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Friday dawned with a two-fold purpose. The beer run would encompass a review beer and a session beer. But first, a bit of explanation.

Saturday will be a day of family. My sister and brother-in-law will be visiting our humble domicile over the weekend. Massive amounts of food and beverages will be consumed.

To be honest, this brew review was done on Friday night and then scheduled for posting on Saturday evening for those who expect it to be there at that time. Frankly, I wanted all of Saturday night’s time to be spent with the family. I knew you’d understand.

Back to the subject of the first paragraph. I beelined it to the Four Seasons Beer Store and their excellent selection of all things beer. The session beer I wound up with was Old Speckled Hen. I actually researched SixPackTech for possible candidates and decided on it based on my own damn review. Jeeze, I hope I won’t be disappointed. (Pfft!)

I had a review beer in mind and it was one that I had seen for the first time during last week’s visit. It appeared that there was a new brew from Dogfish Head and it sat in that designated section as a towering newcomer over all its brethren.

The beer was Dogfish Head’s Read & White and it came in a large bomber (1 pint, 9.6 oz. or 25.6 ounces.) The simple notation on the label stated:Red & White: Ale brewed with coriander & orange peel with pinot noir juice added with 11% aged in pinot noir barrels and 89% aged in oak barrel staves.

We’ve had Sam Adams’ Infinium which was beer made with champagne yeast and now, in this beer, a melding again of beer with wine. What could we possibly be in store for? But what the hell. It was Dogfish Head! How could I go wrong?

The price threw me. $14 for 1 pint 9.6 (25.6) ounces of beer was steep. I sucked it up and bought two bombers. I do this so that you don’t have to. I wondered just how long I could go on reviewing beers on the website at my own expense. Nonetheless, this week has been taken care of.

Back home, the beers were chucked in the fridge and more added in anticipation of the weekend family visit. A bottle of 2009 Pere Jaques, the remaining five bottles of Sweet Georgia Brown V2.0 homebrew and a bottle of World Wide Stout. That should do it.

The past two or three reviews featured some stouts and other beers in their recommended snifter glasses. For this selection of DFH Red & White, I chose the Chimay Trappist glass which was also on the recommended glass list. I grabbed the first bomber of R&W and as I traipsed from the kitchen to the computer glass I noted that the bottle seemed a lot bigger than than the usual bomber. That had me once again, looking up beer bottle sizes on Wikipedia.

In the USA large bottles are 22 U.S. fl oz (650.6 ml; 22.9 imp fl oz) (colloquially called a rocket ); the European standard large bottle is 750-millilitre (25.4 U.S. fl oz; 26.4 imp fl oz) (in South Africa referred to as a “quart”)

A rocket. I like that. Although it’s still best that these sized bottles be referred to as bombers, despite trying to be beer-snobbishly correct.

Time for the pour. Tilt the glass or not? I dared to be different. Flat glass on a flat surface yielded some nice results.

The beer poured with a gloriously brilliant amber-orange color. It was a delight to hold it up to the bulb and gaze at this liquid. A moderate amount of carbonation rose up as well as the streaming from the streaming vent of the etching at the bottom of the Chimay glass. The head came up a rich and fluffy and off-white. The aroma was slight and had a hint of a sip of wine I had a long time ago.

The first sip was delicious. Very subdued in the flavors of red fruit, some orange and fruit marmalade. The body of the beverage was really full connoting massive amounts of fermentables used in the brew process. With the second sip, my stomach space heater kicked on. The alcohol is most definitely not present on the palate, but well represented down below.

The beer starts off as a wheat beer of sorts at the beginning, then transmogrifying into a full-blown sweet red ale in the middle with a somewhat tart and bitter swallow. This was as if your basic Belgian Witbier took on a regimen of body mass building.

This beer is quite amazing. It was almost like a Fat Tire on steroids but with more secret ingredients. There’s definitely a winelike quality to it but the overall picture is 100% beer. The Belgian yeasts used are there, but in the background. The body of this beer and the zipper slide as it went down are its predominant features. The swallow had a bit of tartness or non-hoppy zing to it as it went down, perhaps a characteristic of the pinot noir grapes or the barrel aging, or the cigarette ash that Gordy, the brewer’s assistant, drops in each barrel. The taste is an utter amplification of a wit that goes almost to 11.

This is a beer which played with my conscience. It was so delicious, so smooth and delectable and oh, so deadly. If I were at a party were this beer was readily available, I’d be sipping it all night and regretting it all the next day. The 10% ABV is obviously a design factor built into this final product. It’s damn near subversive, almost as if the original brewer sold his soul to the devil for this recipe.

This beer is a perfect party aperitif and a conversation starter. This beer could also be the after-dinner drink of choice. Perfect for old dear friends and tight family get-togethers. A beer that will get all your salivary glands plugging away on all cylinders at the risk of a blown head gasket the next day.

This beer is a seasonal and on the shelves right now this month. If you see it, pick up a bomber for yourself. You will absolutely love it and wish you bought two. But not three.

The SixPackTech ratings for Dogfish Head Red & White are:

Taste: A > The body of a goddess; the bite of a cobra.

Smoothness: B+ > A fast downhill sled run into the bushes.

*Sessionability: C+ > One bomber will put you right with the world.

Bang for the buck: B- > The taste experience justifies the price.

ABV: 10%

Wife’s all-encompassing opinion: (Sniff) Orange. Oh, I smell the orange. (sip) It’s very bitter. uckh. (sip) I can taste the orange but it’s like eating the peel. Although it goes away pretty quick. (‘Like eating the peel.’ I’m surprised that doesn’t facinate her.)

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*“Drinkability” sits a little sideways based on a statement I heard on a beer-related podcast and an article I read. After all these years, I finally looked up the word “drinkability.”

Suitable or fit for drinking; potable: drinkable water.

n. A beverage.

Hmm. Water has drinkability versus turpentine. I was a little south of the target when I decided to use the term in the reviews as to whether the beer was able to be consumed over a long period of time. The new term that appears today (Sessionablility) is more along the lines of what I had in mind, and perhaps what we understood all along. It might even be a new word. If you can think up a better descriptor, let me know in the comments.

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