Dogfish Head: Midas Touch

Dogfish Head is a line of beers I'm used to seeing in Philly since it's a Delaware based brewery, but recently they've begun distributing some of their brews in San Francisco. One of their beers intrigued me, since it was labeled as an "ancient ale." This was definitely a genre of beers I was not familiar with, so, curious to see what an "ancient" ale tastes like, I picked one up.

If this beer tastes like anything, it's a little bit like a belgian trippel. But there's a lot more packed into this than your typical abbey style ale. It's a very sweet brew, with a notable honey taste to it. It also has a little bit of spiciness to it. There is a mild maltiness to the beer, and almost no hops to speak of. It's fairly-well carbonated, which adds a pleasant bubbly texture to a beer that is otherwise very thin-bodied. It finishes with a faint lingering bitterness that you find in many belgian beers.

This is one I highly recommend, if only for the uniqueness. It might be a bit too sweet for some, but it's not the kind of sweetness that sticks around on your tongue, thanks to the bubbly carbonation and the thin body. It's mild enough that it's unlikely to displease, and the random grab-bag of flavors might just be the new combo you're looking for.