Off Color Beer for Fantasy Witbier with Blood Orange and Dragonfruit

 Off Color Beer for Fantasy Witbier with Blood Orange and Dragonfruit. 

5% ABV, Off Color Brewing, Chicago, IL.

Clear, pale crimson coloring, slim white head. 

In the nose:  citrus explosion. Dragonfruit and blood orange hold court, but the essence of a wit lies beneath. 

In the mouth: light bodied, with a touch of spice. Touch of tart. Essentially easy-drinking. Hits the spy on a day like today (high in the mid-90’s). 

Good fruited witbier and you can drink it. 

Dragon fruit lends hints of kiwi and bartlett pears while the blood orange puree casts a peach hue with subtle flavors of raspberry. Crack one open as you begin your next adventure and don't forget to pour one out for those lost along the way.

Wild Mind Puff the Passion Dragon

When Wild Mind announced their accounts-only program, they claimed that the beers that would go in kegs to bars and restaurants would not be on tap in the tasting room, but may occasionally show up in bottles or crowlers. Puff is a beer that I poured at Acadia and took great pride in promoting, but I never took notes on it, because I tend not to do that, the note-taking at the bar. On one of my recent visits to the brewery, there it was, a single crowler of Puff. I snatched it up. And now I drink it.

Clear, bright crimson color, short-lived pinkish head (so short it was gone before I could photograph it).

Wild Mind Puff the Passion Dragon Wild Sour Ale, with Fruit. 6.7% ABV. 25 IBU.

In the nose: Popping with berries, buzzing with sour. Bold and fruity. Nice.

In the mouth: Ooo! Fruity pucker-time. Big, juicy fruit. Starts sweet and sour and ends up dry. If memory serves, the ingredients in the beer are in the name. Passion Fruit and Dragon Fruit. Let's learn more about it:

There’s more than a bit of magic in our latest distribution beer. Puff the Passion Dragon was fermented with our own blend of 100 percent Brettanomyces, creating a funky and lightly tart base to which we added more than 60 pounds of tropical hops to add a soft bitterness and tropical flavor the complement the wild yeast. To wrap things up, we conditioned Puff on 336 pounds of passion fruit and 250 pounds of dragon fruit to add a final touch of tartness and a whole lot of tropical fruit flavor. This ambitiously funked up fruited sour pours a vivid pink and has notes of earthy funk, tropical fruit, and a hint of citrusy hoppiness.

A delicious fruited sour ale. Smooth, sour, sweet and lovely. Ends clean on the palate, with the tongue yearning for just a touch more. The glass happily obliges and the throat is eternally grateful. Stomach is pleased, tastebuds tingle, mind is happy. Everybody's good. Just enough malt, just enough fruit, great balance of everything you need, here. Just right on.

Yet another one that I wished I'd been able to pick up two of, and save one to share at some sharing event in the future. Alas. Next time, maybe. You will make this again, won't you, Wild Mind? Sure. Got to let that lightning strike twice.

If it wasn't abundantly clear, I really like this one. Another wild, weird success from Wild Mind.

Dogfish Head / The Flaming Lips Dragons & Yum Yums

Dogfish Head / The Flaming Lips Dragons & Yum Yums.  Pale Ale brewed with dragonfruit, and yumberry. Passionfruit, pear, and black carrot juices. Brewed and bottled by Dogfish Head Craft Brewery, Milton, DE. 6.5% ABV, 25 IBU.

Clear, pinkish hued, with solid ivory head. Weird and good.

In the nose: Lightly sweet and fruity. Very berry. What other berries? I can't say for sure. (I'm drinking this

In the mouth: Slight tart, big fruity. Dragonfruit? I love Dragonfruit! I don't go out of my way for it, but if it's there, I'm drinking it. Or eating it. Plenty of dragonfruit, and who knows what else pounds the palate on every sip.

Light body, smooth, easy drinking, lots of fruit....tasty and tart.

