750 mL capped bottle
9 percent ABV
Sampled: August 9, 2009
Dogfish Head has never shied from exploring ancestral beers. The unhopped Turkish delight of Midas Touch presents an ancient brew in an elegant style. Theobroma takes drinkers down to Central America for a pre-Columbia delight that defies modern brewing conventions.
Skeptical as I was, this amber ale shocks with the rich undercurrent of chocolate on its nose. The chocolate comes on strong and from a completely different direction than chocolate stouts and porters.
Somewhat bubbly, Theobroma pours with a light head that quickly vanishes. The chocolate is deeply embedded in the taste as well, thanks to portions of both cocoa powder and chocolate nibs, with the former wrestling away most of the character.
This sat for almost nine months before I crack it open, but the flavor doesn’t appear overly altered, save some inconsequential floaters in the goblet.
Now, peppers tossed into beer are a longtime peeve – thanks, Cave Creek Brewery. But hand it to Dogfish Head, they find the proper niche for the ancho peppers and ground annatto, a peppery tropical spice.
On the finish, they emerge but another key ingredient keeps them from searing the palette and ruining the beer. In typical fashion, honey softens and rounds beers that would turn much harsher without it. The pepper still has a fine sizzle, but slides surprisingly smoothly out of the dominant chocolate. This has to due with the alcohol content; at 9 percent, the peppery tones will already begin to emerge.
On
Theobroma won’t usher in a new era of chocolate flavoring anything lighter than stouts or porters. These excursions into beer’s historic past prove their worth because I have no qualms about revisiting Theobroma in the future. In fact, I can’t wait for the next release.
Rating: 9/10
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