Hi guys.  For today’s craft beer review I’m going to be trying the Dogfish Head Burton Baton produced by the Dogfish Head Craft Brewery located in Milton, Delaware.

Let’s get right to the website, dogfish.com, and see what kind of information we can find out about this beer.

This oak-aged gentle giant has been gaining popularity over the past few years and is now available year-round.

For Burton Baton, we brew two “threads,” or batches, of beer: an English-style old ale and an imperial IPA.

After fementating the beers separately in our stainless tanks, they’re transferred and blended together in one of our large oak tanks. Burton Baton sits on the wood for about a month.

When enjoying the Burton Baton, you’ll find an awesome blend of the citrus notes from Northwestern hops melding with woody, vanilla notes from the oak. The wood also tends to mellow the 10% ABV of Burton, so tread cautiously!

Let’s do this.

This brew has a 10.0% ABV and it comes in a 12 oz. bottle.

It poured a deep orange color with an off white head that was nicely sized.  The texture was thick, smooth and kind of creamy.  The retention time was long lasting and it left behind some very nice lacing too.  A ton of clear alcohol legs were left on the sides of the snifter when I tilted it from side to side as well.

The nose was sweet and sugary with a good deal of dank, piny, resiny hops.  Citrus of orange and tangerine.  Quite malty too with just a little bit of vanilla and oak bringing up the rear and bumping up the complexity.  

The taste let loose with more wood/oak.  Again, just a slight touch of vanilla.  More of the resiny and piny hops with further bits of orange and tangerine.  The bitterness was solid and manageable.  Some sweet caramel malt and bready aspects add a smidgen more complexity.  The alcohol comes into play with the taste, but it never really distracts from the other flavors.

The mouthfeel was medium to full bodied.  Sticky, chewy, dry and smooth.  The carbonation was a tad on the lower side.  A substantial amount of warmth was felt from the alcohol and an excellent dose of flavor was left behind on the palate for me to enjoy throughout.

Well, this is a fairly big, but good beer.  It’s solid all around.  The drinkability was “ok” considering the size, however I doubt that I could make a night of it.  It definitely has plenty of flavor and character to be pondered for the duration and I’m sure that this brew would be suitable for most any craft beer drinker, but it’s not my favorite in the Dogfish catalog.  I don’t know….  it just didn’t blow me away like I thought it might.  Only my opinion however.  So, the next time you see the Dogfish Head Burton Baton give it a try if you have yet to do so.  Feel free to leave your opinion in the comment box if you wish.

Thanks for reading everyone.  I really appreciate it.

Until next time.  Cheers.

Score:  4.0 out of 5
Grade:  B+