I haven't any familiarity with the music of The Flaming Lips, and can only imagine what their song about dragons and yum yums can possibly sound like. Maybe it's out there somewhere, or do I have to wait for Record Store Day?

An explosion of fruit in every sip, Dragons & YumYums is an intensely tropical - yet subtlety bitter - pale ale brewed with a combination of dragonfruit, yumberry, passionfruit, pear juice and black carrot juice. Clocking in at 6.5% ABV and 25 IBU, Dragons & YumYums is a first-of-its-kind beer and vinyl collaboration with American rock icons, The Flaming Lips. 

A sensory enveloping experience at the intersection of creative beer paired with creative music, the energy of this union inspired Flaming Lips front man Wayne Coyne to use ingredients from the beer - dragonfruit and yumberries - as characters in two original songs, The Story of Yum Yum and Dragon and Pouring Beer in Your Ear … making this the first beer with its own theme song!

With dragonfruit and yumberry as the main elements, Wayne transformed them into storyful lyrics in the song like, “Yum Yum and Dragon went out for a drive, but Yum Yum doesn’t have any eyes….Yum Yum and Dragon, they’re happy they’re friends…”

The psychedelic influence of the label artwork, designed by Marq Spusta as part of Dogfish Head’s Off-Centered Art Series, was influenced by the legacy of the Flaming Lips and the culinary components in Dragons & YumYums shown through radiating lines, movement of fire, dancing lips, rainbows and bold pink colors.

Toppling Goliath Dragon Fandango

Toppling Goliath Dragon Fandango Mango/Passionfruit kettle sour. Toppling Goliath Brewing Company, Decorah, Iowa.

On Sunday, the 3rd of September, I made my first ever trip to Decorah, Iowa and the Toppling Goliath brewery, at long last. Thanks to Jason for taking the wheel. On tap were many beers I've had before with two exceptions, Supa Sumo, which I've recently reviewed from the bottle brought back from here, and this one, Dragon Fandango, which I'm about to tell you about. One very hot commodity was on, the coffee stout known as Mornin' Delight. I'd love to review that one from a bottle, but I don't think I can afford one, if I'll ever see it on sale. I've had it and it's good, but not for the price that's being asked. We each enjoyed servings of 5 ounces for 10 dollars each. Let that sink in: $2 per ounce for a coffee / maple syrup stout. And the server marked our hands so that we could not order another. Only one per person, per day (or ever?). I've never seen or heard of a brewery doing that. I've never even conceived of any brewery treating any of it's beers as that precious. It's good, but it's not that good. Nothing is, really.

Jason's still on his MD, and I've moved on to one of
the IPAs (forgot which one).

Good for Toppling Goliath, I'm happy for their success. But I can't join in on these extreme prices. I'll keeping drinking their beers that I can afford (and this one, too, was expensive, but I paid the price in order to try it at home, no complaints). And that's about as far as it'll go.

So, let's talk about Dragon Fandango:

Thoroughly hazed, bright red, no head to speak of.

In the nose: Pulpy fruit, getting more dragon than passion and more of that than mango. Plenty of tart to play with the juicy.

In the mouth: Intense puckering to go with big, juicy fruit. A lot of sour, and a lot of fruit. Not too complicated. Sigh. Yep, pretty much. Fruit. Sour. Kettle. ....yawn.

It's tasty stuff, done well. But, I still feel like....I don't know, is this a boring beer (naw...), or am I just bored of these beers? What a sourpuss I would be to feel that way, but I think I can only take so much of it. This was probably the wrong beer to take home in a growler, in that case.

Also, if you read the copy below, I hate it when they tell you what to do. I ain't performing any damn dance, no thank you, sir.

Join the dragon in a dance to celebrate this unique kettle sour, blended with dragon fruit, mango and passion fruit puree. Raise a glass, dance the fandango and celebrate the magic of these tropical fruits.