Dogfish Head Fort

Brewed By: Dogfish Head Brewery in Milton, Delaware

Purchased: Huge 750ml bottle bought at Cardinal Liquors in Chicago, IL; 2012

Style/ABV: Fruit Beer, 18.0% 

"Fuck me! An 18.0% ABV Fruit Beer? Are you crazy?" 
-adhdjon's Liver

About Dogfish Head:

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.

Tonight's beer is likely the world's strongest Fruit Beer. At least according to Dogfish Head. If you check out Dogfish Head's Fort page, you can find out all the details about this beer. This is an ale brewed with a ridiculous amount of pureed raspberries. This beer has a Belgian-style base, and then follows a fermentation process similar to the one that Dogfish Head uses for their other huge beers, the 120 Minute IPA and World Wide Stout. There's a cool video on the beer, where founder Sam Calagione breaks the beer down. Dogfish Head's website states that due to the huge ABV, this beer will age well. You should be able to cellar this beer from anywhere from 3 years and out. The website also suggests pairing this with some chocolate, or a nice piece of duck. This beer was first brewed in 2005, clocks in at a ridiculous 18% ABV, and packs 49 IBUs.

Let's get some of this into a glass...and see how it stacks up.

Dogfish Head Fort

What a crazy beer. First off, my beer was bottled in 2011. I'm not sure on the exact date, but considering how late it is in 2012, it might be a year old. That was unintentional: I'm happy I even found this beer, and attribute the age to dumb luck and my bottle shop. The beer pours an orangish/red-gold color, with 2-fingers of white head. The head maybe has a slight hint of orange from the body. I'll save the cliches: this does not look like a bright red, fruity beer. The head is pretty foamy, and made up of tightly packed small bubbles. I'm also impressed with how long it is hanging around...I still have a centimeter of head in my glass. 18% wutttt!! There is some lacing as the head pulls away....in bright light, this is an orange/yellow beer, with LOTS of carbonation in the form of tiny bubbles rising upwards. This is transparent/filtered, and you can see through it. This is fairly innocent-looking. The bottle art is fucking awesome, by the way.

When I first smelled this beer, I wasn't getting a ton...but as I let this beer sit in my glass, and warm up, I'm getting blasted with waves of raspberry currants, raspberry juice, and just raspberries. Far away from the glass, I'm picking up raspberry jam and sweet raspberries. As I put my nose in closer, I get tart and slightly acid raspberry goodness, along with fresh raspberries. I am getting some booze in the nose, along with some malt and yeast. 

This is thick and dense, and boozy. And maybe a touch too drinkable, if you ask me! This pulls across the tongue with a sticky denseness, and has characteristics of a Belgian beer, with Belgian yeast. You get raspberries in here, and a lot of booze terminates each sip on the back end. Each sip actually starts out with a big malty body...maybe a hint of oxidation? 

Let me reiterate...this is a big beer. Big booze drives each sip, with slightly spicy/peppery alcohol playing off the tongue. You get big malts, in my opinion...and I'm pulling out some honey and thickness. I'm getting sweet raspberries, raspberry currants, slightly herbal raspberry, raspberry liquor, raspberry jam, and various hints of other fruits similar to raspberry. There's a "malt beverage" thing going on here, but really complex raspberry notes and booze dance on your tongue.

 

I'm getting some pretty impressive lacing with this one. This is full-bodied, and yet...drinkable. I know, right? At 18.0% ABV, you sure do taste the alcohol, and this sure is a sipping beer. But the high amounts of carbonation, and the Belgian qualities, sort of ground everything and tie it all together. It drinks like a malt beverage, a little bit. Palate depth is great, and complexity is fairly high as well. Up front is some malt, honey, Belgian yeast, alcohol, and sweet raspberry; the middle rolls into raspberry jam, herbal raspberry, currants; the back end is raspberry, and malted beverage. There's a peppery and zesty thing going on throughout, thanks to the huge ABV and the carbonation. This obviously warms you up. If I was stuck outside on a cold winter night and wanted a fruit beer, this would be that beer.

Rating: Above-Average

I'm feeling a Light Above-Average on this. Maybe the most impressive thing is that at 18%, this still drinks like a beer. It even backtalks like a beer, and spends your money like one. Errr. I'm just saying, for a beer, this is insane stuff. I'm a little perplexed by the 750ml bottle. I'm guessing it has a lot to do with how hard it is to brew this beer, but I'm not sure. I don't feel like doing math now, but 750ml is less than a 4 pack...so maybe Dogfish Head didn't want to release this beer in single 12oz bottles, but had just enough to put it out in 750ml bottles.

 

Did I mention that I'm maybe 12oz into this thing, and I'm already drunk? Good lord, this packs the heat. And the drinkability makes it sneak up on you. Look, I don't have much else to say. I really like this beer, and I have another bottle that I'll pull out of the cellar in 3 to 5 years. Right now...this is hot, but not obnoxious. I wonder what a fresh bottle tastes like? This is definitely a beer to try, and if you're the type that hates fruit beers...give this a whirl. Recommended, but maybe share a bottle with some friends.