Beer Review: Dogfish Head Robert Johnson's Hellhound On My Ale

Fresh Snifter Pour

My wife and I are down in Delaware for a few days on vacation. She wanted to surprise me with a trip to the Dogfish Head Brewpub in Rehoboth for an afternoon of fun. The secret got out a few days before our trip. I was extremely excited for this day. I dutifully did my homework and saw that there were four or five brew pub exclusives on tap this week, all of which I had never had. I was able to enjoy all of them. What really excited me was the beer I had not yet heard of, Hellhound.

From what I've read this is the second in the series of the Sony collaboration, a follow up to Miles Davis' Bitches Brew. I had not heard one peep of this brew prior to arriving. I am a music fanatic and was very pleased with Bitches Brew. Being a Miles Davis nut I was like a pig in shit when this one finally came out. Finding out that there's another in the series? Hell yeah. It's on. I feel like I've struck gold. I was quite excited that it was on draft at the brew pub. We were able to leave with two 750ml bottles to take home. We were told that this is a production batch and that we will see it in stores.

Full bottle shot

Hellhound is an imperial India pale ale brewed with lemons. IPA is a style that is not at all new to the folks at Dogfish head. Their sessionable 60 Minute IPA, hop bomb 90 Minute IPA and cellar dweller booze bomb 120 Minute IPA are all regulars in my household. Their Burton Baton is a nice oak aged imperial IPA and their brew pub/ale house exculsive 75 Minute IPA are both very enjoyable. Their Spring seasonal ApriHop is a excellent tart fruit IPA. So, why do we need yet another IPA from Dogfish Head? It appears to be about inspiration here.

When we first arrived it was not yet tapped. About an hour in to our visit the bartender told us that it was on an ready to pour. One please! He poured a fresh one in to a snifter for me. It appears light hazy copper with big off white fluffy head and sticky lacing. The aroma is of sweet sticky non-bitter hop notes, not much else surprisingly.

The flavor is surprisingly mild with earthy hop notes up front. It has a sweet and lemon juicy feel to it. Creamy sweet middle with some grapefruit and bitter lemon notes, with a fading bitter finish. This is not the hop bomb I expected. It feels medium to light-medium bodied and only a hint of alcohol warmth. Very enjoyable and not very heavy on the palate.

Overall I'd have to say that Hellhound is a very good representation of the imperial IPA style. Much more fruity than I expected. This is an excellent alternative to the 90 min IPA if you don't want the overwhelming bitter bops and alcohol feel. This clocks in at a slightly higher ABV than the 90 but you wouldn't know it at all. I really do enjoy (the side effects of) high gravity and high ABV brews, but sometimes it's just not practical or convenient to enjoy them. This one will sneak up on you. It's incredibly easy to drink for 10% alcohol by volume. A full pint will have you feeling warm and fuzzy.

In my opinion, success in brewing is achieved when all ingredients are represented in flavor and aroma and the alcohol content is well hidden.  This one is very close to being perfect for me. The aroma was a tad underwhelming. If it the smell matched the flavor profile they'd have hit a home run. Instead, they hit a triple which subsequently got two runs in.

So, I've got two big bottles to bring home to Baltimore to share. Who want's to come over for a tasting?

I'll be completing a full write up of the brew pub exclusives Noble Rot, Ta Henket, Fungus Tea'Mungus and Black & Red sometime later this week when we get home. Check my Twitter posts (@AleThoughts) for pictures and a few tasting notes.

Here are some close ups of the bottle label.

Saturday Night at ChurchKey in DC

My wife and I vistied ChurchKey in DC before seeing Ralphie May at Lisner Auditorium. Their website wasn't working so I couldn't do my homework. Got in just before 6PM and it was packed. After IDs were checked at the top of the stairs we quickly snagged a seat at the end of the bar near the servers station. A single seat opens up and Erin takes it. Sweet! I'm in, and my wife has a comfortable seat. This sets me up for at least 90 mins of sampling. I've been hearing about this place for some time now and had yet to go. I was pretty excited. Here's how it went:





Sierra Nevada Ovila Abbey Dubbel 
Was really excited to see this on tap. Wasn't sure if I'd be able to find it. It has an excellent mellow and developed flavor profile. Very easy to drink





BrewDog Dogma 
Very weird as expected. But a mellow weird that is easy to drink. The strong honey finish hides it's 7.8% ABV.





Founders Dirty Bastard 
Good as expected but I'm still not a fan of the style.



Kasteel Tripel 
Last time I had this it was one of 18 Belgians consumed on my 30th birthday at Max's Taphouse in Baltimore. Excellent representation of one of my favorite styles.


