Dogfish Head Craft Brewery and Grateful Dead, two pioneers who built their followings by connecting directly with beer lovers and music lovers, are collaborating on the newest beer in Dogfish’s line of off-centered ales. “American Beauty” is set to be strong pale ale with all-American hops and barley and a special ingredient inspired by the Dead and suggested by YOU. Did you trade a bushel of fresh clementines for tickets to a two-night stand at Long Beach Arena? Or maybe your dad first laid eyes on your mom sipping a cup of green tea in the parking lot of the legendary Cornell ’77 show? Tell us the story behind your chosen ingredient and you could be the one to help bring this counterculture collaboration to life!
Get inspired while listening to American Beauty in full.
1. Box of Rain
2. Friend of the Devil
3. Sugar Magnolia
4. Operator
5. Candy Man
6. Ripple
7. Brokedown Palace
8. Till the Morning Comes
9. Attics of My Life 1
0. Truckin'
11. Truckin' (single version)
12. Friend of the Devil (live)
13. Candy Man (live)
14. Till the Morning Comes (live)
15. Attics of My Life (live)
16. Truckin' (live)
ABOUT THE RELEASE
Originally recorded in 1970. Now remastered in HDCD! Featuring 6 new tracks, expanded booklet, rare photos, and all-new liner notes.
Get American Beauty here.
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Hey, Jeez
You took all the fun out of this contest!
"Ingredients must be LEGALLY sourced and readily available in the US".
Well, I guess there must be some strong pale ale drinkers out there who can suggest an ingredient with the right subtlety and have a good story to go along with it...
How do they get the essence
How do they get the essence of a Veggie Burrito into a beer? My sincere hope is that they don't mess around too much with what they put in-- beer should not be fruity, but simply hops, malted barley and water (maybe some yeast or wheat if you are into Weiss beers). Interesting idea from Marye though... if the rose was subtle enough I could be convinced of trying that. Dogfish beers are usually too hoppy for me anyway. Interesting idea though.
Final Ingredient: DATES
Because 1) I ate them once, 2) they're legal, and 3) they were used for brewing in ancient Egypt... perhaps even in concert (pun intended) with readings from the Book of the Dead.
based on the cover
How about wood? Just kidding. I'd go with a little cinnamon.
hey, jeez II........
i couldn't agree more. by all rights, in keeping with the 1970 gd family and era, the final ingredient should definitely be ms. green jeans. :)but since that stands a good chance of not happening (too bad; demand would be ridiculous!)
just remove 1.5 oz. of beer / bottle; replace with 1.5 oz of southern comfort
(all american beauties....... pigpen & janis)
relabel as "heavy duty american beauty"......... :D
All American, eh?
As an IPA afficionado, I'm crazy about New Zealand and Australian hops: check out Schlafly's T IPA. Unbelievably fresh.To add an American ingredient, I'd go with honey, to give the pale ale some sweetness and certainly boost the alcohol content by enhancing the fermentation/aging process.
NOTHING
Keep it pure and simple, let the best quality ingredients speak for themselves and savour the way they work together. Don't add all sorts of fancy frills for the sake of it. Surely that's the Grateful Dead spirit. It's been said often enough that the GD rarely performed as well with guests on stage!.
Rose Hips
Rose petals might be too weird, but rose hips could be just the thing. Here's a quote from a homebrew forum:
"From what I've read rosehips are usually added 5-10 minutes before the end of boil, and add some red color, a touch of sweetness, and a bit of a citrus aroma.
If you're going for a rose flavor try playing with rose petals or rose water instead. Rose hips don't really taste like roses."
I would also oak age it to match the wood grain behind the rose image on the cover.
I'm with Cosmicbadger
Yes, keep it simple: barley malt, water, yeast and hops - and do try to go easy on the hops Big mistake many brewers make in America is going overboard on the hops, yielding nothing but an overly bitter brew.
Where was Pigpen?
Pigpen's contributions to the "American Beauty" LP were absolutely minimal. Although "Operator" is a great song, I don't think he did anything else in the studio. All the organ parts were done by Howard Wales instead. Seems like Mickey Hart's contributions to the album were also quite minimal.
with you
I fully agree-- keep it simple. Also 100% with you on the high-hop beer trend right now-- I can't drink a lot of the overly bitter beers a lot of craft brewers are doing (because of both taste and my sinuses get annoyed with high hop beers). I have actually found myself looking for more imported beers over crafts because of this.
I'm good with the heavy hops
But I've got a sub-par sense of smell, so all the hoppiness is probably just overcoming that sensory deficiency. Sort of like the glasses I have to wear to see, the cranking of the volume I have to do to hear. I have a pretty decent sense of touch, though (small consolation).
I'm also in the "purist" camp, in that I generally am not fond of flavor additives.
Maybe a shot of nitrous oxide in the bottle as it's being capped? Is that legal?
