Saturday, March 29, 2008

Head to Head Dogfish Burton Baton -vs- Oskar Blues Gordon

Just for fun, I decided this afternoon, to taste a couple of double IPA's against each other. For comparisons sake let's say....

Dogfish Head Burton Baton, this oak-aged double IPA from the occasionally wacky, often experimental Delaware Brewer DogfishHead, is very aromatic with spicy/piney hops, woody overtones, and sweet vanilla malt. The beer is amber colored verging on brown with a complex flavor profile consisting of caramel, peach, spicy oak, vanilla, and floral hops following through to a balanced, mildly bitter finish. For more info on the Burton Baton, see this article at the Beeradvocate.

Oskar Blues Gordon , serious big beer in a can from Lyons, Colorado Brewer Oskar Blues. More honeyish on the nose than the Dogfish, with a good smack of citrusy hops, and colored like burnished brass. Honey shows up again in the taste, with flavors of sweet malt and tropical fruit and pine/citrus hops. Oskar Blues has been hand canning their beer since 2002, and here's hoping that more brewers follow suit.

This is supposed to be the part where I rate the beers and say which one is better. I'll give that part a pass, but what I will say is that these are two very tasty beers that fans of full-flavored beer should seek out.

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