Dogfish Head Raison D'Etre

20130211:
My friends and I are once again here at CVP (Charles Village Pub) after a night of rock climbing (20130211).

I wrote: "The beer smelt good, but when the chicken tenders came their smell completely overpowered the beer's smell. I can smell the hops. There's a creaminess to the taste. It's not terribly strong. It's nice and easy. The color is a dark, transparent red." 9:49PM ET

[20130217]

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Dogfish Head Raison D'Etre

Relevant Links:
Raison D'Etre (Dogfish Head Website)
Raison D'Etre (BeerAdvocate.com)
Dogfish Head Raison D'Etre (RateBeer.com)

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Website Information:

Raison D'Etre

Availability: Year Round
A deep mahogany, Belgian-style brown ale brewed with beet sugar, raisins and Belgian-style yeast.

We began brewing this one at our pub in 1996 (we began packaging and selling it sometime in 1998) as the answer to the question, "What beer should I enjoy with a wood-grilled steak?" Raison D'Etre fits the bill. It's as tasty and complex as a fine red wine.

In the Quick Sip Clip video below, Sam talks about Raison D'Etre inside the new cellars for our 600-bbl fermentation tanks. The cellars were designed specifically to allow sterile yeast management. The system also allows us to automatically dose the yeast into the fermentation tanks. At Dogfish, we use multiple strains of yeast for our different beers, so we are acutely aware of all that can go wrong when you don't love and protect the yeast.

Original Release Date: 03/1998
Food Pairing Recommendations: Steak, duck, game, wine-reduction sauces, blue cheese, goat cheese, ham, mussels
Glassware Recommendation: Goblet or Snifter
Tasting Notes: pit fruit, decadent, winey, raisiney, malty
Wine Comparable: Bordeaux

ABV 8.0
IBU 25