Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA

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

In the bottle from Wolf Bros. Vintage 2004. Pours dark gold to light amber with a white head. Has an amazing floral candy aroma. Ripe bananas emerge as well. Smells like a glass of Tootsie Rolls. This seems much more like a barley wine. The flavor is extreme, dude. Remarkable taste of pineapples. Super syrupy sweet. This is not beer, it’s a glucose tolerance test. Hops? Oh yeah, the kingpin of bitterness all the way down the esophagus, but you wouldn’t know it due to the huge amount of malt. This reminds me of Fruit Stripe gum- the lemon line version. High heat with big big alcohol. Truly an anesthetic for the evening.

Wonderful beer, but perhaps not worth the price of $8 for 12 oz. Aroma is very good and has abundant hops as well as malt. Almost no carbonation. Great flavor, no complexity however. There is a load of hops and this is balanced by sweet barleywine-like malt and sugar. Perhaps the thickest and heaviest ipa I have ever had. The alcohol is expertly hidden in the aroma and flavor and not detectable in either.

(Sampled at Stockholm Beer Festival) Pale amber small creamy head. Sweet and dense aroma of syrup with hints of tropical fruit. Syrupy sweet and heavy flavour of rotten pears, nectarines and sweetened oranges. Thick mouthfeel. Extremely sweet aftertaste of marmelade, syrup, candied peaches and pears. Small notes of grapefruity hops in the back of the tounge. Too sweet and unbalanced to impress me.

Ok I drank this again and found that the last time I had this I knew nothing about beer. I do prefer the 90 minute by far...but this one is good too. Cloudy amber color with sweet smells of complex hops, malts and fruit. Sweet on the tongue and 21% are you kidding me? Nice.

Bottle. Sweet cherry, grapefruit, pine aroma with just a hint of malt. Light amber with small head. Primarily a moderately dry white wine flavor with hints of dried cherry and apple cider - shockingly light grapefruit hops finish and well hidden alcohol. High acidity. A true work of art - not just a mouthful of hops.

Orange copper color with a very thin head. Aroma of hops, caramel and alcohol. The flavor is hoppy but particulary sweet, more sweet than bitter. Lingering bitter finish. Light to medium body, creamy texture. Well, I’m not particulary impressed by this one, definitely less hoppy that I thought it would be.

Bottled. Aroma has extreme hoppyness, fruits, raisin, rum. Hazy, orange coloured with an off-white, lasting , thin head. The taste is quite bitter with fruity and caramel malty sweetness. It is full bodied and quite heavy. Siruppy texture, bit like hop juice. Alcohol warming palate, but it’s not really like 18%. Very powerfull, love it.

Special thanks to Michael Phillips at C.R. Goodman Companies (DFH distributor for Dallas) for helping me find a case as soon as it got in (this stuff is next to impossible to find in Dallas). Heavenly hoppy aroma. Pours an opaque orange to light brown hue with a creamy off-white head with excellent retention and amazing lacing (although its little brother, the 90 minute, has better lacing, but not by much). Taste is extremely sweet up front with a nice bitter finish. It is really really hard to believe there is that much alcohol in my glass. It is suprisingly easy to drink. The only hint you get is that your stomach starts to feel warm about 2 minutes after you drink it. Mouthfeel was syrupy and just a bit of tingling carbonation. Amazing beer although very very expensive ($32.99 for two 12 oz bottles). Was worth the buy, but I feel the 90 is a much better value.