With more than 225 years of collective brewing experience, Delaware’s Dogfish Head Craft Brewery and Belgium’s Brouwerji Rodenbach joined forces to release: Crimson Cru, a 7.1% ABV blended red ale.
Deep copper in color, Crimson Cru begins with Rodenbach’s world-renowned Grand Cru, a Flemish red-brown ale aged in oak casks, that made the overseas trek from Belgium to Delaware by a tanker ship, it says. After its cross-Atlantic journey, Rodenbach’s Grand Cru is blended with a red ale from Dogfish Head that is infused with sumac and sweet orange peel and dry-hopped with Hallertau Blanc hops, it adds. The resulting beer is full-bodied and slightly warming with aromas of candied citrus, cherry, caramel and toffee, complemented by malty flavors of stewed fruits, plum, cherry, dried citrus and toffee, the company notes.
“It was awesome to ― once again ― work with the folks at Rodenbach to create a deliciously complex, multi-continental brew. Just as with our first joint venture, Vibrant P’Ocean, a blended sour ale Dogfish Head launched with Rodenbach back in 2020, every facet of Crimson Cru was truly a collaborative effort,” said Sam Calagione, Dogfish head founder and brewer, in a statement. “We worked side-by-side with Rodenbach Brewmaster, Rudi Ghequire, on every component of this collaboration; from ingredient sourcing to blending, and even composing the beer’s artful packaging. I’m really proud of the end result and feel that Crimson Cru is a liquid love letter we collectively floated across the Atlantic Ocean and back.”
As part of Dogfish Head’s Off-Centered Art Series, an annual collection of four beers highlighting artwork by a featured artist, Crimson Cru boasts a bold packaging design by Max Mahn, it says. The artwork centers upon both breweries’ logos, pulling in colors iconic to each brand ― forest green for Dogfish Head and crimson for Rodenbach.
In honor of the launch of Crimson Cru, Dogfish Head and Rodenbach will continue their collaborative efforts with a series of celebratory events Oct. 14 and 15, at Dogfish Head’s Delaware hospitality properties. Crimson Cru will hits shelves nationwide in mid-October, for a limited time, in six-packs of 12-ounce bottles.
www.dogfish.com
