Beer Pick of the Week - Dogfish Head Midas Touch Golden Elixir

From the brewery that prides itself on creating “off-centered ales for off-centered people,” this may be the most traditional ale every made. Using ingredients of white Muscat grapes, barley, honey and saffron detected in a 2,700-year-old drinking vessel from a tomb in central Turkey, the mad monks at Dogfish Head have re-imagined the recipe for the world’s oldest known fermented beverage. The result finds the middle ground between wine, beer and mead (fermented honey). Clear and golden, with champagne-like bubbles, the Midas Touch smells of white wine and green apples, with a moderate alcohol nose. The flavor is of delicate malts, apple-like fruit, honey and saffron. Sweeter and heavier-bodied than a wine, it has a moderately dry finish, thanks to the 9.0 percent ABV and a modest hop addition (20 IBU). This would be wonderful on a warm summer night as an after-dinner digestif.

Dogfish Head Craft Brewery, Milton, Del. 9.0% Alcohol by Volume. Available at Green’s Discount Beverage Store, Decatur Wine and Spirits, and Summits Wayside Tavern in Snellville.