169. Dogfish Head Midas Touch

Wow, it's been almost a month.  It's been harder and harder to get out here and blog.  It's not that I don't like doing this, because I do, it just gets overwhelming trying to keep up with this backlog.  Either way, I get to enjoy a Saturday, sample 2 or 3 different beers, and will do what I can to play catch up a bit.  King Midas was that guy who had the golden touch, if you don't remember his "story".  Not entirely sure if it plays into the beer, aside from the fact that it uses ingredients that would have been around thousands of years ago.  It's labeled as an "Ancient Ale".  If you look at Beer Advocate, it's labeled as a Spiced Beer and I'm going to go with that.  No special occasion for this one, just decided to enjoy with dinner.

The beer was poured into a snifter glass.  It has a nice hazy orange color to it.  Not a lot of head, maybe half a finger.  Average retention, not a lot of lacing.  I could detect aromas of citrus, grape, malt, honey, maybe some butter.  Reminiscent of a chardonnay.  The ingredients mention saffron, but I don't know what it smells like and couldn't discern it in this beer.

As expected, the taste is reminds me of a sweet chardonnay mixed with some beer notes.  There's a sweetness that comes from the honey and the grape..maybe the grape isn't naturally sweet, but a muscat grape definitely is.  A buttery taste lingers from a taste and mouthfeel standpoint.  Again, not sure if I can tell where the saffron is.  It's a complex taste, but it's not bad at all.  The beer doesn't seem strong as first, but it will definitely feel strong in the end.  The mouthfeel is medium to heavy bodied with moderate carbonation.  

This was a refreshingly different beer from some of the others I've tried.  I've noticed that Dogfish Head does a lot of creative beers and I'm slowly but surely starting to take notice.  That said, creativity doesn't mean great beer, so I'm interested to see how well they're able to incorporate some of these creative flavors.  Give it a try, I think you'll like it.  

Grade: B

Price Paid: $2.29 (12 oz bottle)