Review 164: Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA

Review 164

6/5/13

Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA: 15-20% abv

Background: Dogfish Head, a prolific microbrewery that has done a great job making beers, and making them memorable. This beer stands as no exception to the rule. You might notice a peculiar “typo” on the header of this review. That is not a typo; we aren’t quite sure what this batch of 120 Minute IPA is in terms of abv, but rumor has it that it sits around 18% abv, making it the highest alcohol content beer we’ve ever tried. What is the 120 minute about then? The beer is boiled for 120 minutes while being hopped with high-alpha American hops, whatever that means. They claim that this is the ultimate beer for hopheads, and we were pretty compelled by such a claim. Don’t be intimidated though, it isn’t what you’d think it to be.

Nose: Well, since you know this is the most alcoholic beer we’ve reviewed, you might suspect the nose to be a boozy event. Nevermind the thick, rich aromas, the flavors you’ll find include definite apple flavors coming through, with yeast flavors and bitterness and coming through. The booze notes don’t come through like we initially expected, but to compromise for that, there is some citrus flavor coming through. After more smelling, we felt the apple note came through very powerfully. The nose is crisp, attributed to the apple flavor, which begins to overpower the nose with its prominence. There is a small suggestion of pineapple to go along with the fruity notes. This nose will remind you of more of a pale ale than an imperial IPA, but we are determined to find more in the taste.

Arrival: The arrival is surprisingly light, with a suggestion of alcohol taste coming through. You’ll get a hint of sweetness, which might suggest that this beer isn’t what you’d expect out of an IPA. The arrival starts with a thin, flavorless entrance. It continues onto a lemon candy, slightly pine-like, and sweet arrival.

Body: The body is sort of eventless in the sense that it doesn’t hold much flavor or content. It is tart and runs off quickly. There is a slight suggestion of hops, pine, and pineapple, with some apple crispness coming through. There is a sourness that comes through in the body, partially due to the flavor of sour green apple that comes through on bigger gulps. There is a slight suggestion of bubblegum, attributed to an odd sugar characteristic that holds through on the body.

Finish: The finish is dry, long and crisp. There is a refreshing, mint-like flavor that comes through as the beer finishes. There is still some lemon-candy, sugary sweetness, almost akin to a modestly tart rock candy. There is still an odd sense of bubblegum, which we find as a playful oddity in this beer’s profile. There is something almost bread-like about the finish, which reminds you of a tough Italian white bread, which compliments but does not overpower the sweetness of the beer.

Final Comments:  You might say there are some compelling notes present in this beer, but it certainly has a bit of an identity crisis. This doesn’t fit like an IPA, coming closer to a barleywine flavor style, probably due to its high alcohol content. This is to be expected, but it does make a person question why they are buying an IPA in the first place. Another fallacy is that this beer claims to be for the ultimate hophead, and we are going to say it is not. Not even remotely, in fact. This beer is for somebody looking for an interesting way to get drunk, albeit they’ll enjoy the taste while getting there. Finally, the price doesn’t encourage purchase. This definitely weighs in as a novelty item, and what Dogfish Head should do is strive to bring out more complexity and hoppiness to the beer, so people feel like they’re actually buying an IPA.

Why you’d buy it: You just won a  lot of money by gambling, and want to show off that you have nothing better to do with it.

Why you wouldn’t:  There are better barleywines out there for less cost, and there are better IPAs out there for less cost.

Score: 8.0/10

Review 131: Dogfish Head Immort Ale

Review 131

1/11/13

Dogfish Head Immort Ale: 11% abv

Background: This is an unique ale from Dogfish Head, those craft brewers from out of state that do a great job of making some awesome brews. This particular ale is brewed with maple from Red Brook Farm in Massachusetts, peat-smoked barley, juniper berries, vanilla, and English and Belgian yeasts. Obviously, this is a long list of “customizations” that Dogfish Head has applied to this particular beer, so we absolutely couldn’t pass it up. Plus, we love us some peated whisky, and there is simply not enough use of peat-smoked barley in alcoholic beverages. We wanted to see how this guy fared.

Nose: Brown sugar, malt, sweet melon, tart apple, slight anise, vanilla, soy beans, juniper berries, yeast, soft berry notes (blueberry/raspberry), pear (Reminiscent of Dragonmead Final Absolution)

Arrival: Creamy, yeast, molasses, caramel, cocoa, sweetness, Rock N’ Rye soda, sweet berries, big arrival

Body: Sweet, light tartness, yeast, almonds, slightly nutty, apple, anise, Rock N’ Rye, tangy citrus, maple

Finish: Vanilla, creamy, grain, barley, slight meatiness, subtle peat, more smokey, yeast, cocoa, medium w/lasting after taste, spicy smoke, fruit, mixed berries, grapefruit (light), slight woodiness

Final Comments: This is a greatly complex beer, and hits a ton of points of interest. Every single element of it screams for you to take a closer look, and we’re sure you could spend several nights trying to figure this one out. The nose is inviting, and the yeasty trippel-style ale character in the initial impression certainly doesn’t hurt the beers presentation. The beer is a high alcohol content beer, and you’ll want to sip this one, but it is relatively easy to drink.  

