Going Dutch, Oldschool

The beer had a lovely dark red pour and gave off the traditional smells of a barleywine, dominated by molasses and cherry and, surprisingly, a lot of honey. Surprise turned to shock when I tasted it. It had a traditional barleywine flavor, which was followed by an absolute assault of honey. My friend Frank described it perfectly as a really nice barleywine with an entire honeybear squeezed into it. It had a nice alcohol finish, but the fun was spoiled by the cloying honey taste.

I was really going to blast this beer until I took another look at the label, where I found the phrase that almost totally exonerated it. Brewed according to an old Danish recipe from 1700. Turns out this is a historical brew, a class of beers for which I have a soft spot.

I always appreciate when brewers dig up old recipes (or in the case of Dogfish Head, dig up old pots) and recreate historical brews as accurately as possible. Like this Old Danish Braggot, many of these beers aren’t to modern tastes, but I give lots of credit to brewers who provide these glimpses into the history of my favorite beverage. After all, beer is all about experiencing the brew, so this is as close as beer lovers will ever get to a bona fide museum.

 Still, the rating system is PASS/FAIL based upon if I’d buy a beer again. So in this case, it’s regrettably a FAIL. I recommend you give this beer a try, but only if you have several beer nerds gathered in one place where you can kill the bottle in one round. No one will want seconds, but everyone will appreciate having the chance to taste what dudes in wooden shoes enjoyed 300 years ago.