Dogfish Head Noble Rot

May 6th, 2013 by Scott in Other Beer Reviews

Dogfish Head Noble Rot is a saison-like beer that was one of Dogfish Head’s experiments. Two types of grape must, the freshly pressed grape juice normally used for wine making, were used in brewing this beer. First, viognier grape must must infected with botrytis, the “noble rot” itself, is sometimes used for dessert wines. The second must came from pinot gris grapes.

Both of the grapes used are white wine grapes, which is evident in this beer. It’s a 9.0% ABV beer and comes in 750ml bottles; putting a cork in this bottle might fool a few people into thinking this is champagne instead of beer.

Noble Rot is a golden colored liquid with a medium-sized white head. Very champagne like with definite grape qualities and lots of carbonation, but a Belgian yeast funk in it too. Lighter mouthfeel; leaves a lot of lacing on the glass.

This is not your usual beer; it’s quite good though and may be a good way to introduce some wine drinkers to a delicious brew. Noble Rot runs about $15 per 750ml bottle; it’s certainly not cheap but definitely worth sharing a good bottle on a Saturday night.