Ides of October

It’s been nearly a year since the last update in this blog, a situation I hope to rectify presently. Another Oktoberfest season has nearly passed us by. The harvest & pumpkin spice brews are once again in season. Until I can pull together some of my own ratings and material I’m going to give it up to the co-creator of the BBOB Kevin Marsman with a rating of a varietal from one of his favorite breweries. It should be noted that in our vernacular the Realm of Excellence is referred to as a gargantuan house filled with various rooms organized by rating level, as in, St. Sebastian Dark is shooting pool in the inner room of the Realm of Excellence while Busch NA can’t even make it to the front porch.

Theobroma
Dogfish Head
Rating: 9

This beer from Dogfish is a chocolaty ale purportedly based upon Mayan archeology. To me, the taste of chocolate is more about malt than cocoa. There is a sweetness that comes from the added honey, and spice notes from ancho chili. This combination of spices and cocoa sounds overwhelming, but the execution, ah the execution of Dogfish Head. The finish is complicated and deeply textured, extravagant but somehow subtle.

This brewery is so influential in the House of Excellence they not only have access to the inner rooms, their names are on the lease. This beer is as confident a beer as I have seen in a while. The beer and the conceit of its recipe would likely be a pure disaster in the hands of any other brewery. As close to a 10 as you can get without being a 10. I hold that back based only upon the fact that I cannot buy 100% into the combination of chocolate and chili spice. This is a combination that I have seen everywhere in the past 10 years or so. But I just don’t find that pairing harmonious. There are times when I feel the chili spice is an annoyance rather than an accent.