(Milton, DE) – Sony’s Legacy Recordings has recruited Dogfish Head to make a bitchin’ brew . . .
[11/21 Update: The beer has been made again and will be available on shelves across the U.S. See the list of states where it will be available here!]
[8/31 Update: “Today is the official Bitches Brew release! Now available @ Milton brewery & Rehoboth pub. Release parties tonight in PHL & CHI. NYC Bitches Brew dinner on 9/9. Check Events page at www.dogfish.com for details on all that & more!”]
In 1970, jazz legend, Miles Davis, crafted an album called Bitches Brew. Here’s the intro to the AllMusic write-up: “Thought by many to be the most revolutionary album in jazz history, having virtually created the genre known as jazz-rock fusion (for better or worse) and being the jazz album to most influence rock and funk musicians, Bitches Brew is, by its very nature, mercurial [syn: volatile].”
40 years later, Sony has a bunch of things up its sleeve to celebrate including a new biopic starring Don Cheadle.
So what role will Dogfish Head play? They will be brewing a brand-new beer for this one.
Sam Calagione made the announcement at the Off-Centered Film Festival:
“We just did the test batch our pub. It is a threaded beer which means multiple primary fermentations […] and then you blend them together from multiple threads. It is a blend of Tej, which is the native African beer which is actually honey beer. They use gesho root because hops don’t grow in Africa and gesho is the bittering component that counterbalances the sweetness of the honey. That’s one thread. Three threads is an imperial stout with Muscovado sugar. Post-fermentation, we’ll blend those together to make Bitches’ Brew and that will come out in August.”
More can be found on Dogfish Head T’ej on the brewery’s website. There is no mention of Muscovado sugar [from the island of Mauritius] in any of the beer descriptions so that sounds like a new base beer recipe.
Kudos to Aaron at Craft Austin for taking video at the fest. He also captured Calagione rapping and mocking West Coast IPAs in the process.
Ok, so somebody tell Sam I am obsessed with him . . on a marketing level of course.
http://www.a2beerwench.com
http://www.drinkwiththewench.com
cheers
Just FYI: Tej is not “native African beer which is actually honey beer.” Tej is a honey wine that is quite strong – the component part is the Ethiopian buckthorn tree which gives it a bitter flavor. However real “Tej” is a milky white color with a very sweet mead like taste – almost like a wine that has not finished malolactic fermentation. Sorry, don’t mean to be rude, just wanted to set the record straight.
Also, Calagione can rap all he wants and mock West Coast IPA’s but Dogfish wouldn’t be in business today were it not for the WCIPA’s. They are better and Dogfish can’t come close to Alpine, Russian River, Ballast Point. Dogfish brews are poor imitations of anything the West Coast has to offer. East Coast, get over yourselves and admit you are trying desperately to imitate West Coast IPA’s…
I appreciate the education whenever commenters are willing to put forth the effort so thank you. I’m pretty sure someone mentioned that DFH’s version is brewed with barley on RateBeer so I just kind of let it go. Of course, someone mentioned it though 🙂
I almost sure Sam’s rapping is tongue in cheek. I don’t think he wants to be Biggie to Richard’s Tupac.
Sure beer can be serious biz, but you know what else it can be….fun.
Aaron Chamberlain
http://www.craftaustin.com
http://www.twitter.com/elmachuca
EDIT: I’m almost sure…
Yeah, I’d never heard of TEj being called “Beer”. Any time I’ve had Tej it was referred to as “Honey Wine”.
In any case, I was looking forward to this and now knowing that it will be associated with Miles makes it even more coveted!
Listening to BB(Pharaoh’s Dance) right now…