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The wonderful thing about beer versus wine is the fact that there are seemingly an infinite number of ingredients that you can make it out of. So many different styles and flavors are available at the local beer store that it’s no wonder that some craft beer drinkers such as myself stand and gawk and chin-scratch and pace up and down the aisle thinking “what’ll it be, what’ll it be?”
 

There I was, late Friday morning, gawking and scratching and pacing the beer shelf aisle at the Four Seasons beer store. I had my iPod touch with me and I referenced the notes I had taken on beers to keep an eye out for. Alas, none of those beers were on the shelf. I did spot one the piqued my curiosity.

Back and forth I paced and kept coming back to that same beer debating and arguing with myself as to whether it would be a worthy candidate for review and a few hundred words of prose. Thinking of my upcoming attempt at Mich’s Rye P.A. scheduled for later that night, how bad can a beer really taste? And I’ve had some real doozies.

With at least two IPAs tried-and-liked under my belt, I was drawn to this one beer brewed once again by the Dogfish Head Craft Brewery out of Milton, Delaware. If their 90-minute IPA was pretty good, how bad can this beer possibly be?

I had a couple of issues arise in my selection determination though. First, it had a French name. I’m not well versed in French but a few words pop up in my crossword puzzles from time to time. This one was somewhat familiar. Raison d’Etre, the reason for being. Hell, if there’s any reason for being in this life on this planet it’s beer.

A check of the label:

A deep mahogany ale brewed with Belgian beet sugars, green raisins & a sense of purpose.

Beets? Raisins? Why not? We have pumpkin ale, banana, cherry, blueberry and apple beers, why not beets and raisins? However, squash and zucchini are crossing the line as far beer ingredients go.

Some other thoughts popped into my head. When I was in the service and stationed in a USAF comm center in the Philippines, I was working the graveyard shift and got the munchies. The only available snacks were boxes of Sun Maid raisins. I chowed down on three or four small boxes of those sweet, tasty morsels. A couple of hours later and my colon belched forth the most vile… Raisins tend to give me gas.

Beets have to be pickled. Unpickled beets taste like dirt.

Saturday blossomed into a gorgeous, 72° day. My bike was back from the shop and beckoned me familiarly. I was gone for about an hour. Then the entire earth reminded me of where we were in the calendar year. It started to get dark. With a chili-dog and snackie-poo under my belt it was time to dive into raisins, beets and beer.

The beer sites recommended a chalice or tulip glass for drinking Raison d’Etre, but all I had was the old Miller High Life schooner which would substitute in lieu of the real thing. The first bottle was uncapped (non-twist-off) and its contents poured.

The poured beer revealed itself to be a dark, orange-copper color. The head came up about a half an inch and ebbed away to a thin suds mat across the top so there should be no worry about pouring this beer straight into an upright glass. Lots of small bubbles raced their way to the top. The aroma was slight and had a sweet malty touch.

The first sip contained a number of familiar beer flavors that I had experienced in the past though no particular individual taste jumped out at me right away. However, the sip was full of good body and a lot of flavor. Maybe later these tastes will reveal themselves.

The beer was mild and full at the same time* and the middle held the high ground. A nice sweetness manifested itself but I couldn’t pinpoint the source as to whether it was the beets or the raisins or a tandem of both. Each sip left another mild coating of cack in the back of my throat, each succeeding sip washing away the preceding coat.

The maltiness of this brew was lower than a fuller Belgian ale such as St. Bernardus Abt 12 or Delirium Tremens but isn’t that to be expected? But this beer had many things in its favor. The taste was a bit unusual but not off-putting. It was is if there was one ingredient that was either missing or just not enough of. Nonetheless, this beer was quite tasty and enjoyable. At 8% ABV however, sessioning this beer is asking for trouble. A cuppla twotree would do you fine and it would be a tasting experience you won’t soon forget.

Into the second bottle, I started to think that the unusual sweet flavoring was that of the raisins. Subtle but there in the background whispering, “Guess who.” at each sip. The taste reminded me a bit of Dragon’s Milk but without the double barreled punch in the chops. It was DM’s little brother.

Once again, the little space heater set on “low” kicked on my stomach which was surprising as there is no alcohol to be tasted as the beer goes down. Just the raisins and beets in masks playing handball off my tongue. The subtle sweetness, hard to identify in my case, would be the selling point of this beer. Couple that with the smoothness and middle flavors and we have ourselves a great beer.

If you haven’t tried this beer, by all means pick up a sixer the next time you spot it on the shelves. It’s a beer worth trying and enjoying and enjoy you will.

The SixPackTech ratings for Dogfish Head Raison d’Etre are:

Taste: B+ > Gettin’ jiggy with your palate.
Smoothness: A > So nice going down.
Drinkability: B+ > Two, three, who’s counting?
Bang for the buck: B- > Worth it just for this unique taste.
ABV: 8.0%
Wife’s all-encompassing opinion: It’s kinda reddish, burgundy. Oh it smells sweet. (sip) Hmm. I get kind of a… fruity… (sip) I can’t pick the fruit though. (sip) It’s a little drying but not bad. (sip) Maybe cherry? Yeah kinda cherryish. Not bad though. (Thank goodness she doesn’t make beet raisin pie.)

(BA) – (RB)

*Simultaneously. At the same time. Together. (But you should already know that by now.)