Dogfish and Alewife

Seriously, in case you can't tell from all my posts, I couldn't be more thrilled about Alewife opening. It's utterly fantastic to have a beer bar of that quality that close. I love it.

Specifically, tonight I was enjoying their featuring of several dogfish head beers. I was having trouble deciding what to get - between several old stone taps and the dogfish beers, they were featuring a lot of beers I wasn't terribly sold on, or had tried before.

Luckily, my conundrum was quickly resolved. Standing at the bar, I was chatting with the Dogfish rep about a dark beer that I'd seen people sipping. In response, she handed me a glass and said "Yeah, it's on Sam". The beer turned out to be their limited edition Bitches Brew, a tribute to Miles Davis. The beer is very dark, with a cocoa colored head. The flavor is roasted malts and cocoa, as per the usual. The shocker, though, comes with the finish.

The beer is actually flavored with honey, so the finish is devilishly subtle and sweet. It's not a cloying bite of sweetness, but it's a deliciously sweet finish, which contrasts nicely to the dark and roasted flavors of the beer. It dovetails nicely with some sweet fruit notes, and just provides a fantastic finish to the beer.

Although I thought I was done, I was apparently wrong. Padre, who I was having my beer with, had orderd a glass of My Antonia, Dogfish's continually hopped imperial pilsner. However, the waiter came back after he'd gotten his beer, and apologized. Apparently the bar had poured two, instead of one. Whoops! So, that's how I got my second free beer of the night.

My Antonia was surprisingly good. I'm not a huge hop fan, but the hop flavors really brought out the crisp, clean flavor of the beer, and the ending wasn't terribly bitter. The beer itself brought out flavors of grains and breads - but in such a light way that they didn't bog down the beer. Overall a really elegant version of a Pilsner, full of flavor.

So here's my shout out to Alewife and to Dogfish. To good beer (and to free beer)! May you have the same fortune, and go enjoy a beer!