Thank you so very much for your support for ArtSpace Falls Church

On August 18, 2009, Falls Church Arts (www.FallsChurchArts.org ) and Creative Cauldron (www.CreativeCauldron.org ) joined together in a capital campaign fundraising event at Dogfish Head Alehouse in Falls Church for ArtSpace Falls Church - a nonprofit visual and performing arts center at 410 So. Maple Ave. The day at Dogfish was a complete success netting over $4500 for the continued build-out of the ArtSpace for upcoming performances and art shows. The "1001 Nights" capital campaign continues through direct giving or in-kind donations. ArtSpace needs include, but are not limited to, furnishings, stage and risers for theater seating. Any contribution will be gratefully appreciated. Please see the Falls Church Arts or Creative Cauldron web sites for more information on how you can help the arts and ArtSpace in Falls Church. A big thank you to Dogfish Head Alehouse for hosting this event.

SHAWN’S REVIEW (1-5)
Taste: 5
After Taste: 3
Label: 5
Buzz Factor: 3
Let me first say that I haven’t had a pumpkin flavored beer in years because the last version I had left a horrible taste in my mouth and an irreplaceable hole in my wallet. Loathe to duplicate that experience I refused all manner of pumpkin brews. Then a good friend told me I should give this one a try. I did, and it was a worthy homecoming! There isn’t a head to speak of but it filled my glass with a beautiful dark orange color. The bouquet is strong in this one and the first sip is really potent! Just as you swallow is when the Great Pumpkin really kicks you in the back of the throat. The aftertaste lingers longer than I would like, but certainly won’t stop me from consuming this again before it goes out of season. If like me, you were disappointed with a previous foray into the pumpkin genre, I whole heartedly suggest you give this brand a try. It is packed with loads of flavor and really has a spicy kick! The label is also tastefully done, with a great choice of a matte paper label, distressed type and subtle use of color.
ROBERTA’S REVIEW (1-5)
Taste: 3
After Taste: 3
Label: 5
Buzz Factor: 4
Color: 5
This is one spicy beer, like water from a potpourri bong! Call me crazy a pot(pourri)head, but I kinda liked it. The aftertaste was little long-lasting and after about 1/4 the beer, it was a little much for me, but flavored beer is not really my thing which may make me a harsher critic than this beer deserves. I will say, Dogfish Head has some really terrific beers - all worth trying. Their website is cool; I’m a fan of the design work on it, their packaging and merchandise. Hope to make it to their Rehoboth Beach, DE brewery next summer. Like I said, I’m probably rating this lower purely based on personal preference in beer, but I will say for those of us who appreciate beer as a total experience - this is worth a try. Everything about this beer made me remember why I love fall so much; the smell, the taste and especially the color which was a nice warm orange that glowed like a candle in a jack-o-lantern!
JASON’S REVIEW (1-5)
Taste: 4
After Taste: 4
Label: 3
Buzz Factor: 3
I agree with my fellow Bottle Recappers - this is a great beer to have in the fall months. The warm, spicy flavor is the perfect drink to help you warm up on a cool autumn evening. The only problem is that in order to enjoy the Punkin Ale on those cool autumn evenings, you need to stock up on six packs during the sweltering days of August. We learned that lesson the hard way as most of our local establishments were out of this brew before autumn truly began! If you want to enjoy this seasonal brew next year, you should keep an eye out in the early part of the season or else you might miss out.
As Roberta pointed out, this beer has a wonderful color… although her beautiful and poetic description of the particular shade of orange may be lost on some. You know, those who choose to put strobe lights in their foil-lined jack-o-lanterns, clearly violating predetermined and agreed upon contest rules. Not that I’m bitter or anything…

Original Post: http://www.shawncope.com/beer/archives/58

The New Yorker's annual Food Issue hit the stands this week with a great article about craft beer (featuring Dogfish Head).

...The best, he thought, were from a place called Dogfish Head, in southern Delaware. The brewery’s motto was “Off-Centered Ales for Off-Centered People.” It made everything from elegant Belgian-style ales to experimental beers brewed with fresh oysters or arctic cloudberries. Gasparine decided to send a note to the owner, Sam Calagione. Dogfish was already aging some of its beer in oak barrels. Why not try something more aromatic, like palo santo?

Calagione was used to odd suggestions from customers. On Monday mornings, his brewery’s answering machine is sometimes full of rambling meditations from fans, in the grips of beery enlightenment at their local bar. But Gasparine’s idea was different. It spoke to Calagione’s own contradictory ambitions for Dogfish: to make beers so potent and unique that they couldn’t be judged by ordinary standards, and to win for them the prestige and premium prices usually reserved for fine wine. And so, a year later, Calagione sent Gasparine back to Paraguay with an order for forty-four hundred board feet of palo santo. “I told him to get a shitload,” he remembers. “We were going to build the biggest wooden barrel since the days of Prohibition.”

(read more...)

Source: The new Yorker