Monday, February 7, 2011

Beer Review 29: Dogfish Head Raison D'Extra


Yet another beer review, and it's another Dogfish Head beer. This time its Raison D'Extra. This beer has been retired by the folks over at Dogfish,so good luck finding it. I want to Thank Michael Nielson from Massachusetts for hooking me up with this beer, so good looking out man. I want to start off by saying that the Raison I had was from 2007 which I believe was the last year it was brewed, but something tells me there may be a 2008 version too. Either way, this beer is the super charged version of the Raison D'Etre that I reviewed earlier. D'Extra is a Belgian style brown ale brewed with a ridiculous amount of green raisins and Belgian sugars. Furthermore, unlike its little brother, D'Extra is bottled at a robust 18% abv and packaged in a 12 oz bottle. The price tag varies on this beer, when it first came out it was priced at $10.99 a bottle now I've seen it go anywhere from $12.99 to $15.99 a bottle. In addition to all the info I have given you so far, its also important to drink this beer from the proper glassware. A snifter and only a snifter this beer. Raison's complexity and high abv require such a glass so you can enjoy it in its entirety. Moreover, this beer does require aging, even the 2007 that I drank was still drinking hot, so at least 3 to 6 years of cellar time for this beer to reach its full potential. Lastly, I recommend drinking this beer on its own, don't bother pairing it up with a meal or snacks.... D'Extra is not like D'Etre which you can pair with a nice steak.

Color: Hazy brown, Definitely no lacing and hardly any head. Some carbonation.

Nose: Plenty of sugar and heavy raisin. Some light malty scents in the background with some light yeast as well.

Palate: Drinks hot! the alcohol is well masked, you get hints of it, but not in a bad way. Definitely a full bodied beer that packs a punch. You get some sweetness from the sugar on your entire tounge.

Finish: Long and warm. not to complex or layered. malty and fruity.

Rating: 90 out of 100. would have given it more, but lacks complexity.

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