Review: Dogfish Head Canned Cocktails, Complete Lineup
Review: Dogfish Head Canned Cocktails, Complete Lineup
Dogfish Head is well and rightly known for its exceptional beer lineup, and lately it’s jumped into canned cocktails — all made with real spirits and real fruit, no malt liquor here. We received seven RTDs, available in a pair of 8-packs containing four flavors each (Vodka Crush appears in both). All are bottled at 7% abv and come in 12 oz cans.
Dogfish Head Vodka Lemonade – “Strawberry honeyberry” is the flavor here. I don’t know what honeyberries are, but in this cocktail they work quite well, offering a honey-lemon quality that can come across a bit like honey-infused tea. It’s arguably closer to tea than lemonade, really, but I won’t complain about the results — tart, sweet, earthy, and fruity in surprisingly solid balance. A-
Dogfish Head Tequila Margarita – With strawberry added to the traditional lime, this margarita looks, smells, and tastes more like a tropical rum drink — which is perhaps why it’s part of the tropical cocktail pack. After just a few minutes in glass the strawberry becomes overwhelming, more reminiscent of a strawberry daquiri than anything I’ve had at a taqueria. That, surprisingly, is not really a bad thing. The ripe berries keep any pungency driven by lower-grade tequila from surfacing, and while the finish is quite sweet it’s all kept in a state of reasonable balance. Along with the Vodka Lemonade, it’s one of the few I’d enthusiastically drink again. A-
Dogfish Head Rum Punch – You can smell the peaches from a mile away with this concoction, while the mango component is more effusive on the palate. There’s definitely an industrial quality underneath it all, but the presentation is straightforward and lively with tons of citrus and tropical fruit, just like a rum punch should be. B+
Dogfish Head Vodka Lemon Drop – This is the purplest lemon drop you’ve ever encountered thanks to the addition of blueberry to the recipe, and while this adds quite a bit of color, it doesn’t do a whole lot for the flavor, which is mild on both berries and citrus notes — and definitely not as powerfully tart as a typical lemon drop. Quite innocuous, almost watery at times, it turns out that’s not really a bad thing, as it allows for a very summery, light-handed drinking experience that works well poolside — especially over lots of crushed ice. B+
Dogfish Head Rum Mai Tai – The inclusion of “pineapple orange” on the front of this can cues you in right away to the fact that this is not going to truly resemble a Mai Tai, and that bears out once it hits the glass. Rather, it comes across like a very tropical rum punch, and not a bad one, sweet and acidic with lots of pineapple, but veering into a guava-like finish in the end. Inoffensive but not the experience I was hoping for. B
Dogfish Head Vodka Mule – “Passion fruit citrus” flavors are added, as a standard vodka/Moscow mule would be awfully boring in canned form, I suppose. This fruitified version isn’t much more exciting, as the ginger beer does most of the heavy lifting in this expression, with fruit elements appearing almost as an afterthought. The hint of passion fruit and lime does mask some of the more industrial qualities of the beverage, but only to a degree, the finish remaining rather pungent. B
Dogfish Head Vodka Crush – Blood orange and mango flavor an innocuous vodka base in this concoction, which comes across as indistinctly tropical but quite pleasant, despite a notable industrial character that gives the finish a bit of a hospital funk. Neither of the flavoring fruits are crystal clear, but the drink doesn’t overly suffer from its vagueness. B
each $9 per four-pack of 12 oz cans
Dogfish Head Vodka Lemon Drop
USD9
