New Beer Friday - July 13 Edition

By Chris Siciliano

Fans of Siciliano's Facebook page already know the big news this week—we are once again in the business of selling delicious beer from Dogfish Head!

To celebrate, we're reposting an excerpt from former staffer Wes Easton's 2008 interview with Dogfish Head's owner, Sam Calagione. Find the complete interview here. Find no less than eight different Dogfish Head beers now on the shelves at Siciliano's.

Eaton: Nine years ago the storied “Beer Hunter” Michael Jackson and you spent a day together. Raisin D’Etre, Chicory, Shelter Pale and Immort Ale were already on your menu and a new 30-bbl brewhouse was being constructed. Talk about the changes you have seen in our beer culture since then and your contribution to this dynamic enclave.

Calagione: In that era, Immort Ale was among the first wood-aged beers and it was [also] exotic, incorporating maple syrup, peat-smoked barley and vanilla beans. Frankly, we could barely give it away. Nobody was willing to pay $13.00 for a six-pack of beer, so we had a real tough time. We started as the smallest brewery, today [2008] we’re one of the fastest growing breweries. While I’m proud of all that growth, what I’m most proud of is that we never discounted or dumbed-down our beers in order to achieve growth. That shows that while we’ve been very lucky to be able to stick to our original mission and achieve this incredible growth, it’s really indicative of how far the average beer consumer’s I.Q., experimentation and interest level has come.

New (and Returning) Beers

• Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA, $2.89/12oz - "An imperial IPA best savored from a snifter, 90 Minute has a great malt backbone that stands up to the extreme hopping rate" (source).
• Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA, $1.99/12oz - "60 Minute is brewed with a slew of great Northwest hops. A powerful but balanced East Coast IPA with a lot of citrusy hop character, it's the session beer for hardcore enthusiasts!" (source).
• Dogfish Head Indian Brown Ale, $1.99/12oz - "Forget about the car companies, this is the original hybrid. A cross between a Scotch Ale, an India Pale Ale and an American Brown, Indian Brown Ale is well-hopped and malty at the same time (It's magical!). The beer has characteristics of each style that inspired it: the color of an American Brown, the caramel notes of a Scotch Ale, and the hopping regimen of an India Pale Ale. We dry-hop the Indian Brown Ale in a similar fashion to our 60 Minute IPA and 90 Minute IPA. This beer is brewed with Aromatic barley and organic brown sugar" (source).
• Dogfish Head Raison D'Etre, $1.99/12oz - "A deep mahogany, Belgian-style brown ale brewed with beet sugar, raisins and Belgian-style yeast" (source).
• Dogfish Head Festina Peche, $2.59/12oz - "A refreshing neo-Berliner Weisse fermented with honest-to-goodness peaches to -- get this -- 4.5% ABV! Hey, extreme beers don't have to be extremely boozy! Festina is available in 4-packs and on draft during the sweaty months" (source).
• Dogfish Head Palo Santo Marron, $4.09/12oz - "An unfiltered, unfettered, unprecedented brown ale aged in handmade wooden brewing vessels. The caramel and vanilla complexity unique to this beer comes from the exotic Paraguayan Palo Santo wood from which these tanks were crafted. Palo Santo means "holy tree," and its wood has been used in South American wine-making communities. This highly roasty and malty brown ale clocks in at 12% abv. A huge hit at our Rehoboth Beach brewpub when first released in November 2006, Palo went into full production at the end of 2007" (source).
• Dogfish Head Midas Touch, $3.29/12oz - "This sweet yet dry beer is made with ingredients found in 2,700-year-old drinking vessels from the tomb of King Midas. Somewhere between wine and mead, Midas will please the chardonnay and beer drinker alike" (source).
• Dogfish Head Namaste, $10.19/750ml - "A witbier bursting with good karma. Made with dried organic orange slices, fresh-cut lemongrass and a bit of coriander, this Belgian-style white beer is a great thirst quencher" (source).
• Dogfish Head Black & Blue, $14.49/750ml - "Black & Blue is a Belgian-style golden ale fermented with blackberries and blueberries. Because we dose Black & Blue with real berries -- rather than artificial flavoring -- the fruit comes through in the flavor, not just the aroma. The pureed berries are added as the beer leaves the brewhouse. In fermentation, the yeast -- the same one we use in Red & White and Pangaea -- feeds on sugars from the barley and the berries, giving Black & Blue a unique complexity and a high ABV" (source).
• Arbor Brewing Ypsi Gypsy, $1.79/12oz - "The Ypsi Gypsy contains mostly pale malts for a light body and lower alcohol beer. Hop bitterness is balanced by several late additions of Cascade and Centennial hops which give this beer a fruity citrusy hop flavor and a beautiful hop aroma" (source).
• O'Fallon Wheach, $1.69/12oz cans & bottles - "Imagine our smooth, clean wheat beer with a touch of peach and you get the idea behind O'Fallon Wheach, our peach wheat beer. Light, refreshing and crisp, it's perfect for any occasion!" (source).
• Rogue Dad's Little Helper, $7.39/22oz - "A Black IPA deep mahogany in color with roasted malt and hop aromas and dense creamy head. It enters the palate with intense hop flavor and coats the tongue with a rich maltiness" (source).
• Stoudts Pils, $1.99/12oz - "The driest and most delicate of our lagers. Stoudt’s Pils is characteristic of the traditional European Pilseners. Straw-yellow and assertively hopped with Saaz hops, this frequent medal winner has a refreshing bitterness and refined hop aroma" (source).
• Stoudts Heifer-in-Wheat, $1.99/12oz - "This Bavarian-style unfiltered wheat beer is brewed with 50% malted barley and 50% malted wheat. Our signature blend of German yeast strain imparts a flavor and aroma reminiscent of bananas, cloves and bubblegum" (source).
• Stoudts Gold Lager, $1.99/12oz - "This golden 'Helles' style beer is smooth, medium-bodied and always satisfying. Brewed with the finest imported 2-row malt and German noble hops, Stoudt's Gold Lager is widely recognized as one of the finest German-style beers brewed in America" (source).

Picture of the Week

Sampler platters at Cranker's Brewery
Big Rapids, MI

Cheers!