Potent

Well based on the glowing review by the Cheeselover on the above "brew" I headed out this week determined to get some to sample before our beer pairing dinner in Scottsdale Friday night. Amazingly enough it wasn't hard to find. I went googling it and stumbled on a local guys blog who had sampled another variety. I emailed him and, heh, his suggestion was BevMo. I hadn't even thought they'd have it. They did and I picked up a 4 pack today after work. It's not cheap that's for sure. BevMo isn't cheap in the first place. They do have a large variety and they're close so they get my business.

Anyway, it went in the fridge as soon as I got home and I popped the first one open about two hours later. I wasn't sure what to expect. I had a feeling it wasn't going to taste like anything I'd ever had before. I was right and my first impressions of it were mixed. As the ingredients listed on the front of the bottle suggest it is sweet. I wasn't as ready for that as I thought. There's also a hint of bitter in there too, but just a little. I've been drinking it out of the bottles so I'm not sure what it looks like or what type of head it might have.

I paired it up with some Stouffer's five cheese, white sauce, french bread pizzas. These have a creamy white sauce as the base, with five different cheeses and a bit of red chili pepper thrown in for good measure. I figured this would go as well as anything with this beer and it turned out I was right. The creamy spicyness of the pizzas went well with the cool, sweetness of the beer. While the tastes are completely different this beer works well with spicy food the same way a gerwurtzaminer does.

I've since cracked open another one to sip while I write this. There is definitely a honey aftertaste. Not a strong one at all, but it's there. The more I taste it the more I like it. I don't think I would want to drink this one all on its own, but it's certainly a beer I would want to have with a meal. The fact that it's a 9% also factors in to having it with food.

Definitely looking forward to having this Friday night matched with something complimentary. Friday night can't get here fast enough.


Update: Whew. Definitely feeling two of these suckers.

Update 2: Just realized I never linked to the brewery or named the beer itself. The brewery is the Dogfish Head Craft Brewery and the beer I was drinking tonight was the Midas Touch Golden Elixir. Pretty neat that this recipe is their best guess on a recipe from 700 B.C. It looks like the beer we're going to sample on Friday is based off of an even older recipe from 7000 B.C. China. I can't wait. This is gonna be fun.

Update 3: Just in case I didn't like the above beer while I was at BevMo I picked up a 6 pack of Rogue Dead Guy. You know just in case. Really.