Raison D'Extra - Dogfish Head Brewery

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BA SCORE
89
very good
-
749 Ratings

rAvg: 3.98
pDev: 15.83%
Reviews: 571
Hads: 178

Ratings Help

Brewed by:
Dogfish Head Brewery

Delaware, United States

Style | ABV
Belgian Strong Dark Ale | 18.00% ABV

Availability: Rotating. bottle (556), on-tap (14), nitro-tap (1).

Notes:
This beer is retired; no longer brewed.

A bigger, bolder version of our Raison Raison D'Être.

This is a bulbous, brown ale brewed with a bunch of malt, brown sugar and raisins.

40 IBU

Reviews

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Reviews by smakawhat:

smakawhat

Maryland

4.5/5 rDev +13.1%
look: 3.5 | smell: 5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

Poured from the bottle into an official Dogfish head large snifter. Bottle dated March 15th 2007 F.

Straight down the middle pour provides a barleywine appearance like body of caramel brown, fruit punch consistency, and murky character. Head is a light tan but does not stick around and leaves not a single bit of lacing. Exceptional probably not but hey its old, and it still looks good!

Bouquet on this is just flat out fantastic. Barleywine "like" smelling at first, but gives way to a nice heat and dryness, like a very good Spanish sherry. Almost into Tawny port character but not quite. Tolerable heat, more noticeable as the beer warms up. Sweet dark fruits (from raisin) in sense. Quick whisps of chocolate, anisette, licorice. An amazing complex nose.

Taste is a real fireplace sipper. Heat and sherry dry fruit bent. Figs and dates, with caramel sweetness and toffee. Hint of fizz on the palate, but a bit dry finishing just like sherry. Anisette in the finish matching the parching palate dryness a little. Tight tasting, bold, robust, big but tolerable and one to grab on to.

Overall incredibly impressive, nothing like I remember it when I first had it. A great an example of a beer that ages incredibly well. Just fantastic drink to be had.

Serving type: bottle

07-12-2011 02:59:56 | More by smakawhat

More User Reviews:

One2Remeber

Florida

4/5 rDev +0.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Bottled 09/29/06. Thanks Steve.

A: No head, at all. Murky as could be. Dirty brown body with a bright ruby red/mahogany hue.

S: Tootise roll candy. Soft chocolate, chewey caramel, light toffee. Booze, metallic notes in undertone, really have to look.

T/M: Sherry-like, mouth puckering astringent bite. Really hard going down. Malts flavors are intensely unique and quite enjoyable.

O: May have aged just a bit too long. Booze is too hot to enjoy the evolved malt profile. Impressed for taking the shot. Would def try again and hope for different results.

Serving type: bottle

06-18-2013 03:51:58 | More by One2Remeber

DrunkinYogi

Connecticut

4/5 rDev +0.5%

06-18-2013 03:45:30 | More by DrunkinYogi

vonnegut21

New York

4.5/5 rDev +13.1%

06-17-2013 18:25:34 | More by vonnegut21

Bluecane

North Carolina

4.5/5 rDev +13.1%

06-08-2013 02:45:30 | More by Bluecane

maxcoinage

Illinois

4.59/5 rDev +15.3%
look: 4 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

2007 Vintage acquired in a trade. Surprised to hear a nice carbonated sound when cracking it open. As I was pouring it then aroma was quite prevalent.

Poured into a snifter a dark brown color with a couple cm white head which dissipated quickly.

Aroma is fantastic - brown sugar, figs, dates, oak

Mouthfeel - fairly heavy and still a bit of carb, not as oxided as I would have expected.

Taste is just outstanding - similar to aroma- sweet, brown sugar, raisins, old port, definitely boozy

Finish is strong and hot. Enjoying this very much!

Serving type: bottle

06-01-2013 03:04:00 | More by maxcoinage

craftbeerasian

Florida

4.25/5 rDev +6.8%

05-30-2013 17:25:18 | More by craftbeerasian

stevec32

New York

4.25/5 rDev +6.8%

05-28-2013 00:09:18 | More by stevec32

madtrixter787

Virginia

4.25/5 rDev +6.8%

05-24-2013 04:59:03 | More by madtrixter787

Slatetank

Pennsylvania

4/5 rDev +0.5%

05-20-2013 22:27:54 | More by Slatetank

smithj4

New York

4.5/5 rDev +13.1%

05-19-2013 02:45:33 | More by smithj4

dbrauneis

New Jersey

4.01/5 rDev +0.8%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75

A: Pours a hazy dark reddish brown in color with minimal amounts of visible carbonation and some garnet red highlights. The beer has a minimal amount of light beige head that quickly reduces to a very thin ring at the edges of the glass. Minimal amounts of lacing are observed.

S: Moderate to strong aromas of dark fruits (raisins, prunes, and plums) and candi sugar.

T: Overall this beer is pretty sweet, with moderate to strong flavors of dark fruit malt sweetness with raisin, prune, and plum all making a strong presence. There is a strong presence of candi sugar as well which contributes to the overall sweetness.

M: Full bodied with light amounts of carbonation. Syrupy with light amounts of alcohol warming.

O: It is a shame that DFH stopped making this beer and continues to make the Raison D'Etre (the watered down version of this beer) - I would love to see DFH pull this one out once every 3-5 years as it is so much better. Nice amounts of complexity but it is not the easiest beer to drink as the alcohol is not as well hidden as would appeal to the masses.

Serving type: bottle

05-19-2013 02:44:56 | More by dbrauneis