Dogfish Head ApriHop

Brewed by Dogfish Head Brewery
Style: Fruit Beer
Milton, Delaware USA

On tap. Aroma showcases tart apricots on a sweet malt base with citrusy (and maybe floral?) hop notes nicely complimenting the tartness, but taking a back seat for an IPA-based beer. Flavor pretty sweet (but far from cloying) with the apricot and malt meshing, some tartness sticks around, and the hops act as they did in the aroma. Small-bubble carbonation reminiscent of Belgians. Quite very drinkable and balanced, especially for a beer that exhibits such sweetness in the flavor. Very refreshing, but probably needs to be consumed fresh, fresh, fresh! 8-4-7-5-15/3.9

Rerate 4/16/09. Bottle. Aroma of biscotti and generally toasted malt, sugary sort of apricot. Very odd. Flavor is quite muddled, with nothing really coming through except some dry apricot. Oddly heavy in the mouth. Not much good to be found this time around. 5-4-5-3-11/2.8

Bronze colored with small white head. Scent is strong apricot and citrus. Sweet flavor with some nice balance from hop contribution. Refreshing beer, but DFH has done better.

As much as I love this brewery, I’d hate to give a rating this low for one of their ales, but I didn’t enjoy this one too much. Bottle... Poured dark orange with a thin head that faded quickly. This beer was more like aprimalt, with faint apricots and malt on the nose. Palate is fizzy, with sweet flavors mainly from the apricots. The hops were very subtle and not present enough for that serious IPA that they advertised. Magic Hat’s No. 9 is a better pale ale style with apricots.

Very refreshing, could use a more balanced hopping. Dogfish continues to pioneer great beer. This one is daring, not perfected. Great for a hot summer day.

On tap pours a dirty golden. Light hops and fruit. Flavor is sweet malt and apricot nicely balanced with hops.

On tap at the WIllimantic Brewpub. Pours a clear light brown with a small white head. Aroma is not very strong, slightly fruity. Flavor is dominated by sweet apricot (though not in a bad way), light citrusy fruits, with a tart finish. Not much of a hop presence, despite it being classified as an IPA (fruit beer is probably more accurate). Sweet, light, and refreshing! Very good. 6/4/7/4/15 (3.6/5)

Update 4/16/09: 2009 bottle. Wow, I don’t know if it’s a tap vs. bottle difference or a batch difference or what, but the bottled version is quite awful. Aroma has the same grassy/garlicky hops that the IPAs have. Flavor is medicinally sweet (a generic sweetness more than apricot specifically), kind of a muddied blend of fruit and malt that does not work. Wow, this is really bad. My suggestion is avoid the bottles!!! 4/4/5/2/11 (2.6/5)

The aroma was of a hoppy apricot if you can imagine that. It really smelled of natural apricot which was both impressive and pleasing. This is my first apricot beer - are there a lot? — and I was really impressed. It was smooth and fruity but not over powering. It was very well balanced. It was great with a light lunch on a warm day.

Pours a translucent orange / brown with a small white head. Aroma of malt, apricrots, spices, citrus. Flavor of malt, hops, citrus, apricots and a little on the sweet malty side. Interesting brew.