've ever heard before. Kinda sounds like rice crispies, that's how loud these bubbles are popping! Nuts.

Speaking of nuts. It's very nutty. Not really peanuts though, slightly off. Yeasty nuts more like it. And yes, I did stop and giggle to myself after I wrote that. The scent immediately reminds me of a certain Dogfish Head brew... Pangaea.

Taste is that of the smell. It's very mellow. There's a hint of light butter in there, or are the herbs just playing tricks with my mind. It's not remarkably sweet, but there's a lingering sweetness throughout the whole beer. When you first get some in your mouth it's just slightly tingly and almost hints at being spicy, but not really. There's an almost sour-like tinge that can attack if you let it hit the right spot, but mostly it's only a weak puckering effect. It's a bit fruity up front, like a semi-sour citrus, but the herbs mix in quick and take the flavor to a strange otherworldly dimension... then after it's swallowed there's that lingering Belgian yeast / peanut note. It's not bad.

Mouthfeel is that of a semi-flat soda. It's very smooth and crisp through. Starts to dry the throat after a while.

This beer goes through a few fun little stages but it doesn't seem terribly complex. It's like a strong tea rather, with a bready malt backdrop. This beer is ranking for me as a very decent end enjoyable experience. I'm not going to go out and re-buying it anytime soon, but I would like to try other beers of this seemingly rare style. After all, the very few beers I have tried that taste like (two or three of them) have all been unique and also pretty good, though all very similar tasting. Something about these types of beers intrigue me in a strange way. I don't yearn for them, but I'm still rather fascinated and want more.