Home > Sah'tea brewed by Dogfish Head Craft Brewery - Milton, Delaware
Sah'tea brewed by Dogfish Head Craft Brewery - Milton, Delaware
Sah'tea brewed by Dogfish Head Craft Brewery - Milton, Delaware
Sah'tea is a
9th-century Finnish beer style with a modern take. The wort for Sah'tea is
caramelized over white-hot river rocks, and the beer is fermented with a
German weizen yeast. In addition to juniper berries foraged from the Finnish
countryside, Sah'tea is flavored with black tea, cardamom, cinnamon, ginger,
cloves and black pepper. The spicing is subtle and balanced, and Sah'tea is
a highly-quaffable, truly unique brew with a full mouthfeel.
Beer Review by Beer Advocate
Pours a cloudy golden orange color with a small dense off white head with good
retention that reduces to a thin cap that lingers. Some spotty lacing on the
glass as well. Aromas of big ginger, cinnamon, clove, pepper, bubblegum, wood,
chai tea, light fruits, honey, and yeast spices. Damn nice and interesting
aromas; with good strength and balance. Taste of big chai tea, clove, pepper,
cinnamon, wood, bubblegum, light fruits, honey, and yeast spices. Lingering
notes of light fruits, pepper, honey, and spices on the finish for a bit.
Fantastic balance of flavors and spices without getting too cloying. Medium
carbonation and medium-full bodied; with a fairly creamy mouthfeel. Alcohol is
extremely well hidden for 9%; with hardly any warming noticed at all. Overall
this is an outstanding ancient style representation from Dogfish! Incredibly
balanced, drinkable, and tasty; without being cloying with spices at all.
The Dogfish Story
The story of Dogfish Head began in June of 1995 when we opened Dogfish Head
Brewings & Eats, the first state's first brewpub opened in the resort beach
community of Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. The plan was to bring original beer,
original food, and original music to the area.
Not only was Dogfish Head Delaware’s first brewpub, it was the smallest
commercial brewery in America. Our very first batch, Shelter Pale Ale, was
brewed on a system which essentially was three little kegs with propane burners
underneath. Brewing 12–gallon batches of beer for a whole restaurant proved to
be more than a full time job. When the doors to the pub first opened, we brewed
three times a day, five days a week! The one benefit to brewing on such a small
system was the ability to try out a myriad of different recipes. We quickly got
bored brewing the same things over and over – that’s when we started adding all
sorts of weird ingredients and getting kind of crazy with the beers!
The beer wasn't the brewpub’s only draw. The pub's menu centered on a
wood-burning grill. We soon became known as the place to enjoy fresh grilled
seafood, burgers, pizzas and sandwiches. The wood–burning grill imparts a unique
flavor to everything on the menu, whether it's a hearty sandwich, a delicate
piece of fish or our signature pizza dough.
With the popularity of the pub growing, it was quickly apparent that the
12–gallon brewery would not keep up with demand. We built a new brewery and
underwent a thirty-fold expansion of the brew house!
The reputation of Dogfish Head ales quickly grew beyond Delaware's borders.
Calls from Philadelphia, Washington D.C. and beyond poured in, as thirsty
restaurant patrons demanded their favorite beach beer at home. We began bottling
our Shelter Pale Ale in 1996 and just 1 year later we expanded again – this time
we separated the packaging operation from the restaurant, and kept on brewing!
By 1999, we were up to five year–round bottled brands in about a dozen states.
We outgrew our distributing brewery in a couple years and in the summer of 2002;
we moved our entire production brewery up the road to Milton, Delaware into a
100,000 square foot converted cannery. Around the same time (just to keep thing
interesting), we built a distillery on the second floor of our Rehoboth Beach
brewpub, so we could make vodka, rum and gin.
Thanks to all our employees and every one of our customers, Dogfish Head
continues to grow today! We’re now up to nearly 20 styles of beer that are sold
in more than 25 states, and a half–dozen kinds of hand–crafted spirits... and we
still have some ideas in the back of our collective heads.
If you haven’t had the chance to taste Dogfish Head... find a beer, track down
one of our spirits – or visit one of our restaurants! You will see why
international beer writer Michael Jackson calls Dogfish Head "America's most
interesting and adventurous small brewery."