Cold be damned, I’m going to review some friggin’ beer!  This next brew goes by the name of Raison D’Etre from the amazing Dog Fish Head brewery out of Delaware.  I will go on record as saying that Dogfish Head is one of the finest micro-breweries in America, and their beers are more often hits rather than misses.  This one is brewed as a Belgian Style Strong Ale and was even hailed as "American Beer of the Year" in January 2000 in Malt Advocate Magazine.   Any beer thats good enough to hold that title has to be good right?  Read on to find out:

Well lets see here, we have a Belgian style ale from an American micro brew.  Lets see how it holds up.  This beer pours a dark brown color with red undertones (or mahogany, as it says on the bottle if you want to get technical).  There’s little to no head on this guy either, but that doesn’t seem to hinder its flavor.  For those that don’t know, the head (or the foamy stuff on the top) is known to trap in the flavor of beer once it hits the air.  Thats why some people say that beer is only good on the first sip, which is only true if the beer you’re drinking sucks.  Anyway back to the review.

You’ll notice very small thin bubbles in this beer, which can only really be seen if you’re looking hard enough.  As far as smell goes, I shouldn’t be the best judge of this right now with my cold, but I detect a smell that resembles that of a fine brandy.   So how’s the beer taste?  I’m happy to say that the combination of an almost  fruity sweetness is complimented nicely by a brandy-like finish that goes down quite easy.  It also combines a subtle bitterness of hops but it does a great job of balancing all these elements successfully.

Raison D’Etre is a very complex beer, thats for sure.  Although I must say that I didn’t really taste any sort of raisin flavor like I was expecting.  Here’s my breakdown of Dogfish Head Raison D’Etre:

Taste: Very Good

Smell: Average

Drinkability: Very Good

Final Words:

This beer is awesome, there’s not much more than can be said.  Its complex, its drinkable, and at 8% ABV, its sure to get you feeling good in no time.  What really surprised me is that there’s is no "alcohol burn" present in this beer at all for having such a high ABV.  I could easily see myself drinking a six pack of these and not even thinking twice.  Just like the last beer I reviewed, this one will also knock you on your ass, but your ass will be feeling much more satisfied on the way down (ah man, that sounded gay).  Pick this beer up if you like your brew complex, drinkable, and a cut above the rest.

View the Pour:

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