Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA

Brewed by Dogfish Head Brewery
Style: American Strong Ale
Milton, Delaware USA

This beer is really good. It is one of the first "craft beers" I have tried, and it was certainly a good choice. It poured a hazy dark orange amber with very little head. Smells strong, sweet and floral to me, and almost burns when I go to smell it. Taste is amazing, especially if you enjoy something sweet. It is on the syrupy side, fruity, and has a definite bite to it. I like this beer a lot, and will certainly have it again.

Enjoyed via pub glass from a 12 oz bottle. Pours a deep copper with a reasonable head, especially given the abv. Initial aromas of crystal malts, hops, and alcohol come through in the nose. I got flavors of something resemblling ethyl alcohol, a pretty sizable level of malt complexity, hop resins, and hop flavor as I let it slowly expand across my palate in very small and controlled sips. The finish was relatively sweet, but certainly not cloying; a feat in a beer with a starting gravity as high as this one must have had. Overall, this was unlike nearly every other beer I’ve ever had. The flavors were so bold that they almost screamed at me. At the same time, the beer remained quite drinkable. I could have easily had at least one or two more (prior to passing out in a pool of my own bodily fluids, that is). A drinking partner who was also sampling 120 min also echoed this. Honestly, my rating is not based so much on the flavors and aromas of the beer as on the fact that a beer could be so high in alcohol and so extreme, and yet remain so approachable.

I am glad ratebeer classifies this as a Strong Ale, i really don’t think it is an IPA. This beer is extremely malty, almost syrupy, but does have a nice hop finish. It is good, and i commend Dogfish for having the guts to brew something like this. Still though, i prefer the 90 minute.

Beer? This is no beer. This is a kick in the pants. I’m not sure you can make a more hopped up beer, and I don’t know if you should. The ridiculously high ABV gives it a barley wine kind of experience, and you should drink it as such. Use an appropriate glass, sip it, savor it, and fantasize about the mound of hops that contributed to this beer. A+ for taking it to the limit.

Bottle. Pours a cloudy orange with a off-white head. Aroma of alchol and pine. Tastes of alchol, sweet and citrus with a sharp bite.

Bottle, 12 fl.oz. Pours a clear golden/orange beer with a fizzy head. The aroma is alcohol, grass, pine and citrus. The flavor is strong alcohol, but with a complex beer underneath. The palate is sharp and edgy, and overall this beer has too much alcohol. With less alcohol it might be a better beer.

Since the 90 min IPA is one of my favorite Dogfish Head beers, I figured the 120 min would be even better. How wrong I was. Poured a nice amber orange color, but that’s where the good stuff ended. Tasted like 1pound of sugar in my beer and left a syrup sticky feel in my mouth. I couldn’t even drink 1/2 the beer before I poured it out.

Purchaed a bottle for $7 at Abe’s 6 pack. Served in the Dogfish Head snifter. The pour was a hazy orange, with almost non existent head. Smelled of hops and sugar. The taste was like someone covered a birthday cake with 90 Minute IPA. It hid the alcohol very well, but you could definitely feel the burn on the way down, and feel it in your head. Every beer drinker should try this at least once.