Alvinne Gaspar 
Very hop present Belgian IPA. Flavor profile is very similar to the West coast American IPAs.




Firestone Walker Nectar IPA 
Excellent earthy hop nose. Beyond that it was a good and well balanced IPA.



Leipziger Gose 

Nice way to clean the palate, slight sour and very malty.

The food here was really well done upscale pub-fare. Service was quick. Bartenders were knowledgeable. Prices were really reasonable. 4 oz pours were from $2-$4, full glasses $4-$7. We're going to go back soon, maybe for lunch one day when it may not be so crowded.

Hill Farmstead Event at Rattle N Hum in NYC

by Greg Kokosinski (@gregkoko)


Last night my good friend Greg visited one of New York's premier tap bars for this event. Greg has Northern NJ and NYC covered for us. You should follow him on Twitter!


In 2010, Shaun Hill, headbrewer of Hill Farmstead Brewery, quickly became the critical darling of the craft beer world.  Located on a farm in Greensboro, Vermont, Hill Farmstead has brewed some of the highest rated beers to come out in the past year.  They were rated the number one new brewery on Rate Beer for 2010.  If you hope to find any of Hill Farmstead's beers, good luck to you.  Bottles are only available at the retail shop in Vermont.  Their draft offerings are mainly available in Vermont, but the occasional keg will make its way to New York City or Philadelphia.  

It's always a treat to see Hill Farmstead show up on the draft list at one of the better know beer bars in Manhattan such as Rattle N Hum.  Rattle N Hum is located on 33rd Street between 5th and Madison Avenue in the heart of Midtown Manhattan.  They showcase more than 40 craft beers on tap every day along with one of the biggest bottle lists you'll ever see.  For the most part we see a select few of the Ancestor Series, the main lineup of beers for Hill Farmstead.  All of the beers are named for Shaun's ancestors, such as Edward, the flagship American pale ale named for Shaun's grandfather.

It was a great thrill to see Rattle N Hum announce a Hill Farmstead event for Friday April 8th.  They boasted that this would be the largest Hill Farmstead event New York has seen up until this point in time.  Rattle N Hum was to have nine of Hill Farmstead's fantastic selections on tap.  There were to be some of the lesser distributed beers from the Ancestor Series as well as a few from the Single Hop IPA series.

Typically, Rattle N Hum hosts their brewery events on Tuesday nights to ensure smaller crowds and so everyone can get a taste of what they want.  As this was a Friday night, I knew I needed to rush down after work.  The happy hour crowd plus the weekend crowd would guarantee a huge turnout.  Luckily, everything was still on tap when I arrived, but to my dismay only six kegs made their way down to Rattle N Hum for the event.

I started off with Harlan (American IPA), described by the brewery as "Edward's slightly more aggressive alter-ego."  There was a nice citrus nose, and a wonderful bitterness to the beer.  This was an excellent IPA, dry hopped with Columbus hops.  I then moved onto Everett Robust Porter.  Nice notes of roasted malt, chocolate, coffee, and vanilla.  Surprisingly hot for a 7.5% beer though.  Next up was Anna, a saison-ish biere de Miel.  Anna is brewed with 20% raw wildflower Vermont honey and Hill Farmstead's house saison yeast.  Obviously, you get the honey up front.  This is a bit of a dry saison, and like everything else, Shaun really knocks it out of the park.  I ended the all too short night with a Foster, classified as a Black Rye IPA.  As far as Black IPAs go, this is second to none.  Aggressively hopped, but well balanced with rye and roasted malt.

All in all, this was an incredibly well run event which is to be expected from Rattle N Hum.  They truly are in a class all their own as far as beer bars are concerned.  Hill Farmstead will continue to make a big name for themselves in the craft beer world this year.  They could easily go from the number one new brewery to the number one overall brewery in the world.  I greatly look forward to whatever Hill Farmstead comes up with next.  I just hope I get to see it in New York bars!

Huge thanks again to Greg for this coverage of the NYC scene. I look forward to more from him in the future! Be sure to follow Hill Farmstead and Rattle N Hum on Twitter @HillFarmstead , @rattlenhumbar

Beer Review: DuClaw Euphoria

I enjoyed two pints of DuClaw Euphoria at Blue Grass Tavern in Baltimore, MD. My wife and I met some friends for Sunday brunch. I wasn't expecting this place to have anything decent as far as beer. To my surprise, the first this I see at the bar is two tap handles, this and Dale's Pale Ale. I've had Dale's a lot, but I'd never had this one. Plus, it's good to support local breweries! I asked the server what style it was, she couldn't say. She did say that it was brown and sweet, which had me thinking that it was an English brown. It was. The service was well below average, but that didn't keep me from enjoying this brew.

