Dogfish Head "Grateful Dead" Pale Ale

This is not my first Grateful Dead-themed beer. It's not even my second. I have listened to the Dead, and I had an acquaintance in college who played them alternately with Pink Floyd. They are fine. They are not really my kind of band, and I'm not really sure why they are so popular that they would have three different beers named after them. Are they especially associated with beer? I thought they were LSD or acid or some kind of hallucinogenic. 

The pale yellow beer does indeed look like what a pale ale should look like. I mean, it has quite a bit of haziness to it, so if they were going to call it juicy, why not call it hazy, too? The white head sticks around on top of the beer, but it doesn't seem to be sticking to the sides of the glass to leave lacing. The aroma is tangerine and grapefruit, and that is what we call juice. 

First sip is a little bitter and fairly juicy. I don't think we're going to get the amount of juice that we could get from an IPA with a simple pale ale, and I'm even more confused with the grains that they proudly say they added. Every time they write the word Kernza, they have a little registered copyright marker next to it. I don't really taste a whole lot of grain, but it was only a sip. Hopefully I don't get in trouble for using the name here.

Tip-in is bitter (almost tart) grapefruit, tangerine, and starfruit with minimal carbonation intrusion. The middle continues the juice as grains join in, but water covers the middle of the mouth. The finish is bitterness that leans into fruit skins before light grains in the trail off.

Bottom Line: Nothing wrong with it.

2.5/5