Dogfish Head Indian Brown Ale

Brewed By: Dogfish Head Brewery in Milton, Delaware

Purchased: 12oz bottle from a 6-pack from Jewel-Osco in Chicago, IL; 2012

Style/ABV: American Brown Ale, 7.2%

 

Tonight I'm taking a stab at one of Dogfish Head's year-round and more widely available beers, their Indian Brown Ale.  

Dogfish Head is a craft brewery based out of Milton, Delaware. The brewery was founded by Sam Calagione back in 1995.The brewery began as a brewpub (the first in Delaware) called Dogfish Head Brewings & Eats and was originally located in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. The initial brewing setup included three kegs and propane burners. They brewed 12-gallon batches of beer three times a day, five days a week. In 1996 the brewery began bottling their beer, and by 1999 they had distribution to around a dozen different states. In 2002 the company outgrew their Rehoboth location, and moved to Milton, Delaware. More info can be found HERE.

The Indian Brown Ale isn't a typical Brown Ale by any metric. I'm not even sure you would really want to compare this beer to other Brown Ales, and I'm kind of skeptical to even label it an American Brown Ale. Nevertheless, both Ratebeer and BeerAdvocate have labeled this beer as an American Brown Ale.

According to Dogfish Head, this beer is a mix of a Scotch Ale (malty, caramely), an India Pale Ale (hoppy, balanced with malts), and an American Brown (malty, caramel, toast, chocolate, with some hops). Dogfish Head states that this beer has the color of an American brown, the caramel notes of a Scotch Ale, and is hopped like an IPA. This beer is actually dry-hopped in a similar fashion to the 60 and 90 Minute IPAs. This beer is brewed with "aromatic barley" and "organic brown sugar." This beer clocks in at 7.2% ABV, packs 50 IBUs, and is described as having molasses, coffee, ginger, raisinettes, and chocolate notes. Let's dig in and see how this beer stacks up. 

Dogfish Head Indian Brown Ale

This beer is definitely a darker red/ruby color when held up to bright light, and it has a lot of carbonation. However, in low light, this beer takes on a dark brown/black color. There is a solid stream of small to medium sized carbonation rising upwards, and the beer pours with 3-fingers worth of excellent head. The head is made up of some big and small bubbles, and it has the consistency of something between dish soap and a nice thick foam. Head sustainability is good (I watched around 40 minutes of TV last night while drinking one of these, and there was head throughout), and there is some lacing left as the head pulls on the glass. Overall, this is a quality looking beer.

This beer smells quite a bit like a Scotch Ale, with strong malt notes right up front that remind me of wood, earthy chocolate, tobacco, and caramel. I'm also picking up some hop spice, some earthy hops, and a hint of bitter hop notes. There is some molasses or burnt sugar in here as well, and I'm definitely picking up some booze on the nose.

The taste is a lovely follow-through of the nose, with a smooth and tingly carbonation up front, with woody and chocolate notes, huge caramel and woody malt notes in the body, and a nice balance of floral and earthy hops. I taste wood, chocolate, molasses, brown sugar, caramel, herbal and earthy hop bite, and touches of sweetness that almost hits vanilla. There is some booze in the body, with a hint of viciousness throughout. There are also hints of fruit from the booze, like berries or grapes even. You don't really feel the 50 IBUs, and the hops seem to be the perfect foil to the huge malt flavors and the sugary alcohol. There is a touch of Diacetyl in the finish, and it is a woody finish.

This beer drinks medium-full, with a smooth body, lots of tingly and light carbonation, and a slightly woody and drying back end. This has big complexity, but moderate palate depth. I'm going to overlook the moderate palate depth, because Brown Ales aren't exactly known for walloping your palate. This is actually very drinkable, despite the 7.2% ABV, although this is a sugary beer with a hint of oily hops. You may be okay with 2 or 3 of these, but you're better of enjoying this beer. The front palate is carbonation, chocolate, caramel, molasses; this moves into sweet, sweet caramel, brown sugar, berries, earthy hops; this finishes with some woody notes, some veggies, some hints of citrus hops, and some more herbal hops. The finish is warming, and slightly drying. 

Rating: Divine Brew 

Score: 93%

 

This is a real surprise for me. This is a sleeper beer as far as I am concerned. I have seen this beer on shelves for many years, and I never really felt compelled to try it. This beer has a really nice balance of interesting flavors, and it is incredibly tasty. You get a lot of nice malt kick in here, with caramel and chocolate; you get some nice brown sugar kick in here; and there is a nice hop balance, but the 50 IBUs are not overly-assertive. And all things considered, a 6-pack of this beer is like 12 bucks, which is not bad for 7.2% ABV per bottle. 

 

The only caution I have is that I would not consider this to really be an American Brown Ale. This is definitely approaching hybrid beer, and this is a delicious and exotic take on the style. I don't think you can fairly compare this to other Brown Ales. Having said all that, this is a really delicious beer, and one of the better beers I have had from Dogfish Head. Recommended.