Do you do the Voodoo, mon? I do the Voodoo. Dixie Blackened Voodoo, that is. Dixie Brewing Company’s dark lager beer is a delightful brew that has been around for a decade now and is one of the brewery’s most popular beers. But did you know that this beer helped save the brewery from extinction?

Voodoo: By definition, a word which means to search deeply into the mysteries of the universe: in practice, it has come to have many different meanings, all mysteries, exotic, and beguiling.

Founded in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1907 on Halloween no less, Dixie is one of the few remaining regional brewers in the south. The company survived prohibition and the rise of the mega-breweries Anheuser-Busch, Miller, and Coors only to fall on hard times at the end of the roaring eighties. Faced with debts that couldn’t be paid and slumping sales, Dixie filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 1989 and attempted to reorganize its operations.

The Brewers of Dixie, delving deeply into the mysteries of brewing and following the tradition of centuries-old European methods, have created the first all-malt beer in Dixie’s history.

Practicing a little voodoo of their own, the powers at Dixie decided to take a page from the success manual of the microbrewing revolution, and created Blackened Voodoo, a beer that was widely distributed and a far cry from the flagship Dixie Lager. Voodoo became very popular among craft beer drinkers, and I still remember to this day walking into Mac’s Liquors in my hometown of West Warwick over a decade ago and being confronted with a huge display of Blackened Voodoo.

Inspired by the great Old World beers, only the best of five different malts were used to create the darkly rich and very malty flavor. Through extra aging time in our unique Cypress tanks, we have imparted a touch of magical Louisiana Spirit, and created the deep color and bewitching character of Blackened Voodoo Lager.

It was new, it was exotic, it was expensive (about $7.99 a six-pack) but I had to try it. I loved it immediately, and I wasn’t alone, for the beer sold well and helped save the brewery. Even the packaging was a novelty, tall boxes holding six bottles and festooned with eerie black and blue images of a swamp with the beers name etched across the center in haunting blood-red letters. Today, Voodoo is sold in more conventional six-pack carriers but the graphics and logo are still the same.

It was clear from the beginning that Voodoo was more than a desperate attempt by a failing brewery to stay afloat. This was good beer, even by microbrew standards, and helped boost the sales of the brewery’s other products. It even inspired a sister beer, Crimson Voodoo, which was released a few years later. Dixie was able to emerge from bankruptcy protection in 1992 thanks in no small part to the success of Blackened Voodoo.

The one drawback about Blackened Voodoo was its price. At roughly $8 to $9 a six-pack it was $2 to $3 more than most craft brews (and still is). I actually thought it might be cheaper down here in Georgia, much closer to the source than I was in New England, but that is not the case. Voodoo here averages the same price. I must admit that I hadn’t bought the beer in several years prior to moving to Georgia. It suffered from what I like to call the Merchant du Vin syndrome in New England. That is, the beer was too expensive, which meant slow sales, which meant stale beer. I don’t mind paying extra for quality brew but I hate paying extra for stale quality brew.

When I saw Voodoo everywhere here in Rome, I decided to try it again. I was prepared to dislike the beer on principal because of the price, but I have to say I loved the beer all over again in spite of myself. Blackened Voodoo is a wonderful beer when fresh, a classic German-styled Schwarzbier or black lager that is similar to a porter but is bottom-fermented and aged to create a smooth and drinkable brew.

Dixie Blackened Voodoo pours to a very dark brown color with a medium creamy tan-head and a subtle roasty nose. The palate is soft with good malt body and high drinkability, a tad creamy with a hint of chocolate and a mild roasted character that is not overly bitter. The beer is very clean and lacking esters, as is proper for the style. The finish is balanced with a slight roasty-bitterness emerging at the end.

A wonderful beer that easily pairs with many foods, I enjoyed it tonight with spicy blackened chicken, red beans and rice and fried okra.

Note: Paragraphs in italics are copyright of the Dixie Brewing Company.



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