Dogfish Head 90 Minute Imperial IPA

Brewed by Dogfish Head Brewery
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
Milton, Delaware USA

(12 oz blt) Pours a rich, hazy amber; minimal off-white head which quickly disappears. Aroma is toffee/caramel and candied pineapple. Robust malty sweetness w/ citrus peel tang. Aftertaste is fruity sweet (dried apricots?). Tastes like hopped wort. Not a BAD beer, but IPA is a misnomer. The aroma and flavor do not meet my expectations of an IPA, but I will pretend it’s something else and enjoy it.

(Bottle at Pikkulintu, Helsinki, on 2009-01-20) Deep amber. Clear. Small white quickly disappearing head. Strong hoppy aroma with some toffee notes. Very strong bodied and oily palate, warmth from alcohol, somewhat dry and contains little carbonation. Malts, sweetness, lots of hops, bitterness, toffee and hint of fruitiness in taste. Malty and bitter aftertaste. Quite balanced beer.

Draft @ Capone’s Dec ’08: Poured an amber orange color with not much head. The aroma was pine, citrus, and flowers. The flavor was hops, flowers, oranges, and pine. Overall, this beer fresh and smooth. An excellent IPA.

12oz bottle. Pours an off-white head with an amber body. Smells of pine and apricots. Juicy like a peach with a nice bitterness.

A: A clear orange amber with off white head. Tiny little bubbles. S: No lack of aroma. Pungeant sweet smelling hops with orange blossom and malt. T: It keeps getting better. Beautiful balance of sweet and bitter. Citrusy hops, malt and apricots come to mind. MF: Light syrupy feel with light carbonation. D: I just love the balance of this beer. The flavor coats your mouth and fades off perfectly. Because of the sweetness (and alchohol content). I couldn’t drink more than one a night but what a treat.

Pours a golden amber into my La Fin du Monde glass with a thin white head, intense lacing, and a mild, but constant stream of bubbles... Good Glass... Aroma is not nearly as pungent as you would expect, with up front sweet maltiness characterized by a bit of toffee and dark fruits along with a nice nose of citrus hops... Taste is mildly alcoholy, with a creaminess that is unmistakably east coast imperial ipa maltiness... The earthy hops are interesting but dont do as much as the big citrusy hops usually do to balance the malts... There is a certain complexity here that is not always prevalent in IIPAs, each sip is a bit different... Notes of toffee, chocolate, fruits, pine, and citrus...Medium to Full bodied with a less lingering finish than expected...

12 oz bottle Poured a slightly cloudy burnt orange with a moderately thick, but firm, off-white head. Nose contained a lot of malty/molasses tones for an imperial IPA, but the citrusy/earthy hops still dominated. The taste was similar, and slightly sweet. The hops were very well balanced, so that they could shine without scorching your palate. At first I thought it tasted very similar to brandy. Nice, thick mouthfeel with lingering flavors. Overall, one of the finest beers in existence.

This is a bomber, with amazing floral, resiny and sweet. The aromatics are perfumlike in their pungence, with pine and citrus assulting the nose. The flavor begins malty-sweet, slight caramel and toast, then switches to lemon, orange, pine and earth. The impression is very mouthfilling (at 9%), sweet but not cloying, resiny, and very bitter through the finish.