Hello guys.  For today’s craft beer review I’m going to be trying the Dogfish Head Black & Blue produced by the Dogfish Head Craft Brewery, which is located in Milton, Delaware.

We all know about Dogfish Head, so let’s go ahead and get to the website, dogfish.com, and see what kind of info we can find about this beer. 

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.

Let’s try it.

This brew comes in a 25.6 oz. (???) bottle and it has an ABV of 10.0%.

It poured a hazy ruby red to deep cherry color.  It formed a very large, soft, soapy, fluffy head that was off white in color with a smidgen of a pink tint.  The retention time was really good and the lacing was decent enough.  The beer looked very nice in the glass.

As to be expected, the nose was very fruity with tones of blackberry and blueberry.  It kind of smelled like those blueberry Slush Puppies that I used to get as a kid without all of that artificial sugar.  It also presented a mild, floral hop aroma.  Honestly, I couldn’t pick out much else.  Very fruity from the beginning until the end.

With the first couple of sips I received a ton of the fruity berries.  To be truthful, it was almost too much for me.  A little bit of sourness was detected and the bitterness was of low to medium strength.  Again, quite floral.  A noticeable tone of alcohol was found as well.  Overall, very rich and bold and just a tad extravagant for me to fully appreciate it I think.

The mouthfeel was medium bodied.  Dry and a wee bit sharp.  The carbonation was near perfect though.  A touch of warmth was felt from the alcohol and an abundant amount of flavor was left behind after each sip.

Well.  I’m sure that many of you good craft beer folk out there would love this beer.  There is no mistaking that it’s a wonderfully made and unique beer that’s worthy of a try if you are looking to experiment with something a little bit different from the norm, but it’s just not my style.  It kind of reminded me of a fruity mixed drink that my wife might order.  It did become somewhat more bearable as I went along, but the drinkability never did get very high.  I was noticeably struggling with it.  Have any of you ever tried the Dogfish Head Black & Blue?  What did you think of it?  Be sure to let me know your opinion if you don’t mind.

Thanks for reading and commenting everyone.  I really appreciate it.

Until next time.  Cheers.

Score:  2.75 out of 5
Grade:  C-