Hops = Yummmm
Unfortunately, Americans are (generally) accustomed to cheap, watery domestic lager. A healthy dose of hops would be great!!! (Easy on the malt, though! :o)
Dark Star Beers
if you want some special (and Dead inspired) beer from England, try Dark Star Beers. Purveyors of fine ales to our annual UK Summer of Love Party (love that Hophead)
http://darkstarbrewing.co.uk/
Hops, hops, and more hops (did I mention hops?)
In case you couldn't figure it out, I'm a HUGE hop head (in addition to a dead head!).
quixotic ingredient
fenugreek seed extract, just a touch. cheers!
Just a Box of Rain
In line with all the other "keep it simple" requests, I'd suggest using rain water for the water content. Legal, easily sourced, and ties into one of the songs. If not that, how about some splintered sunlight?
Let it sit a spell in whiskey oak
This is being done by some craft brewers already, but flavor and tasting notes depend on the oak age and the char: let the beer age for a while in used barrels from whiskey distilleries. Depending on the barrel, this can impart subtle flavors of caramel, vanilla and others to the brew. Or just throw in some liquid Lazy Lightning.
This is Great
I have been hoping for a collaboration between Dogfish and the Grateful Dead ever since their Bitches Brew came out in 2010. I was hoping this would be 50 year anniversary collaboration, but it looks like it is going to be sooner.
I personally prefer dark beers (stouts and porters). However if doing an ale, I say make it hoppy! (Reflections of Dear Mr. Fantasy.) Play us a song to make us all hoppy!
Just a touch
Hello my baby, I'm gone, good-byehalf a cup of rock and RYE
Farewll to you old southern sky
I'm on my way.....did someone suggest RYE? mmmmm.okay
As far as the hops debate goes, I never met a beer with to much hops.
How did Bobby put it...to much of everything is just enough.
Okay, maybe more than just a touch of rye
reinheitsgebot and one more thing.....
good beer should be kept to malted barley, hops, yeast and water only thank you, germany
and the beer is probably already pretty good as it stands
so instead of adding anything else to "flavor" it
or make it intense
or completely unique
(what hasn't been added to beer yet?)
maybe just leave the completed beer as is
and bless each beer vat with a generous helping of "kindness"
as the final ingredient.
that would be truly representative of a grateful dead beer
(the "proper" final ingredient can be added when this country gets some enlightened politicians)
**or if you're hell-bent on making it taste freaky, forget all of the above and add some macaroni and cheese......i don't think that's been done yet :)
Brown Eyed Woman
and "Red Grenadine" for that hint of red coloring.
Sage!
Really - sage from the west! Riding my motorcycle through the mountains of Utah and Colorado to see Bob and Rob at Snowmass and Durango, I was figuratively drunk on that beautiful smell of sweet lemony sage on every road I traveled! The whole trip was life changing - Bobby taught me to PLAY the acoustic guitar, not just strum it! "Sage and Spirit" kind of immortalizes the whole experience in song form. I know this post is Bob heavy, but hey, Blues for Allah is the GD at some of its finest!
Classic beer for a classic album
stick to classic beer ingredients....water, grain hops and yeast...not too bitter, heavy on the cascades for flavor
Warm & Fuzzy
Cardamom. Cardamom in hot cocoa on a chilly night in the lot. Cardamom in beer on a hot summer night. It's not dramatic a story, but it will be yummy.
I'm with Bentguy
Second that emotion on the setting in used whisky oak barrels a spell. The "hints" of vanilla and caramel would make it for me. Not really a flavoring, just subtle hints.
I hope that would win the contest, but how do you relate to a Grateful Dead experience??
beer
I saw the Dead in the fall and it was a truly awesome show and my favorite addition to beer has always been pumpkin with a little cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and allspice, so this would be great. But can you also collaborate on a good barley wine or something other than a pale ale. I am so sick of pale ales, that seems to be the "trendy" beer at the moment and I don't like bitter beer. I do love a higher alcohol content though and some sweetness. My hubby and I homebrewed the most awesome pumpkin porter that was 8% ABV and it had ALOT of pumpkin in it so it had way more flavor than any pumpkin beer we have every bought. MMM wish we had some more.
rye and bourbon
I like two suggestions here: rye and letting the beer age in bourbon casks. I have had a decent rye beer and I very much like Rye whiskey. A Wisconsin brewery makes a delicious beer that ages in bourbon barrels. So, I like those-- there are many whiskey references in Dead songs (including Rye, of course-- half a cup, please).
bourbon cask aging
Isn't this process more amenable to a stout? Not sure if you'd want to apply it to a pale ale, a lighter fruitier brew and matured in a shorter time frame. Also, the rye might work if it were a scotch ale, but this is a pale ale.
roses, BUT.....
The first two ideas might be the strongest. I'd go with rose petals, this being American Beauty and all, BUT....
If this elixir is being brewed in Washington or Colorado, well.......
American Beauty Pale Ale
Maybe something to make it a little creamy, like dark chocolate.