If you're out there drinking beer, you've got to enjoy what Dogfish Head Brewery is doing. They respect and revive tradition but also are very original and creative. This is definitely evident in one of the brews that I recently tried this past weekend with my brother: Sah'tea."Sahti" is a traditional Finnish beer that is made with a variety of grains: barley, rye, wheat and oats. When made, it also uses juniper berries, often in place of hops. Traditionally, it supposedly has a banana taste. In the brewing process, tradition calls for rocks to be heated over a fire and then used to boil the wort. Dogfish Head used these ingredients, used that process but their added flare was finishing the beer with a black chai tea (thus Sah'tea).
The chai tea taste is dominant in their brew, a taste that I happen to quite like so I loved the Sah'tea. Having their demanding, old-school brewing process in mind when tasting it was definitely a contributor though. Here are a couple videos, this first of which gives an overview of the brewing process:
This next video shows them transferring the heated rocks to their wort tank, which you can see wasn't exactly a simple, no-sweat job:
Easily one of the best beers I've had this year and also one of my favorite releases from Dogfish head. I wish I had bought the whole case because I don't think you can find it anywhere now. I am definitely partial to the chai taste and thought it was a great addition and would have made an excellent fall beer with the sweet spiciness that it adds. Great stuff!
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