Positive Contact collaboration by Dogfish Head and Dan the Automator

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Rating: 4.25/5

Positive Contact is a collaboration brew between Dogfish Head and Dan the Automator. It is a 9% ABV Imperial Belgian Wheat (Witbier) style made with Fuji apple cider, farro, cayene, fresh cilantro and spices. A cider/beer hybrid. This beer was first made on tap back in December 2011 and was set to release in bottles in June 2012. The collaboration is in tribute to Dan the Automator‘s band, Deltron 3030 and their EP positive Contact. It is a nice hip hop song sung by best know Damon Albam, the rapper dude from Gorillaz – Clint Eastwood. Almost feels like a Gorillaz track really. I can somewhat see why they did the tribute now. You can listen to the EP here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oCXwl7XBiQ The beer was made based on Dan’s favorite ingredients which I listed above. 

When opening the beer, there was a lot of Belgian and Bavarian yeast beer reminiscence. It smelled really good. Almost reminded me of Sahtea. When I tried it I was reminded a lot of Belgian bread but a lot of Banana cloves from Bavarian German beers. The cayenne and the cilantro is kind of minor really. I guess I can note them in the after taste but not in the initial taste. The bread and banana spices take over first. However, during the tasting portion, I can tell that there is the sugary bread, apples, grapes, plums, bananas, peppers (not strong heat at all), cinnamon, coriander, honey and some herbal notes. Belgians and German Bavarians are my favorite types of beers so this definitely fits one of my favorite styles. If this is your style too then you will like this :P.

Here’s an official description:
Positive Contact is the second batch of the Imperial Belgian-Style Wheat beer that Sam and Ben brewed a couple months back. For this batch, we stepped up the spice and cider additions. Instead of 200 lbs of apples, Ben pressed 300 lbs of organic Fuji apples for a total addition of 25 gallons of fresh pressed cider, which was added to the whirlpool in order to really bring out the cider character. The amount of cilantro was nearly quadrupled with 4 lbs total, which was pureed with a portion of the cider and then added after the boil was done. The cayenne was doubled, but added directly before the beer was transferred from the kettle to the fermenter in an effort to minimize the burn while increasing the flavor and aroma contributed. A different type of wit yeast was used and then fermented slightly cooler to keep the yeast character minimal and act as a supporting role to the main players the cider and spices. Lastly, this batch was boiled for less time than the original batch, leaving the beer with a lighter straw color than the amberish hue of batch #1.

Overall, Positive Contact is characterized by its bright spritzy cider character and autumnal herbal quality derived from the cilantro, cayenne, and yeast.

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