Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA

ABV: 21 % Calories: estimated at 300 C Volume: 12 fl oz Glass: Trappist Purchased at: Circle Liquors Super Saver, Pennington, NJ Price: $8.99 Consumed at: home Former Impression: Wow. Knocks you over. 0-60 in 3 sips. The aroma fills the room with flowery hops. The malt is jumping. The bottle conditioning is a nice touch. I like a little haze in my 21% ABV ale (!). It’s syrupy with sweetness. It seems like a barleywine style, except for the IPA overtones. You are absolutely forced to sip and recover. The aftertaste is long, palate damaging, and delicious. I would find it hard to pair this with anything but the richest foods. This is the death by chocolate of hoppy beers. Thick yellowish head reduces to a wispy white foam with nice lacing. The reputation of this beer precedes it and it does not disappoint, though I thought I would enjoy it a bit more than I am, it simply whacks you over the head. It’s like trying to drink coke syrup. It’s exactly what I asked for, but as they say, be careful of what you ask for, they might serve it to you in a 12 oz bottle for 9 bucks. Current Impression: It is the essential full bodied beer. There is no other like it, save for some Avery brews. It is overwhelming, delicious in very small quantities, and a force to be reckoned with. There is very little to compare to this collection of peach, cherry, chocolate syrup, hops bitterness, and mint leaves. Superb.

4-6-08 on tap
Clear amber orange pour with no head. Sweet alcohol and hops smell (more sweetness than hops). Flavor is quite sweet as well with a big alcohol presence to "knock your socks off". Too much alcohol in the flavor with too much sweetness. I wanted a bit more hops to come through but it was overpowered by the alcohol. Very glad I got to try it on tap. It just wasn’t all that fantastic.

Sampled a 2006 and 2008 with a friend (I think drinking 2 whole bottles of this stuff would really limit your ability to taste anything). 2006: Aroma is rich and malty, reminicent of English barly wine with raisins and plums and other fruity notes contributed from the yeast. poured copper colored with still a good 2 fingers of head that retained very well. Flavor was English style barly wine with a high abv, but for being 21% it really didn’t show itself. Hops are present on the back of the tongue, but that it. slightly syruppy mouth feel. 2006 was enjoyable. Aroma 7 Appearence 4 Flavor 7 Palate 3 Overall 15 2008: Digusting aroma, pure cat urine. looked much the same as the 2006. Taste hate lingering bits of cat urine in it from the aroma... cat urine and pine that’s really what the taste and the aroma were all about. slightly syruppy mouth feel. awful, almost didn’t finish it Aroma 1 Appearence 4 Flavor 1 Palate 3 Overall 4

Pours a dark amber with a thin white head. Has a very strong aroma with lots of floral hops, citrus and hint of pine. The flavor is remarkably complex. I really expected the hops to overpower everything and, while they are strong, they’re just one part of the taste. It has the hops and grapefruit flavors and yet still manages to maintain a nice level of sweetness. Even with the high ABV, the alcohol is more muted than what I was expecting. Obviously the price tag makes it a little unrealistic to make this a regular pour. But it will definitely make a worthwhile splurge if you have the disposable income.

Poured a copper/amber color with a small white head that dissapeared almost imidiatly. The nose was of caramel pine and citrus and alcohol. The taste started with big, caramel malts, which took me off guard. Then warming alcohols bathe the tonue. Finally the hops kick in, but they seem to be drowned out by the alcohol. Piney notes then changing to orange/citrus towards the finish. Mouthfeel was full and syrupy. It was rather hard to drink with all that alcohol. I was expecting much more hop presence and was somewhat dissapointed in that respect.

Finally went for it. 12 oz. bottle. Pours orange-red with a small head. Aroma is mainly fruit and alcohol. At first the high ABV is sufficiently masked, but it gets significantly more noticeable as you keep drinking. Very sweet, and tastes a bit like apple juice. Definitely wish it were hoppier. In the end, it’s good to try it once, but I don’t think the 21% ABV is worth the price tag or the too-sweet flavor.

Tasted from nimrod’s glass. Hazy dark orange pour with a decent sized head. Strongly sweet aroma of confectioners sugar and caramel malts. Also lots of hoppy apricots and citrus notes. Malt dominated the nose though. Again, when I took a drink the first thing I noted was the overpowering sweetness, followed closely by a mix of citrus hop flavor and alcohol burn. Plenty of hop flavor in this beer, but the malt kept any bitterness in check. Glad I’ve had it but there are much better IIPAs out there with a much smaller price tag on them.

12oz bottle. Poured deep orange/amber with nice foamy head, carbonation, and just a little lacing. The aroma exploded out of the bottle; grapefruit, apricot, orange, and alcohol. This was a beast to drink; I applaud Dogfish Head for going over the top, but very difficult to drink. The taste consisted of syrupy malt on the palate with a bitter hoppy aftertaste. Too much alcohol taste combined with very sweet malts and some citrus hops. I was in a haze after drinking 90% of this beer myself. I’m glad I tried this, but I plan to age the next purchase for quite some time.