If you've been watching the show, "Brewmasters," you already know a thing or two about Bitches Brew. In case you've missed the show, here's a little about this fantastic beer.
Bitches Brew was brewed as a collaboration with Sony Music's re-release of Miles Davis' "Bitches Brew" album for the album's 40th anniversary. The idea behind the beer was to create a beer that both honored and represented the album. To do this, Sam Calagione, the founder of Dogfish Head, had the idea to blend a traditional imperial stout with an African honey wine called tej. So as to not let the sweetness of the tej overpower the beer itself, the beer is brewed with three parts imperial stout and one part tej and then blended to create the finished product.
Bitches Brew pours an impossibly dark color (dare I say Abyss-like?) with a sizeable mocha colored head that showed good retention and left some nice lacing down the glass.
As far as smells go, I don't know if I've ever smelled a beer as good as Bitches Brew. There's a pretty good trace of honey upfront with a deep, dark earthy smell following. Hints of coffee and molasses are definitely also present in the smell.
After smelling this beer, I was pretty excited to finally try it and the first taste didn't disappoint. The beer shows some nice milk chocolate sweetness upfront and then hits you with coffee, dark chocolate and roasted malt. The thickness isn't quite up to Abyss standards, but it definitely isn't thin. The beer leaves a velvety coating over your mouth and is an absolute joy to drink. There's a fantastic complexity to it and a very earthy feel to it that works perfectly with all of the flavors. The honey wasn't as present in the taste as in the smell, but the beer was plenty sweet enough without the honey flavors. Overall, this is one of the best beers I've ever had. If they ever brew this again, I have to get more.
Final Grade: A+
where did you get this one! I want to buy it!
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