Sour beer fans rejoice, the day is finally here. Dogfish Head Craft Brewery has announced they're launching their sour beer program! Things are about to get a whole lot funkier. If you're a fan of Dogfish Head Brewery or sour beer in general, you're probably aware their creation of sour beers is no new thing. In fact, Dogfish Head has been making sour beer for decades. But, despite their history of producing funky ales they never had a program dedicated to it. That is of course, until now and their announcement of the Dogfish Head sour beer program.
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Through their new funky wild beer program cleverly titled Wooden..it be nice! Dogfish Head will be able to produce more wild ales than ever before. Experimenting with wild yeast and wooden casks, they plan to use everything from herbs to local fruit.
As producers of the top-selling sour beer in the United States, SeaQuench Ale, and winners of a World Beer Cup bronze medal for Festina Lente, the craft beer world is in for a real treat.
The first three sours to be pumped out of the program are already set for a Milton, Delaware release this year. According to their blog,
"brewers have already hand-bottled over two thousand cork and cage 375ml bottles, each one hand-painted with a special stripe signifying its uniquely crafted touch."
So what will these special three be? The first is called KnottyBits. This wild ale spent the first year of its life aging with Brettanomyces Bruxellensis. Dogfish Head then partnered with Fifer Orchards to toss over one hundred pounds of sweet and sour cherries and rhubarb into the mix. KnottyBits is set to be released September 29th at their Milton Tasting Room & Kitchen for the lucky off-centered people who get there before supplies run out.
The other two being released are Wet Hop American Summer and Eastern Seaboard. The Wet Hop features freshly harvested whole leaf Citra hops. Meanwhile, Seaboard will be more on the fruity side with blackberry and Eastern Shore beach plums. They have yet to set a release date for these two, but judging by their description they're going to be worth lining up for.
Not too mention reputation alone. With beers like Burton Baton, Festina Peche, and 90 Minute IPA in their repertoire, you know any Dogfish Head beer produced from this program is going to be good.
And if this is just a glimpse into Wooden...it be nice!, we can only imagine what greatness is yet to come from Sam Calagione and his stellar crew.