This pours a cloudy dark brownish red with big white foamy head. Leaves behind webbed sticky lacing and a little bit carbonation streams. Smells mildly sweet and almost like a toasted toasted English muffin

Whoppers! This tastes just like malted milk balls. I happen to enjoy that candy, so this was very pleasing. Very malty and sticky sweet from the first taste through the middle. Some mild light roasted coffee notes. This one finishes with some clean, mild and bitter. As it opens up some mild spiced notes arrive, almost like toasted mild gingerbread.

Feels medium bodied. Easy to drink, but not quite session-able. I had two in this sitting, and enjoyed the first one far more than the second. Very sweet and great to pair with traditional American breakfast foods like eggs, ham, grits and other savory and salty items. I imagine that this would be a good dessert beer. I'd order this one again if I saw it.

Keep up the good work DuClaw! Blue Grass Tavern, I hope the service is usually better.

What's on deck for the weekend? What are you planning to crack open?

It's Thursday. The day before Friday. Many of us start the weekend early by enjoying a few choice brews on this fine evening each week. So far tonight for me has been pretty good. An Aprihop with dinner. Opened up an amber home brew as well as a Dubbel Cannon. Not sure If I'm going to make it much past the Cannon tonight.

Here's what I'm setting aside for the weekend

DuClaw Naked Fish - This one is completely new to me. A chocolate raspberry stout that clocks in at a very manageable 4.6% ABV. I'm intrigued.
Brooklyn Monster (2011) - I got a four pack a few months ago and have been meaning to get a good base tasting. Maybe this weekend?
Heavy Seas Dubbel Cannon - I've got a few left from the comp'd sixer:)
Dogfish Head Aprihop - 'tis the season, right?
Evolution Lot No. 3 IPA - Excellent IPA from our friends who are coming back to MD soon
Dogfish Head World Wide Stout - Quickly becoming my favorite beer. I've recently come upon some 2009 bottles. Opened one a few weeks back to share. Not happening this time. Going to tame this beast solo.
Heavy Seas Holy Sheet - I've had a few of these sitting around since they first appeared this year. I'd really like to open one up
Heavy Seas Big DIPA (2009) - I have one left. Got it at the brewery last October.

So, what brews do you plan to enjoy this weekend? Please post here and share.

Beer Review: Harpoon Leviathan Quad

This is my first experience with this beer. I picked up a four pack at the Perfect Pour in Columbia, MD a few weeks back. I plan to set a few of these aside for a while. This is my "baseline" tasting.

Belgian Quads are typically very dark and very strong. I treat these as I do barley wines and imperial stouts. Keep it at room temperature so all the flavors and aromas can shine. The American versions tend to be more bitter. Some quads that cane be found on shelves include Weyerbacher Quad, Ommegang's Three Philosophers, St. Bernardus Abt 12 and the holy grail of beer, the Westie 12. Trappist Westvleteren 12.

Poured out of a 12 oz. bottle date stamped "026" (2011-01-26) -> giant snifter at room temperature. Appears dark cherry red only allowing some light through, very little head with a few tiny carbonation streams. Leaves a fairly loose lacing, not really much. The aroma is quite startling. Strong black licorice, chewy root beer candy, unsweetened bubble gum, tart dry cherries, anise and strong alcohol. Complex.

The flavors are a bit different. I picked up dark toasted pumpernickel, raisins, dried figs, dark cherries, almost too-dark toffee and strong alcohol. It felt medium to medium heavy in body with lots of alcohol warmth.

This is a huge chewy beer. One 12 oz. bottle could easily be split between two servings. I have a feeling that a fresh tasting would not even compare to a vintage tasting. I imagine that the strong alcohol aroma, flavors and warmth will mellow over time letting all these earthy fruity aromas and flavors come to the foreground.

"Collaboration Not Litigation Ale" Pennsylvania Style?

Troeg's Brewing Company is suing Fegley's Allentown BrewWorks over an elf. Fegley's brews Rude Elf's Reserve. Troeg's Winter seasonal is Mad Elf. Troeg's is calling dibs. It should be noted that  Fegley's Rude Elf's Reserve previous name was "Rudolph's Reserve".

I think the two breweries should skip the legal BS and collaborate on a special release for Winter. The folks at Avery Brewing Company and Russian River Brewing Company made it work. The two breweries realized that they each had a beer in their line up with the word "salvation" in the name. In 2006 they released a blend of the two brews in to one super beer. Collaboration Not Litigation Ale showcases the work of both breweries. It's a Belgian Strong Dark Ale that packs 8.72% ABV currently holding a "B+" average over at BeerAdvocate.com

So, is Troeg's really just admiring the stellar work of their competitor and attempting to force a collaboration?