Destihl Releases Dosvidanya at Their New Production Facility

Mike Zoller
On November 20, 2017
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As the month of November continues, the barrel-aged stout releases continue as well. On Saturday, Destihl hosted Dosvidanya Day at their new production facility and celebrated their 10th anniversary as well.

There were just 700 tickets released for the event and they sold out extremely quickly. The $80 tickets included four bottles of Dosvidanya – one bottle of each of the variants.

This year, in addition to the standard bourbon barrel-aged Dosvidanya, which has won medals at GABF and FoBAB, the brewery also released Dosvidanya Rye, aged in rye whiskey barrels. To celebrate their 10th anniversary, they also released Dosvidanya: 10th Anniversary Edition which was aged for eight months in Heaven Hill barrels. And finally, they bottled Dosvidanya Vanilla Rye: 10th Anniversary Edition that was aged for eight months in Buffalo Trace rye whiskey barrels.

Destihl said on their website that the anniversary variants would be available at their locations in Normal and Champaign. It seems like they will not be seeing any type of distribution.

While I was unable to attend Dosvidanya Day, the brewery sent me a bottle of Dosvidanya and Dosvidanya Rye. Here’s what I thought when I opened up both bottles.

Dosvidanya

ABV: 12.5%

In all the bourbon barrel-aged stouts I’ve had this year they’ve all had notes of cocoa, coconut, molasses or some other ingredient to add some sweetness to the beer. Dosvidanya doesn’t have that. It highlights the bourbon, oak and other wood characteristics that give it a nice boozy flavor that is very well-balanced.

If you’re looking for a stout that tastes like a piece of cake, or the growing popular pastry stout, you’re not going to find it here. There is absolutely no sweetness. What I like about this beer is that Destihl doesn’t hide behind additional flavors to mask the true star which is the stout and the notes the bourbon barrel brings to it.

It finishes very dry and kind of tingles your tongue a little bit at the very end. At 12.5% ABV it’s crazy to think that this is one of the lower end barrel-aged stouts being released this month but others are clocking in well above 14%.

It will be interesting to see what people are saying about this beer after the event and as they open their bottles. If we’ve become so accustomed to having sweet barrel-aged stouts people won’t be as open to Dosvidanya as they have in years past. But make no mistake, this beer has won national awards for a reason and it’s bucking a growing trend and sticking true to what barrel-aged beers have been in the past.

Dosvidanya Rye

ABV: 12.5%

I love when the power of the barrel is highlighted in a beer. Similar to what you’ll see with Bourbon County Stout and Bourbon County Reserve Stout this year, Dosvidanya Rye highlights how a barrel can change a beer.

Dosvidanya Rye is the base beer, but taken and aged in rye whiskey barrels. The difference is astounding. Like Dosvidanya, you’re not getting anything sweet here. It’s bourbon, barrel and wood all the way. But now you’re getting an additional spiciness and heat from the rye barrel that is fantastic.

If you like Dosvidanya, there’s no doubt you’ll absolutely love Dosvidanya Rye. The heat and spice that are present in the body of the beer are balanced well with the rest of the beer which makes Rye a very easy beer to drink. I easily could have drank the entire 500ml bottle by myself, but was very glad I was able to share it with others.

For those of you that were at Dosvidanya Day and had the beer and for those that have gone out and purchased bottles, what did you think? Leave a comment below or email us at [email protected] with your thoughts.