Dogfish Head Immort Ale

Brewed by Dogfish Head Brewery
Style: Barley Wine
Milton, Delaware USA

DFH really pushes the envelope. Great aroma of dried fruit and some smoked wood. Flavor is smoky oak, sweet malt, a bit of vanilla. Nice dry finish. Good stuff.

330 mL into snifter. Pours a clear copper with a two finger tan head that settle down quickly and leaves some vague, spotty lacing. Great Belgian strong ale aroma with dark candied fruits, twizzlers, rum raisin, cherry soda, vanilla ice cream. Taste is totally different: watery body with overall dryness interrupted by charred oak, slight spicy alcohol, and gin from the juniper berries. Dry, cardboardy finish. Not impressed.

On tap at Papago. Pours a dark amber color with a trim off-white head. Smells of red licorice, oak, and maple syrup. Quite hot. Tastes closer to a Scotch Ale rather than a Barley Wine. Noticeable peat and barley in the taste along with further layers of syup and vanilla. Even as this warms, the flavors don’t seem to balance.

Fresh bottle. Pours dark brown, near black, with a thin light tan head. Aroma is quite smoky, along with vanilla, molasses, oak, a little fruit. Flavor is very rich and malty, with a strong alcohol presence and fairly minimal hopping. Clearly, this one’s made for aging a year or two. Pretty tasty fresh, though.

Pours a dark, ruddy/muddy brown with minimal white head. Aroma is maple syrup, alcohol, and some vanilla/oak. Taste is rather thin for as high alcohol of beer as this is, but the taste that is present is vast. Some smoke, a lot of maple, belgian yeast character, oak, vanilla, brown sugar, spices. A very good offering from Dogfish. Great cold weather beer (I say in April in AZ).

Bottle. Pours a rich amber color with a moderately sized head. Lacing is excellent. Aromas of vanilla, syrup, roasted malts, and a hint of wood. Taxture is tart and lively to start, then goes very smooth to finish. Flavors of wood, smoke, and a strange vanilla finish. Not one of their best but to be honest it needs to age a bit longer.

12 oz bottle from EZ Liquors. Pours an interesting color which is a deep red blended into a medium brown with a small bubbly light beige head, lots of clinging bubbles also on my Lucifer snifter. Aroma is all peat, slight smoke and alcohol, slight touch of vanilla perhaps. Medium to fuller bodied with a good dose of carbonation and finishes with lots of alcohol that is felt in the upper chest area. Flavor pretty much the same as the aroma with lots of peat and a touch of smoke and alcohol. I am really underwhelmed by this one and maybe this one needs to sit for quite awhile to let the flavors/aromas emerge.

Pours a deep brown with a very thin tan head. Aroma is absolutely wonderful. Vanilla, oak, syrup, slightly fruity. Mouth feel is huge with all the afermentioned notes, along with a sweet alcohol taste. This beer really hits its full potential as it warms down toward room temp. The oak and vanilla really open up, and the ale becomes extremely smooth and creamy. This beer is an amazing winter warmer and puts a big smile on my face. Definetly one of my favorites.