Dogfish Head Zwaanendale

Brewed to commemorate the 375th Anniversary Celebration for the first town (Lewes) in the first state (Delaware), this is an old Dutch-style Rye Bokbier.

3.5

172 reviews

Milton, United States

Community reviews

3.3 Coles Rare Beer Festival Appearance: Light head with mild amber haze below. Nose: Somewhat nutty with good malts supported by fairly smooth alcohol spread. Flavor/Palate : Medium bodied. Smooth clean front .Straight malty middle, good forward presentation. Pleasant solid brew.14+/20

3.4 750ml at Coles Rare Beer Fest. Pours a caramel color. Aromas of sweet malts & honey. Taste is sweet malts, sugary sweetness, caramel syrup. Decent

3.2 Bottle @ Cole’s. Hazy gold, no head. Nose is honey, rich malt, some nice pit fruits. Flavor is honey, fruit, lots and lots of sweetness. Slight grain in the finish. Not the kind of thing I could drink a lot of.

3.7 750mL bottle, dated April of ’06 (I believe). Poured crystal-clear medium orange with a dusting of white head (but only when agitated).. looked kinda like mead. The aroma picked up sweeter, aged caramel and strangely, a hint of honey on a sweet overall impression.. spicy, warmer herbal notes increased with warmth.. smelled syrupy in a good way. The flavor opened with tangy, lightly sour notes opening into a sweet caramelly base.. again picked up some honey and a pinch of molasses.. bitterness was light and it really let the aged malts work. Thicker-bodied and warm on the palate with very low carbonation.. syrupy and engaging.

3.3 750ml bottle. Poured a clear dark amber with a thin almond head. The smell was of sweet malt and caramel. The taste was blend of caramel and sweet malt flavor. Had a light hop bitterness at the finish. Nice carbonation and lacing also.

3.3 Bottle, Brewtopia. Slight haze on a warm golden body. Rye-tinted mildly smoked aroma is slightly sweet. Body is slikly, oily, smooth. Sweetish, heavy, creamy, caramelly backbone.

2.7 Cloudy amber. Yeasty aroma with light smoke. Flavor has hints of rye, light smoke. Overall it’s very yeasty, very creamy. The finish is a bit candyish.

3.4 Tasting at Brewtopia. Glad to have tried this one. Orangish pour with a mostly white head. Aroma is yeasty, bready and fruity. Notes of caramel and candy sugar come through. Flavor is sweet, with some caramel and bready notes. Not bad, not amazing.

3.9 750 ml bottle. Nice orange pour with a decent head. Aromas of bread and bright fruits. Flavors were still sweet with some citrus and more bread. Pretty good.

3.2 Bottle. Poured a slightly hazy medium orange color. The head was off white and left some lace behind on the glass. Smelled of light steeping barley, pretzel, pear, and subdued alcohol. Full bodied and sweet. Tasted of treacle, toffee, corn sugar, nondescript fruit, and a splash of booze. So so.

3.2 750 Ml Bottle. Fairly nice looking amber/brown pour. Nose was brown sugar, caramel, etc. Flavor was similar. Malty, sweet and fairly thin. Like all DFH beers, this was super sweet and tough to finish. I don’t know what it is about DFH, but they all have a similar taste to me. It’s like they use the same base beer for everything and just add a few other elements for the sake of variation. Not terrible, but it didn’t wow me at all.

3.4 RBSG 2008. Pours mahogany/red with a soft tan head. Very fruity nose, lots of rye, toasty caramel, and a hint of prune. Quite a bit of sweetness throughout with a spicy finish.

3.4 Bottle at RBSG. Pours golden amber with a wisp of a white head. Body is on the lighter side of medium. There is definitely some european malts and bittersweet rye, but the hops seem to have faded on this one. I would guess this is past its prime.

3.7 From a 750mL Bottle. Pours a crystal clear, golden amber color with a thin layer of fizzy beige head. Great Munich malt aroma with lots of raisin. Exceptionally clean and remarkably not oxidized. Medium full bodied, softly carbonated mouthfeel with a rich malty texture. Holy Munich malt. Awesome, but the flavors are a bit more oxidized than the nose suggests. In the finish, some slight fruity esters and alcohols come out in the form of apricot (not awesome). Lots of apricot in the finish. Pretty good overall; I’d been hanging on to this for a couple years because I just haven’t felt like drinking it, but it’s actually pretty good. I love the Munich malt nose.

3.6 75 cL bottle. Pours clear and golden orange with a lacing white head. Aroma is dense malty. Fruity and malty flavour with a smooth alcohol presence. Nice malty and fruity lingering finish. Finish is smooth malty and fruity.

4.0 Thanks to gunhaver for opening this bottle at the RBSG 08 Grand Tasting. Poured into a La Chouffe goblet. Dark orange color with a wet white head that leaves some lace chunks. Sweet caramel malt aroma with some tropical esters and raisin. Flavors of sweet stone fruit and caramel, a touch of spice, prune, and tobacco. Zero alcohol flavor, great drinkability. Another bizarre winner from DFH.

