Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA

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

Bottle shared by Golubj. This beer is a lot better than I expected. The normal high grav IIPA bores the hell out of me, lots of overly sweet crystal, too much hops, etc. This one is way better though, tasting like a well aged English Barleywine, with lots of sherry and oxidation notes. Chocolate, candy corn, port abound, with large notes of pure cocoa and vegetal sweetness. Very nice stuff, surprisingly drinkable.

Small head, clear orange body. Aroma is mostly sweet and alcoholic with plenty of hops and pepper tones in the background. Flavor is very sweet fruity and almost vinous at first with a nice balanced dry hoppy flavor hiding behind the sweetness. Very little alcohol present, hides the alcohol exceptional well. A very different and interesting beer. Thick, smooth and flavorfull, almost like beer concentrate. An outstanding experience!

On tap through double Randalls at Capital Ale House - Downtown on 06/04/2009. Cloudy orange body with a medium frothy white head. Huge citrus aroma dominating everything. Chewy hop flavor with lots of citrus and resin. Full body with low carbonation. 8/3/8/3/16 - 3.8 On tap at Capital Ale House - Downtown on 08/28/2008. Poured through a randal filled with simcoe, cascade and summit. Very cloudy orange body with a medium creamy off-white head. Big caramel and molassas aroma with a bit of alcohol and a hop kick. Huge hop flavor, lots of caramel, molassas, and alcohol. Full mouthfeel with moderate carbonation and a chewy hop finish. 8/4/8/3/15 - 3.8 (Not included in overall rating) 11/15/2005: a light brown ale, with a thick white head. A very hoppy aroma with this beer. The sweetness of the high alcohol content overwhelms the hoppiness of this beer. Overall this beer is not anywhere near as bitter as you’d expect, but holds its place in Dogfish’s lineup 9/4/7/4/14 - 3.8

[1009-20071229] 12floz. Boozy raisin sweet yeast aroma. Murky, dark brown body with a quick foamy off-white head. Boozy tang flavour kick has more sweet raisin and a nice grainy yeast. Full thick body. Different! (8/3/8/3/15) 3.7

[1971B-20090124] Tap. Grapefruit pips, tangerine flesh and floral yeast soap aroma. Hazy, light orange amber body with a long-lasting creamy off-white head and thick lacing. Very sweet grapefruit hops, caramelized sugars, and a boozy kick in the flavour. Medium-full body. Very thick and hoppy, tasty. (8/4/8/3/16) 3.9
Overheard: "I should be making fun of this beer but instead I want to drink it until I fall down."
(@ Cole’s; Buffalo, NY)

Bottle graciously shared by Hogtown Harry with Blankboy and GregClow. I was just flipping though some other ratings of this - why in the world are people so hung up on style here? BarleyWine, Double IPA, I don’t care, all I know is that this is a beer that I have been waiting to try for some time. I was a little cautious, as the World Wide Stout was massively disappointing, all alcohol and nothing else. So I sipped this with the aforementioned caution. First off, it looks amazing. Dark intense orange, lots of streaming bubbles, thick foamy white head - I can’t see a beer like this looking any better, so 5 there. The aroma- wow, it is actually quite mild! At 21% and these hops, I had insulated my nose hairs in case of fire, but it isn’t there. What is there is a mild hop aroma with tons of bready malt - it smells formidable, but there really isn’t any alcohol to speak of. The taste: WOW. I never thought I would use the word balanced to describe a 21% hopped all to hell beer, but here you go - it is remarkably balanced (more so than their 90 Minute I would argue). I get lots of hops, more really bread like malt, and alcohol for sure, but maybe more like an 8-10% beer - this is remarkably restrained. More importantly, it is the most balanced big Double IPA I have ever had. Medium silky mouthfeel. A nice sweet fruitiness in the background as well. Way more accessible than the World Wide Stout, this is truly heaven in a glass. Thank you Harry for sharing this. 120 Minute: Welcome to my Top 10.

2007 Vintage. Appearance: Pours a clear, amber body with a tight inch of off-white foam. Impressive that it can even form and sustain a head with all that booze in there. Smell: Whoo! Even upon opening you get a whiff of alcohol-soaked hops. Very apricoty, maybe a few golden raisins. Leafy and tremendously resiny hop character and, of course, an excessive, though exciting amount of fusel alcohol. Taste: Whoo-boy!! Ultra sweet, incredibly juicy apricot taste. Searing alchol presence upon that first sip, but give it some time, friends, that’ll pass. Sharp flavors of ruby red grapefruit citrus oils and pine resin. Still, though, I get alot of apricot. All of the high levels of malt, hops, and alcohol push and shove each other around without letting one quality sit on the tongue for too long. The grapefruit and apricot come together, become morphed, and start tasting of mango and passion fruit. Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied. Medium-low carbonation. Sticky yet also pretty warming. Drinkability: A sipper, for sure, but a good one. Really holds itself together fairly well for being packed to the gills with malt, hops, and booze. Like it or not, it’s hard not to be having a good time when you finish the bottle.

Bottle: Extremely sweet aroma with hops. Kind of citrusy. Pours an amber with a small white head. Flavor is extremely sweet. So sweet that hops struggle to come through. Needs to be hoppier to combat the sweetness. Very smooth for the high alcohol content. The alcohol is noticeable in the finish. No burn because that’s probably covered up by the sweetness too. It’s ok and something worth trying once and maybe revisiting every few years...more of a novelty beer in my opinion.

Bottle: Vibrant golden/orange hybrid, moderate to thin off-white froamy head, quite nice lacing, mild carbonation.   Alcohol fused resiny aroma, heaps of grapefruit (sweetened) and a touch of honey.   Smells not quite as strong as the 20% the bottle states, but it sure smells sweet and candyish.   Sweet citrusy flavor immediately up front, hop presense but its subtle compared to the mouth watering sweetness.   Not cloying like I remembered, but its big.   Body is large, mouthfeel isn’t as thick or syrupy as I had remembered tho.   Lingering citrus peel on the exit, remains fairly sweet.   Definitely not a bitter hop monster, but a sugary sweet alcoholic citrus based candy.   Not terribly complex, but its smooth with a fairly well hidden ABV.   I’d have no problem having this one again.   Yum!