Tonight announces my return to the world of beer following a brief period of whisky drinking, primarily due to an overindulgence on the former during the Spring Carnival and festive season, which came to a head on a certain day where just as much beer exited my stomach as did enter it... but that will remain another story. Now I don't mind a nice Scotch or Irish Whisky, but it's not something you can really drink all the time, and in my opinion they are not capable of quenching a thirst the same way a great beer does.
While standing over the wok this evening sizzling up a stir fry, I had a sudden Zen moment where I triumphantly decided... 'It is time to return'. So without hesitation, I kicked the mistress to the curb and decided to stay true to the one I love most. Upon opening the fridge to embark on a scouting operation to obtain intel on potential targets, I located an 'India Brown Ale' by Dogfish Head. If you didn't already know, these guys mean serious business, and a number of their Ales have scored very highly amongst my reviews. If you ever happened to catch 'Beer Wars' or 'Brew Masters' on Discovery, Dogfish Head was the brewery most prominently featured. They quite often are behind some of the craziest shit in the industry, including a green beer brewed with algae. They have even taken residue from archaeological digs, and attempted to recreate beer recipes as far back as 9000 years old!
I am going to be quite forthright in saying that I didn't even know what an 'India Brown Ale' was. I know Brown Ales, and I know India Pale Ales... but not necessarily an 'India Brown Ale'. My initial guess is that this is some Frankenstinian combination of the two, that an unsupervised brewer mashed together in a rust ridden shed on a stormy night, reaching to the lightning and cackling towards the thunderous sky. "It's Alive!" he would have shouted, had that not already been the tagline for their algae beer...
The pour of the beer is quite brilliant. Even though it advertises as a brown ale of sorts, I was not expecting such a punishingly dark colour. The look is almost like a Guinness sans the froth. The visual appearance really is great, and not all dark beers can say that, and despite not being a huge dark beer fan I was aching to get a taste. This is also where it gets difficult to describe. There is so much going on here, in such a subtle fashion, that it truly has to be experienced rather than told. This is like 'The Matrix' of beers. There is caramel and brown sugar, there are dark roasted malts, there is bitter chocolate, there is the unmistakable wallop of hops... BUT... everything has been constructed so carefully and with such delicacy that the intimidation factor of this beer is miniscule. This is better than building a perfect house out of playing cards, they've done it with Tetris blocks.
Fucking bravo. This is an incredible achievement and an astonishing effort. By no means is this my favourite beer, it would only be on the fringes of the ballpark, but purely in recognition of the talent and ability required to actually create this number I have to show respect where it is due.
God I love beer.
8/10
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