Parallel Blog Tasting: Dogfish Head Palo Santo Marron

This is the first parallel tasting between Summer of Beer and my friend across the country, Baltimore Beer Guy. Having had Dogfish Head's Palo Santo Marron sitting on our fridges it was only natural that we enjoy them together through the power of AOL Instant Messenger. Here are some highlights.

On the pour...

BBG - pitch black, slight hint of purple, not much head here, smells like a porter
BBG - mine says bottled 2/11/08
SOB - same
SOB - this thing pours beaut, I got a big head, finger and a half

On the aroma...

BBG - smells sweet, bit of brown sugar in the aroma...they say vanilla on the bottle, and caramel.
SOB - I thought I was gonna get a bunch of weird smells from the wood but I can't really detect any. still smelling it.... seems to be a faint dirt sorta thing in it

On the taste... (PS- we know the wood used here is not oak)

BBG - oh yeh I taste wood, lol.
SOB - ok now i'm on the taste with you
SOB - wow, that is oak.
BBG - lol yeh, not like bourbon oak, but straight up raw oak.
SOB - yeah pure wood... with alcohol.
SOB - is it my dry mouth I have this afternoon or does this beer finish really dry
BBG - seems dry to me.
BBG - that porter smell gives way to a think a slightly sweetened brown all taste... not much alcohol in the taste.
SOB - just now I get a lot of up front sweetness, then this bitter tannic finish.
BBG - definitely getting the sweetness.
SOB - yeah the wood is bigtime in this
BBG - not too sticky either, which doesnt bother me, but surprised its not sticky sweet. they say caramel, I say brown sugar... molasses even.
BBG - I'm enjoying my beer burp there, tastes good in the way back lol

Back to the aroma...

SOB - oh wow the aroma is getting better now after swirling some more. it's a sweetness in there, jumps out of the glass. I wanna say grapes is a pretty close description, but big alcohol soaked grapes.
BBG - the smell has really toned down on mine
BBG - the smell is starting to remind me of the raison d'etre by DFH
SOB - yeah, the aroma is somewhat dominated by a fruity sweetness

Back to the taste and the overall impression of the beer

BBG - you know what this wood is doing, its sort of mellowing the beer out, its doing like it does to wine.
SOB - oh the beer would kick our ass without the wood
BBG - this beer almost might be too damn sweet without the wood, well I think it would be a lot like their worldwide stout which was just way sweet and loaded with alcohol.
SOB - I'm torn on what to give this beer as a taste rating. Not sure it's something I am a huge fan of, although I surely do appreciate it if that makes sense.
BBG - yeh its starting to improve... still a one timer...or just on a whim one day trying another... but not a regular beer
SOB - I think this'll be pegged at about a 3.8-4 overall for me

Overall Scores

• Baltimore Beer Guy: 3.9/5
• Summer of Beer: 3.65/5