DFH Golden Showers = Chef Boyardi

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
B

Brewstorm

Member
Joined
Apr 25, 2010
Messages
21
Reaction score
0
Location
MD
I know it might sound strange, but I bought a bottle of Dogfish Head Golden Showers off Ebay. When I opened it, it smelled just like Chef Boyardi Ravioli's. I thought, must be from the long aging, the smell will dissipate. I was wrong. Even My wife who doesn't drink beer, agreed that it smelled exactly like the Chef. She refused to even try it. When I tried it, the after taste was like when you where 18, drank a 18 pack of bad beer, came home late at night to micro some Chef, then the belches you got afterword, The exact same taste. I actually poured it back into the bottle to give to some beer geek friends as a joke. But that got me to thinking, what went wrong? Did:
a, the beer was really that bad to begin with.
b, it did have a yeast sediment, autolysis.
c. Poor Storage
d. Did the guy pou out the beer and reseal it with some crap he brewed. You can buy the caps online.

Abolutely horrible. The reason I posted here is I want to really know what may have happened, anyone ever experiened this before?
 
I know I'm about to get some crap, but I think most DFH beers are just off. The only ones I have ever liked are Raison d'etre (not extra) and their pumpkin. 60min is okay, 90 and 120 are over-hopped and under-attenuated, and every specialty beer of theirs I've ever had was just weird in some way. Most recent examples for me were Midas Touch (I could barely finish it) and some specialty with smoked almonds that was also under-attenuated and had the smoke character of every other smoked beer I've ever had. I feel as if all his experimenting has prevented him from honing in one or two flagship beers and getting them nailed down. Every time I taste one, even their permanent lineup, it's slightly different.
 
Airborneguy said:
I know I'm about to get some crap, but I think most DFH beers are just off. The only ones I have ever liked are Raison d'etre (not extra) and their pumpkin. 60min is okay, 90 and 120 are over-hopped and under-attenuated, and every specialty beer of theirs I've ever had was just weird in some way. Most recent examples for me were Midas Touch (I could barely finish it) and some specialty with smoked almonds that was also under-attenuated and had the smoke character of every other smoked beer I've ever had. I feel as if all his experimenting has prevented him from honing in one or two flagship beers and getting them nailed down. Every time I taste one, even their permanent lineup, it's slightly different.
Click to expand...

+1 -Mostly garbage. I'm sure they do some good things at he brewpub in Delaware, but it really is inconsistent in bottles.
 
The bottle dates back to 2006. I have other Dogfish beers I have aged for years that are very good. I really only like there 'experimental' stuff. I think there regular lineup is all under-atttenuated, without any good hop flavor or bitterness. I really 'love' only a very few, but I like to be inspired to try different things. I'm not a big believer in styles, only in the search for good beer.

But this Golden Shower was something else. It wasn't a slightly weird taste. It was way prominent, from about 5 inches from the glass it was all you could smell.

I go back and forth on Dogfish in general. Sam apparently brewed his first batch about 12-18 months before opening the brewery. How long does it take to get financing, build a place, hone your skills, train a staff, and such? There is no way he was a very good home brewer in that short of time. My guess is he had family money to burn. Hell, the brewery is no where near his family farm, or where he went to school. Kind of odd. Oh, and he always had a head brewer. Did Ken Grossman have a head brewer or Fritz, no, these guys set out to do it themselves.

Sam has built a brand, not a brewery. Someone else did that.

But I do like many of the beers. I really do. But mainly the high abv ones. I think they have really got that down.
 
Brewstorm said:
The bottle dates back to 2006. I have other Dogfish beers I have aged for years that are very good. I really only like there 'experimental' stuff. I think there regular lineup is all under-atttenuated, without any good hop flavor or bitterness. I really 'love' only a very few, but I like to be inspired to try different things. I'm not a big believer in styles, only in the search for good beer.

But this Golden Shower was something else. It wasn't a slightly weird taste. It was way prominent, from about 5 inches from the glass it was all you could smell.

I go back and forth on Dogfish in general. Sam apparently brewed his first batch about 12-18 months before opening the brewery. How long does it take to get financing, build a place, hone your skills, train a staff, and such? There is no way he was a very good home brewer in that short of time. My guess is he had family money to burn. Hell, the brewery is no where near his family farm, or where he went to school. Kind of odd. Oh, and he always had a head brewer. Did Ken Grossman have a head brewer or Fritz, no, these guys set out to do it themselves.

Sam has built a brand, not a brewery. Someone else did that.

But I do like many of the beers. I really do. But mainly the high abv ones. I think they have really got that down.
Click to expand...
He wrote an entire book on the process of opening the brewery, no need for hearsay and this probably isn't the forum for that.

Besides, Sam is not the head brewer as you said. Did Ken? No, he was homebrewing for a long time before opening Sierra Nevada however and had Fritz Maytag to bother. Did Fritz Maytag? He had the money to burn in the learning process. When he bought Anchor Brewing (he did not build the company but bought a pre-existing brand) he was already rich and did not know anything about brewing other than he liked beer.

Also, regardless of what other beers you have had of theirs that have been aged, the probably weren't 9%, 4-year old pilsners. I don't care how high the ABV is, it won't make the beer age any better.

I'm glad you found this outlet to bash one of the largest and most successful craft breweries in the country but it has nothing to do with why your beer smells like pasta sauce. It smells bad because it is an old bottle of a beer that shouldn't have been aged and was probably kept in poor conditions for the past four years.
 
I'm with mullenite on this - I'm amazed at all the bashers DFH has. I don't understand it. DFH90 was a bit too much for me, but 60 remains a favorite. Shelter Ale is nice, as are several others.