3.9 Bottle sampled at RBSG ’08. Pours with and amber body topped by a thick, off-white head with a good amount of lacing. It sweet and malty with a candy sugar note and a little caramel. Full bodied and smooth.

3.3 bronze colored beer with a thick halo of off-white suds on top. The aroma was very barley-wine like..very thick, atmospheric, and cotton-candy like. Flavors start extremely sweet and end completely sweet and the flavor is pure caramlized sugar. The body is pretty damn thin...and it pretty much tastes like sugar water, which isn’t always a bad thing i guess.

4.0 ~RBSG ’08~ 2006 bottle at the Grand Tasting, care of Santa. Pours a caramel color, with a thick creamy off-white head, and very good lacing. Caramel nose, some slight rye, sweet ripe fruit, such as mango, pineapple and banana. Sweet fruit flavors, mango, banana. Caramel, too. Nice feel of cocoa in the finish. Soft and creamy body, easy to quaff, sticky on the palate. Has held up well.

3.8 750 ML. Bottled in April 2006 from jjpm74. Thanks John! Pours a light brown/red color. Aroma of sweet candy sugar. Taste is the same. Very sweet malts, caramel, sugar, and burnt wood. Texture is light. Really smooth and easy to drink. Low carbonation. Good beer, thanks again john for taking care of me!

3.6 Bottle and bottled on 04/14/06. Medium sized fizzy ivory head that mostly diminished, fair amount of lacing, transparent, fast rising carbonation, and an orange hue. The aroma was malty, sweet, caramel, alcohol, and rye. The flavor was sweet, malty, caramel, rye, alcohol, and semi-thin tasting. The mouthfeel was very smooth and thin. Light-medium bodied beer. Quaffable, easy to drink, nothing here to knock your socks off, just an easy, sweet tasting beer.

3.8 750 ml from 2006. Pours hazy orange, with lots of carbonation. Delicious roasted malt flavors with some hints of wood. Finishes with some hoppiness. Shame it isn’t available anymore.

3.5 750ml from the Michael Jackson Beer Club (bottled April 2006). The pour is quite handsome, a deep amber that’s got the faintest bit of yeast clouding things. Almost no carbonation left but the body isn’t excessively thin, thankfully. Very sweet malts in the aroma, which carries through in the flavor - it’s not syrupy or excessive, but it definitely tends to dominate the flavor. Traces of rye remain to balance it, with some darker autumnal flavors in there too (maybe some toffee, raisin, and yes, tobacco as others have noted). I wish I’d been able to try it fresh for comparison, but this is still enjoyable.

3.7 A big thanks to dick for this. Pours ruby with a thin off white head. Has a strong...red aroma. Red kool-aid, red candy..etc. Flavor has that as well with tobacco, raisin, toffee. Syrupy sweetness in the finish but surprisingly clean. This one was very interesting.

3.6 Bannana raisin maybe tobacco nose with malty backbone. Complex. Bready taste and complex. Malty finish.

3.4 750 mL bottle, 04142006, received via trade with eaglefan538. Pours brilliant deep amber, very clear, with a small, fizzy, off-white head, mostly diminishing with no lacing. Aroma is heavy malt (caramel, cookie, bread), light hops (grass), average yeast (dough) with notes of grape, apple, honey, and dates. Medium bodied, creamy texture, average carbonation, and a bitter and dry finish. Long duration, moderate sweetness, light acidity and bitterness. A well put together beer that is holding up quite well, although I did not have any fresh for a true comparison.

3.4 Thanks to wikedpete for sharing this aged bottle. Has a bit of a stale rye, toast and cracker smell, but still a bit hoppy, sugary and fruity in the nose. Some sour cherries, light wood notes, some fruit cocktail/pineapple/pear syrupiness. Chewy rye in the finish, overall it’s a bit on the sweet side, surprise surprise, a bit stale, more than a bit weird, but altogethor not a bad beer.

3.8 (750ml bottle, thanks wickedpete) Clear copper body with medium beige head. Aroma is moderately sweet, caramel, berry, rye. Taste is sweet, berry, caramel, some rye. Sticky medium-full body. You need to be in the mood for a sweet beer to like this, and apparently I was.

4.1 750 ml bottle. Pours a hazy coppery amber with a medium sized beige head. Aroma sweet malt, candied sugar, caramel with a hint of citrus. Taste of candied sugar, malt with a touch of citrus. Excellent.

3.9 750ml bottle, bottled 04/14/06. Lightly hazed amber with a big, thick white head. Very sweet, candylike malty nose, lightly spiced, some earthy hop as an afterthought.Sweet caramel and toffee flavors, a touch of bread, syrupy malt. Very rich. Sweetness hangs all through the finish, a tad sticky, a wisp of smoke. Pretty nice!