Review #19 - Founders Devil Dancer

Posted by: Tyler Rippeteau

July 28, 2011

I have to admit, I was a little worried about this one.  During the couple days I scrambled to track down the Dogfish 120 I took my eye off the Devil Dancer ball.  I figured Founders would send a little more Devil Dancer out than Dogfish did the 120 Minute.  It turned out that I was correct but not by much. 

The few places that did carry Founders Devil Dancer sold out quickly, whether it was on tap or by the 4-pack.  I just kept missing it, but I finally called Bad Apple on Lincoln Ave. here in Chicago and while they didn’t have it on tap yet, they said that they were expecting it sometime soon.  The catch was that they didn’t know exactly when it would arrive, when they would tap it or exactly how much they would get.  The only thing they did know was that it would go quickly and I’d have to be there very soon after the tapping.

Of course, while I would love to do nothing but hang out at the Bad Apple and eat their absolutely delicious, gourmet burgers and drink their dozens upon dozens of tasty Midwestern beers, sadly I do not have the time or funds to do so.  So the young lady that informed me over the phone of their Devil Dancer situation also informed me about a website that I am embarrassed to say I did not already know about – BeerMenus.com.

The link above takes you straight to the Chicago site, but beer fans in New York City, Philadelphia, L.A. and San Francisco can also figure out the most up-to-date tap and bottle selections throughout their respective cities.  This is absolutely not an ad, just a heads up to other beer geeks who have somehow managed to keep their heads in the sand as long as I have.  The point I’m making is that it allowed me to track down Founders Devil Dancer and led me to a great liquor store here on the North Side of Chicago. 

After checking beermenus.com for a few days, and finding that I had just missed snagging myself a 4-pack, pint or even just a bottle or two, I finally came across Fischman’s Liquors, a small, but very well stocked liquor store with an outstanding craft selection.  To make the place even better it is attached to a bar, which we’ll get to that in a moment.

First, Carlos, the guy who was in charge the day I called Fischman’s, was kind enough to hold the last 4-pack for me.  So my brother-in-law and I headed down for a midday beer run.  When we arrived, Carlos presented the 4-pack and told us to look around.  I ended up grabbing a bomber of Ruination, a bomber of Great Divide’s Chocolate Yeti Stout and a couple Two Brothers Hop Juice Bombers.  After chatting with Carlos at the register for a bit, he tossed in a big Belgian bottle as well - a Fantastic guy running a fantastic store. 

Of course, we had to peek into the bar next door to see what was on tap and as I ran out to put more money in the meter my brother-in-law made the call to order us two Firestone Double Jack IPAs…20oz. pours for…get this…five dollars.

Yeah, so it was a fun beer day.  Let’s get to the stats on the Devil Dancer now.

ABV: 12%

IBUs: 112

Brewery Location: Grand Rapids, Michigan

Style: American Double/Imperial India Pale Ale

Average Beer Advocate Rating: A-/4.01

My Beer Advocate Rating: A/4.33

Current Number of Reviews/Rank in the Top 20 on Beer Advocate: 949/17th

Brewery Description: Founders Devil Dancer   

Bottled On: June 24, 2011

APPEARANCE:  (4 out of 5) Golden copper in color, very typical DIPA look to it, but with a stronger head than expected.  Fluffy and white, the head did vanish rather quickly, but the aroma did not slip away with it.  As I type this and watch the head dissipate I can still smell it.

SMELL:  (5 out of 5)The Devil Dancer possesses a big, strong nose.  The dominant aroma is a resiny pine, but not too far behind that is a very nice toffee aroma with just a hint of toasted malt to it.  The true test of whether or not I truly love the smell of a beer is how long it takes me to actually take a sip after the bottle has been opened.  Well, I have yet to take a sip at this point and my nose has been in the glass five or six times.

TASTE:  (4.5 out of 5) After the last review, the Dogfish Head 120 Minute, I thought I was tasting a truly unique beer.  To be fair, I was, but this now takes the cake, in my opinion as the most creative and different beer on The List.  The nose and my prejudice led me to believe that the Devil Dancer would be some version of a big, sweet, sugary, Hopslam-like DIPA.  This  beer has a bite - a big, bold, hoppy bite.  And as it turns out, Devil Dancer is an ideal name for this beer.  It tastes like the balancing sweetness is actually dancing around your tongue as the sweet, but evil balancing agent that levels out the hop flavors more than enough to help all 12 ounces of this 12%er go down, but without overpowering them at all.  It is easy to tell that this is a 100+ IBU beer from sip one.  The bitterness begins and ends the sip with the sweet, somewhat piney and anise-like flavor (am I nuts or has anyone else experienced anise here?) arriving mid-sip, but staying relegated to the sides of the palate, never quite fully overtaking the bitterness.  As the hoppy bitterness fades with the last of the sip, the toasted malt that the nose hinted at pops up and leaves a pleasant, smoky taste on the tongue.

MOUTHFEEL:  (2 out of 5) My first let down of the beer so far, but I can’t knock Founders too much for making this a tad too sticky for my taste – or feel actually.  The carbonation is actually pretty noticeable on the way down, but the resin left on the tongue and lips is not pleasant.  I think the ideal scenario here would be to pour two beers – a Stone Ruination and a Devil Dancer and trade sips…hmm…I do have both available, maybe sometime soon.

OVERALL:  (4.5 out of 5) I have heard very mixed reviews on this beer, but I still thought I knew what to expect.  Turns out, you should never judge a beer by its label.  Dreadnaught was all over the place, a rollercoaster ride for the palate; Gordon Ale tested the limits of the style, Ruination presented bitterness in a beer as a work of art and Hopslam, Dogfish 120 and Pliny the Elder all provided the excitement of the chase of a difficult beer to obtain.  Founders Devil Dancer has all of those elements.  This was a treat and an unexpected, fun beer experience. 

DRAWBACKS:  I can see why the reviews are mixed on this one.  It is not what many people have come to expect from a DIPA.  That said, it certainly is a DIPA (or maybe a TIPA as Founders says).  It may expand to push on all four walls of the room that contains the definition of a Double IPA, but it never cracks through them.  It is just an unusual version of the style and I can see many people not appreciating that, or at the very least, not being happy to be surprised by their beer.  Also, the mouthfeel thing.  In no way is it a deal breaker for the Devil Dancer, but it seems more like a necessary evil for a beer like this.  Some may actually enjoy that aspect of it though.  Additionally, I haven’t spoken too much about food pairings here at 20 Beers in 20 Nights, primarily because most DIPAs pair with very similar foods, but this would be a tough one to do with many of my favorite DIPA pairings like blue cheese, smoked meats and sharp cheddar.  I’m not real sure any food would pair very well with it.

SOUND:  This one is obvious and became so as soon as I started writing about the taste.  The sensation of having the flavors dance around on my tongue along with the fact that this beer is called Devil Dancer immediately made a song pop into my head – “Friend of the Devil” by the Grateful Dead.  The only other beer that paired so perfectly with a certain sound was Avery’s Maharaja.  Honestly, do yourself a favor, especially if you’re a fan of the Dead, and get your hands on a bottle of Devil Dancer and crank up “Friend of the Devil”.  It may be tough to pair this beer with food, but it truly has a perfect musical pairing.