Dogfish Head Burton Baton

Brewed By: Dogfish Head Brewery in Milton, Delaware

Purchased: 12-oz bottle from a 4-pack bought at Binny's in IL; 2012

Style/ABV: [Oak-Aged] Imperial IPA, 10.0%

Reported IBUs: 70

The only thing better than no snow is tasting her tears.

I'm pretty sure Chicago just set the new record for longest stretch without measurable amounts of snow (281 days, bitches!), which is pretty awesome. Don't get me wrong, I like snow...I just prefer being able to drive more than enjoying the snow. A year or two ago, I drove through three pretty rough snowfalls. The best two trips were the 120-mile drive to Urbana, on Christmas Eve, in the middle of a snowstorm. The roads weren't plowed and cars were in the ditches; it took me 5+ hours to make a trip that usually takes around 2 hours. I also drove from Chicago to the burbs in the middle of a snowstorm during a Bear's game. I timed that trip especially bad as I was ahead of the plows. Fun times. 

To celebrate this monumental occasion (excuses to drink beer, #763), I want to crack open something special. And what could be more special than an Oak-aged Imperial IPA? Awww yeah. 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.

If you roll over to the Burton Baton page, you can get all the info on this lovely beer. This beer uses a blend of an English-style old ale and an Imperial IPA (the 90 Minute IPA, I believe?). The two beers are fermented separately in stainless steel tanks, and then blended together in a giant oak tank, where the beer sits on the oak-wood-goodness for a month. This beer melds flavors of citrus, wood, and oak. Ratebeer gives a slightly different synopsis for "how this beer is made." According to what is posted on Ratebeer, this beer is made from Pilsner and Amber malt (getting up to 11% ABV), and is then hopped with Warrior and Glacier hops. They say that this beer is then fermented using two yeast strains, an American and English yeast; and then the beer is conditioned on oak for four months. Then the beer is dry hopped with Glacier hops; and then the whole mess is blended 50/50 with the 90 Minute IPA bringing the beer to 10% ABV. It's entirely possible that Dogfish Head has since tweaked the brewing process for this beer. Nevertheless, at 10% and 70 IBUs, this is a formidable beer. Let's glass this up.

Dogfish Head Burton Baton

The beer pours a rusty, copper/amber color, with 2 to 3 fingers of big creamy head. The head has a copper tint to it, and there's a ton of carbonation in the form of tiny bubbles visible in the beer. When held to a bright light, the body of this beer is more orange-amber, and the head picks up those orange hues. There's nice head retention with a fat, creamy, finger hanging around; and there's some mad lacing. This beer is very carbonated, and appears to be a touch hazy or unfiltered? This beer is supposed to lay down nicely; so it may have some yeasties floating around. 

There's a fuck-ton of hops and sweet malts on the nose of this. This is very Barleywine-esque, and you get that marriage of super sweet malt sugars with giant citrus hops. I'm getting very light wood aromas, and any oak/vanilla is masked by the huge malt sweetness. I'm getting big dank pine, huge oranges, orange candies, some shades of pineapple and sweet tropical fruit, molasses, a brandy complexity (seen in the 90 Minute), maybe a dash of raisin, and some wood.

Wow...this is awesome. This is not what I was expecting at all. This is incredibly balanced, with huge sweet citrus, brandy, bready cake, raisins, caramel, and molasses up front; all balanced by nice, but gentle, woody notes. The middle cleans up with sweetness and bitterness from the hops, and the back end features alcohol complexity. The whole mess is slightly sticky, but very balanced. Even at 70 IBUs, the hops are held in check by the giant malt profile. And the 10.0% ABV is well-hidden. This has notes of wood, but any oak is blending in with the giant malt-hop thing. 

This is insanely smooth and drinkable. At 10.0% ABV, this drinks like much less. This is definitely a sipping beer, and fits the winter season well. I can feel this warming my belly. Palate depth is outstanding; and the mouthfeel is medium-full to full, with some stickiness and sweetness. This is carbonated, and balanced, which lends to drinkability. Complexity is okay. Up front is just smooth carbonation, and then a blast of sweet hops with big malts; this rolls into malts, boozy malts, hop spice; the back end is lingering hops and sweet malts. There's wood throughout, and nice boozy complexity.

Rating: Divine Brew

I'm feeling a light Divine Brew on this. This is insanely well-balanced, refined, mature, and not at all what I was expecting. Complexity is a little low, but the Barleywine-esque malt and hop sweetness play off the wood in such a mature and refined way...and at 10.0% ABV, this is really a smart winter warmer. I would pair this beer with spring rolls and peanut sauce, spicy wings, and temperatures between 10 and 40 degrees. Any colder and you might need to upgrade to something with more aggressive heat. This is definitely worth checking out...and I'm going to lay down a few of these to see how they hold up in a few years.

Random Thought: I'm getting cats. Well, kittens. I haz excitement. Excuse, #814 to drink beer. Right?