Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA

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

bottle. hazy copper pour with a lot of carbonation and thin off white head. fresh floral hop, sugary malt aroma. huge sugars. maple, caramel. big bitter finish. hops trumped by the sweet sugar. Alcohol present but for 21% it was not overpowering. I was expecting more.

Bottled. Beer is clear, red-copper brown. Head is initially large, frothy, white, clingy specks of lacing. Diminishes mostly, slowly but lasts.<P>Nose is slick, sweet, tight. Initial impression reminds me of a freshly varnished red wood deck baking in the sun. The aroma is malty with moderate-to-heavy caramel, light cookie toasted grain; Hoppy with moderate notes of dried apricot, lemon zest, heavier notes of grapefruit oil, light resin/pine, herb; Yeasty with a light note of dough; Miscellaneous notes of moderate wood (cedar/redwood), alcohol/sake.<P>The flavor is tooth-clanging, heavily sweet, moderately bitter, moderately acidity (juicy) with a long, hot, moderately bitter, lightly acidic finish. Alcohol is mild for it’s volume. <P>The body is full, the texture is syrupy and the carbonation is average.<P>She’s big and syrupy. Like the balance of the hop extraction. Much like a Barleywine in a lot of respects, and like many Barleywines, this is simply too sweet to enjoy.

Amber color with hardly any head. Strong malty aroma with not as much hop presence as I would have expected. Extremely sweet, malty flavor on first sip. Very full bodied with a nice hop kick at the end. Hard to believe that it has 20% alc/vol. Will probably be much better with a year or two of cellaring.

Clear light amber brew.Really sweet malt and hoppy nose.taste was sweet and alcohol.Not real strong in alcohol because the thing was so damn sweet.

Bottle purchased at Kazansky’s in Squirrel Hill, Pittsburgh for $9. I had no inkling that this beer was 21% alcohol until I looked at the percentage in the description here.

Pours clearish salmon/lavender caramel, off white head. Aroma is fuzzy kiwi, tangerine hops. This is so fuzzy that it almost tickles the nose. Slight detection of alcohol in the aroma, but very subtle for something purported to be 21%! Flavor is hoppy (sweet & bitter leaves), malty, alcoholic (of course). This is almost like a hopped port without the grapes. A bit too syrupy and alcoholic for me. Definitely a sipper. Yipes!

2003 vintage 750ml sampled 7/9/05: Clear deep amber body with a small, but present white head. Plenty of alcohol comes through in the nose along with some resiny pine/citrus hops and grass. I expected the aroma to show more bitterness than it did. Tastes spicy with alcohol-soaked hops, grass and plenty of syrupy malt. Very sweet. Will try a non-vintage bottle of this soon an re-rate, but wanted to include these notes for now.

Hot damn. This was more like a barleywine with hops than a IIPA. Way overkill on the alcohol, felt like i was taking shots. still had a few distinguishable flavors, but most ofthem were covered up by the alcohol burn. I think it’s safe to say that this one pretty much knocked me on my ass this weekend.

Pours like any other fine IPA, maybe just a bit more amber....even smells like a top-notch regular, but is far from it! Very hoppy...and of course at 21%ABV there is plenty of alcohol. If you drink it slow like a good brandy it’s quite lovely....mild sweet honey and a touch of pine.