Why you’d buy it: You want to drink an engaging ale, you want to encourage good craft brewing, and it is pretty damn amazing.

Why you wouldn’t: You are still stuck on how drunk you can get on Miller High Life, or you’re still drunk on Miller High Life

Score: 9.5/10

Review 122: Dogfish Head Bitches Brew

Review 122

12/16/12

Dogfish Head Miles Davis Bitches Brew: 9% abv

Back with another Dogfish Head review. And this one is one of the more limited edition Dogfish Heads. This is a dark ale brewed with honey and gesho. So you might not know what gesho is like we didn’t, or maybe you’re more intelligent than us. Gesho is formally known as Rhamnus prinoides if you’re going to look it up, and it is used in Ethiopia like hops is used here. The stems are collected from the plant and boiled, and the extract is mixed with honey to make mead. That’s an interesting little fact for us all, and it gives some context to this beer, and maybe the bottle art too. 

So this is a dark ale, but this is a dark ale like Cabin Fever is a brown ale. In other words, it is kind of a stout. The nose confirms this for you with notes of coffee, vanilla, caramel, roasted barley, chocolate, toffee and some wheat. This is a pretty typical nose. The arrival is coffee-like, with some small lemon-lime influence, vanilla, and even soft cream. 

The body contains coffee, toffee, grain, barley, wheat, cream, raisons, and even almonds. This is turning out to be pretty typical of a stout, with a little bit of nuttiness to change things up. The finish is big in the barley flavor, with wheat and chocolate on the back end, coupled with some small hops notes, coffee, toffee, cream, and almonds. The finish is long and big, and very enjoyable. 

So this isn’t really a terribly complex ale, and it is pretty typical for the stout/dark ale character. This doesn’t make it good, but it isn’t cutting edge. And frankly, we like to see our expensive beers in smaller bottles, because drinking a full fifth of a 9% beer in a night doesn’t lead to appreciation, it leads to drooling. None the less, this is a nice beer and we think you’d enjoy it, but I wouldn’t break my legs to get another bottle of it. 

Score: 8.25/10

Review 113: Dogfish Head Olde School Barleywine

Review 113

12/7/12

Dogfish Head Olde School: 15% abv

Dogfish Head again, with a limited production barleywine. We’ve done a few barleywines, but they are not frequent. Since we’re waiting to do Bolt Cutter by Founders, it seems we will give you a teaser with this beer. What makes this beer interesting is it is brewed with figs and dates, which means something somewhere. This barleywine is obviously strong, at 15%, and we haven’t tried a whole lot of 15% beers that are easy drinkers. At this level, flavor is huge and the beers are sippers. This is no exception. But let’s see how it treats us. 

On the nose, you get apple, pear, barley sugars, sweet sugars, raspberry, light peach, caramel, wheat, malt, and honey. You can tell right off the bad that this beer does reflect quite a few sweeter flavors, but doesn’t hold a large amount of complexity. The arrival is actually a little more complex than we are used to in a beer, with caramel, berries, apples, blackberry, honey, lemon-lime soda, and maple. Again, there is a theme here. The body is pretty light in the variety of flavors, containing malted barley, wheat, sweet apple, caramel, and maple. The finish gets slightly more complex with honey, banana, wheat, barley, dry red wine, grain, maple, yeast, and a slight sourness. 

This beer is straight forward then. Not terribly complex, but super sweet and prominent. This isn’t like other barleywines in that it lacks the bitterness or slight hoppiness that counterbalances the sweetness. This could be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on how you prefer your drinks. This is a rich drink, so it will probably be your only one for the night, lest you desire a cavity. There was some disagreement amount the group on how to score this beer. It lacks a lot of complexity, but it is a unique offering among a group of barleywines, and you might like that. Originally slotted for a 7.5 out of 10, but on further consideration, it seems this still has the potential to be an enjoyable, quality beverage. It might not be worth your cash unless you want a sweet, relaxing beer. 

Score: 8.0/10

Review 109: Dogfish Head Palo Santo Marron

Review 109

11/24/12

Dogfish Head Palo Santo Marron: 12% abv

Here we are with another Dogfish Head. This one may seem a little confusing to you. Dogfish puts on the label that this is a malt beverage. All that this implies is that malted barley is part of the grain they use in manufacturing this beer. This isn’t in any way revolutionary or different from any other beer, ever. The difference is that there can be a malted beverage without hops, which is not a beer. So is this a beer, or a malted beverage? The answer is yes. It is a beer and they are calling this one a brown ale, says their website (making us do extra work to find the answers here). Okay, so then is there anything else interesting to know about this beer? Well it’s called Palo Santo Marron, and to our best translation, a marron is a name given to two closely related crayfish. Yes, that isn’t very exciting, and if you sensed the uncertainty here, its because we don’t know who would name a beer after a crayfish. 

