Birra Etrusca Bronze

Dogfish Head has done it again. They have found an ancient artifact that was suspected to be used to drink a beer from way back in the day. They had it analyzed and put together the ingredients to create another Ancient Ale, Birra Etrusca Bronze. This beer was discovered with the help and research of a couple other breweries and an archaeologist. They are all releasing a version of this beer from what I understand. Apparently this ale changed the game. They went out of their way to show that Italians not only like wine, that they also had room for beer at their dinner table.

Birra del Borgo and Baladin also will brew a version of Birra Etrusca, and to add complexity and variety, each brewery will ferment its batches with different traditional materials. Dogfish will use bronze, Baladin will use wood, and Birra del Borgo will use terra cotta.

The list of ingredients on this one were kind of wild. The bottle list Honey, Hazelnut Flour, Heirloom Wheat, Myrrh (which I had no idea was so valuable), Gentian root (whatever that is), Raisins, Pomegranate Juice, & Pomegranates. That is quite a bit of ingredients. I would probably never track down any of that stuff to make a brew. Then again, that is their thing.



I totally bet this was intentional but I love how this ancient ale was bronze when it poured into the glass. I thought the aroma was kind of weird. There was a lot going on but it was hard for me to pinpoint much of anything. I can say it was herbal and I want to say I got some pomegranate and yeast. Again, hard to determine.

Tasting this beer was a little tough to figure out, too. There was a sweetness to it and some spices. Malty but thin with a medium body... if that makes sense... I enjoyed the pomegranate, wheat, bread... I had to think about this one a lot. Maybe I need a guided tasting of this one since it is so different from anything else out there. It reminded me a bit of Midas Touch.

Honestly, I don't know where to stand on this one. It was not bad, but it was not great, IMO, either. Very Complex. Just There. So Different. I wish I had others around me when I opened this so I could have gotten their opinions.

Cheers!