Dogfish Head Namaste

August 28th, 2013 by Scott in Walt Disney World Beer Reviews

At the Craft Beer Collection booth for the 2013 Epcot Food and Wine Festival, a Dogfish Head brew will be served for the first time since we’ve started this site. Instead of another IPA, however, the Craft Beer Collection serves up a witbier called Namaste.

Originally, Namaste was brewed with the head brewer from Birra del Borgo (whom Dogfish Head also collaborated with on My Antonia). It was brewed in tribute to the 3 Fonteinen brewery. A thermometer failure caused 100,000 bottles of lambics and gueuze to overheat. All this beer was ruined; the spirit of brotherhood among brewers, however, inspired the original brewing of Namaste.

Since then, Dogfish Head has brewed Namaste seasonally and Food and Wine attendees will be lucky enough to have it on hand! It’s unclear whether it will be on draft or in 750ml bottles. Namaste most directly replaces Blue Moon (or its seasonal variants) in the Craft Beer Collection lineup.

Pouring Namaste into the tall wheat beer glass (that just happens to be a souvenir from WDW in June) churns up a large white head and a slightly cloudy yellow liquid beneath it. Scents of lemon, wheat, coriander and a bit of spice are present but not heavy. Wheat, a bit of Belgian style yeast, and grassy flavors are the most noticeable. Just a bit of lemon in there as well.

Is it Dogfish Head’s best beer ever? No, they definitely have better ones, but Namaste is a marked improvement over Blue Moon while keeping a lighter, refreshing style as an option. It’s nice to see such improvements to the beer selection; now if they would only improve the Belgium booth.