The Palo Santo we can shed some more light on, though. This is a wood, specifically coming from the Bulnesia Sarmientoi tree, or Palo Santo tree, which is commonly used in burning for incense or aging wine, along with having some medicinal qualities. So this is a unique paring with wood we’ve never tasted before. How’s it hold out? On the nose, you can find the obvious malt scent quite easily, but there are some other obvious ones as well. Raisons, dark coffee, milk chocolate, and some large berry flavors of strawberry, raspberry, and unique slight banana, and pear, with smooth rich notes of vanilla and toffee. When you first try this beer, you will realize how dark and rich it is for a “brown” ale. The arrival contains chocolate, blueberry, raspberry, vanilla, banana, cream, and there is even a slight note of light citrus in there. This is a very complex arrival and intrigued us to dig deeper. The body of the taste contains malt, a slight unexpected dryness, ginger, raisons, fruity notes of pears and some creaminess, tobacco and vanilla. The body is sort of empty and disappointing comparatively speaking, but don’t worry. We haven’t yet finished this. 

Because there is still the finish! AH! Get it? The finish contains many complex flavors, the most obvious of which is malt, but giving off chocolate, substantial tobacco flavors, yeast, more malt, wheat, dry barley, dark fruits, coffee-like bitterness, pears, slight woodiness, cream, vanilla, caramel, and even a slight smokiness. This is a fantastic array of flavors, and they do blend well together. The beer is dark and smooth, with bitter coffee and tobacco flavors setting this one apart from other dark beers in its category, but there is hardly any influence of hops in here. We like this one, but it is expensive. Worth at least one try if it sounds good to you. 

Score: 9.25/10

Review 107: Dogfish Head Raison D'Etre

Review 107

11/21/12

Dogfish Head Raison D’Etre: 8% abv

Alright people. Dogfish Head is a big deal to some of you for their 90 Minute IPA. Dogfish Head Brewery is from Delaware, and only recently has it entered into the Michigan market. They were founded in 1995, which makes them younger than I am...amateurs. So are they worth the fuss? Well we were going to tell you a while ago, when they were a bigger deal, but we are backed up on spirits and beers to try. Since we’ve done a lot of IPAs, we wanted to move forward with something different. This is a “mahogany ale”, or a Belgian style brown ale which we are effectively calling a brown ale, so let’s get started. On the nose, we have a light, smooth blend of light woodiness and light hops, mixed with some wheat-like graininess. There is also a noticeable fruitiness in the form of raspberries and strawberries, but it includes yeast, raisons, cantaloupe, and heath. Overall, a unique, complex nose. When finally trying the beer, you’ll get instant sweetness from molasses and maple syrup like flavors, some berries and dark grapes and raisons. The body of the flavor gives off more light, dry raison taste, with some mixed berries, and some sugar and honey flavors. Unfortunately, there is a watery character to this beer, which is instantly a disappointment. The finish is light with some hops, raspberry and strawberry again, walnuts, and more cantaloupe. It is slightly dry as well. Overal, this is not a complex beer, and the nose is the most enjoyable part of it. It is sweet and drinkable, but other than that, it isn’t very compelling. Luckily it isn’t too expensive, so it might be worth a try, but we wouldn’t rush out to the store for it. We are hopeful that the next Dogfish Head gives us better luck. Thank you to some guest reviewers, Josh and Justin. Glad to have you contribute. 

Score: 7.0/10

Review 88: Dogfish Head Positive Contact

Review 88

7/30/12

Dogfish Head Positive Contact: 9% abv

Dogfish Head fever has been going around lately, but because of budgeting cuts, we haven’t been jumping on the bandwagon, so suck it up. We’re going to do one for you, but that’s about it. Why did we pick Positive Contact? Well for a couple of reasons: there are good sales people out there, it has a very interesting description to it, and we like exclusivity, and this would be a little more rare. One of our suppliers only had six bottles to their name. We claimed one and now we’re going to tell you more about it. This beer advertises being brewed with apple cider, cilantro, and...you guessed it, cayenne pepper. Makes sense, right? Enough to catch our attention. 

So is it just a Frankenstein beer, or is this actually worth your attention? We found out for you. We noticed sediment in the bottle when we poured it, and the head was decent in size. The nose shows off the apple cider, but presents very fruity notes, similar to a trippel ale. These include pineapple, slight pumpkin, orange, unripened banana and green grape, and cantaloupe. There are darker notes of malt, yeast, caramel, and vanilla. 

The taste continues the trippel ale theme with some similar fruit notes. It has a yeasty flavor with cantaloupe, crisp apple, herbal flavors, creaminess, citrus, cloves and a mellow body. The finish is gradual, with notes of cantaloupe, apple, vanilla, peach, orange and anise. And yes, exactly what you’ve been waiting for: cayenne. The cayenne is not dominant, but is a gradually increasing flavor which adds slight heat and spice to the beer. This isn’t an out of place taste. This beer is done very well, and is highly recommended. 

Score: 9.5/10