But back to the original question. You have a beer that is several years old. The probable explanation is the simplest.

Remember what doctors tell their students: "When you hear hoof beats over a hill, assume it's horses, not zebras." There are several versions of the same basic rule: Occam's Razor, the KISS Rule, etc. It's a wisdom that gets re-learned all the time. No need to reach for long shot or overly large explanations. In all probability, the beer was stored in someone's garage or attic or some other poor condition and was ruined by heat exposure.
 
SteveM said:
I'm with mullenite on this - I'm amazed at all the bashers DFH has.
Click to expand...

My opinion on their beers involves purely taste. I don't care how he started, where his money came from, or if he ever really brewed a batch on that little pilot system he likes to show off. I just haven't really liked any of their beers. Every other craft brewery has a few staple beers which they have dialed in so that they are consistent as far as taste. When you crack open a Sam Adams or Brooklyn Lager, you know how it is going to taste. DFH seems to only care about their latest "experimental" brew and to me, never dialed in a flagship beer. Calling people who don't like their beer, and can explain why, bashers implies that the brewery holds some position in the craft brew world which can't be contested. Craft beer is a business, and as a consumer, I am certainly entitled to my opinion on their product.

DFH does not have a mainstream product. And by mainstream, I don't mean in the light lager category. To enjoy DFH beers, you have to be an extreme beer person, not just a craft brew enthusiast.
 
Airborneguy said:
My opinion on their beers involves purely taste. I don't care how he started, where his money came from, or if he ever really brewed a batch on that little pilot system he likes to show off. I just haven't really liked any of their beers. Every other craft brewery has a few staple beers which they have dialed in so that they are consistent as far as taste. When you crack open a Sam Adams or Brooklyn Lager, you know how it is going to taste. DFH seems to only care about their latest "experimental" brew and to me, never dialed in a flagship beer. Calling people who don't like their beer, and can explain why, bashers implies that the brewery holds some position in the craft brew world which can't be contested. Craft beer is a business, and as a consumer, I am certainly entitled to my opinion on their product.

DFH does not have a mainstream product. And by mainstream, I don't mean in the light lager category. To enjoy DFH beers, you have to be an extreme beer person, not just a craft brew enthusiast.
Click to expand...
The person I replied to was bashing Sam and the brewery itself, he actually said good (or at least decent) things about the beer. Maybe if I had said that in reply to something you said your comment would make sense.

Also, they don't have a mainstream product? Shelter Pale Ale is off the wall? Chicory Stout is extreme? Even 60 Minute and 90 Minute, whether you like them or not, are very good examples of one of the ways you can make an American IPA or DIPA. Even Raison d'Etre, Indian Brown Ale, Aprihop, Festina Peche, Squall, Red and White and Black and Blue are not all that "extreme".
 
McKBrew said:
I like most of their beers that I have tried.

However it looks like you ended up with an old bottle. Seeing as how it hasn't been made since 2007 or earlier and on top of that it could have been poorly stored and handled prior, anything is possible when it comes to flavor.
http://www.dogfish.com/brews-spirits/the-brews/on-hiatus-brews/golden-shower-imperial-pilsner.htm
Click to expand...

+1

I personally love the 90 minute. Its usually my go-to IPA when I cant decide what I want. The 60 minute is delicious also but I have only had it a couple of times. I had the Palo Santo Marron once a while back and remember enjoying it very much.
 
something to be said about a mainstream brewery who keeps experimenting.

instead of putting out Beer #1 - Porter. Beer #2 - IPA. Beer #3 - Amber.

Sam could instead focus on growth of his mainstream products and probably make a crapton more money that way.
 
Airborneguy said:
To enjoy DFH beers, you have to be an extreme beer person, not just a craft brew enthusiast.
Click to expand...

Fair comment about the inappropriateness of being characterized as a "DFH basher." I apologize. But replying back that people who (like me) do like their beers are extremists and not craft brew enthusiasts is sort of in the same vein, isn't it? Maybe not, but I don't think of myself as an "extreme beer person." I suppose in a way, it's a compliment, but as a characterization, it is no more or less of a generalization than mine was.

"Te gustibus, non disputandum"...or something like that. Maybe we can agree that having different tastes in beer does not bring about a need to make unflattering characterizations of each other.
 
I said "NOT JUST a craft brew enthusiast". Obviously you are a craft brew enthusiast, but I believe you have to have the added attribute of also being an extreme beer enthusiast to enjoy their beers.

I wasn't "unflatteringly characterizing" anyone. I can't figure out how saying that I think DFH beers appeal to extreme beer enthusiasts is characterizing anything other than the beer.

I think you misread me. So of course I can agree with you not to make unflattering characterizations of each other, since I didn't do it in the first place.
 
While not always enjoying every beer DFH makes, I do really like that there are breweries out there like them, always thinking on the creative side of beer. I don't like everything they have that I have tried, but I do like the 60 and 90, and find them to be pretty consistent which would infer that they have them dialed in. When I see something new from DFH I know I'm not going to get someones take on a specific style, but someone's findings on what they think is good and original.
 

Similar threads

K
Beer overly bitter after priming
Replies
10
Views
1K
mac_1103
mac_1103
D
Help me autopsy this beer....
Replies
22
Views
1K
DVCNick
D
U
Hi guys, first time brewing, making a mead!
Replies
4
Views
818
CKuhns
CKuhns
orgenomescii
Brewing like a Barbarian: Ancient Irish Descriptions of Malting & Brewing
Replies
2
Views
1K
McMullan
McMullan
U
First post, first mead
Replies
0
Views
658
user 338612
U
SSBrew 300

Latest posts

Back
Top