Dogfish Head Brews Sah'tea

The fires are burning here at Dogfish Head today as we brew Sah'tea for the first time in full production.

The beer is one we brewed at our brewpub a while back when writer Burkhard Bilger was writing a feature on Dogfish Head for The New Yorker, so you can read all about our first stab at this strange brew.

Our version is a take-off on a Finnish style beer called sahti. Traditional sahti is brewed with a variety of grains, malted and unmalted, including barley, rye, wheat, and oats; then flavored with juniper berries in addition to, or instead of, hops. The old-school style of brewing sahti also includes the step of heating hot rocks over a fire and using them to boil the wort.

In traditional Dogfish-style, we break with tradition by finishing the beer with an exotic black chai tea at the end of the boil.

Lead Bryan Selders explains the Dogfish brewing process:

Mission accomplished! The hot rocks were successfully transferred to the wort and boiling ensued (although we are certainly not winning any safety awards on this one). Here's the video: