Thirsty Thursday: Dogfish Head Red & White

For my first venture in beer reviewing, I could think of nothing better than going to my all-time favorite brewery -- Dogfish Head. I recently found a seasonal from them, Red & White. So here goes.

A big, belgian-style Wit brewed with coriander and orange peel and fermented with Pinot Noir juice. After fermentation a fraction of the batch is aged in Oregon Pinot Noir barrels, and another fraction is aged on oak staves. The beer is blended together before packaging.

That's what the bottle says.

I can think of nothing better to drink than a Belgian Wit or an Oregon Pinot Noir. So I'm excited about trying this.

This bottle is a formidable 1 pint 9.6 ounces (750 ml) and a stout 10% abv. I doubt I'll be able to drink all of this. In fact, I probably shouldn't.

On first pour, the color is golden, typical of a strong Belgian ale with a hint of red -- the Pinot Noir, no doubt.

The aroma is also typical of a great Belgian ale. It smells very much like a Maredsous 10.

The taste is slightly milder than a Maredesous 10, but also slightly sweeter.

This is delicious!!! It tastes of so many late nights at Gezellig.

There is a hint of Pinot Noir. But, honestly, if I didn't know it was there I probably could not identify it.

I feel guilty about opening this bottle. I'm not going to be able to finish it. Luckily I have a vacuum sealer. Hopefully it will work. This needs to be preserved for a least another day.

A+

Wally's Belgian Trippel [Update]

I checked in on the beer today and it was fermenting furiously. In fact, it was fermenting as furiously as I've ever seen. Usually, the bubbler at the top of the carboy (it lets CO2 out, but does not let any air in) will bubble once every 1-2 seconds. But this stuff is bubbling 2-3 times a second. It has even bubbled up some of the hops from the bottom of the fermenter up to the top fermenting yeast.


The bubbler.

Wally's Belgian Trippel

Having made several batches of my signature beer -- Wally's Pale Ale -- it is now time to branch out to other styles of beer. Since many of the tastiest beers are of the Belgian ale varieties and Trippels being the apex of such expression, that's what I chose as my next batch.


For my first time, I'm cheating a little bit by using a kit from Williams Brewing. The contents can be seen above. A large bag of liquid malt extract, two medium sized bags of candy sugar, two small bags of hops (bittering and flavoring) and a bloated bag of yeast. Let's brew!


Hops, bittering on the left, flavoring on the right.


It's been cold at the Wallagio, so I soaked the bag of malt in some hot water to loosen it.


The malt is fully dissolved. Time to hop.


Just about done.


Strained hops -- which is also the name of my Slobberbone cover band.


Mission accomplished.

It should be drinkable in 6 weeks. But for the full effect, it might not be ready until late spring.

For the beer nerds out there, I would have noted the starting specific gravity, but I forgot to measure it. Shit, it's just beer. It'll be done when it's done and the fucker stops bubbling.