Dogfish Head Immort Ale

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

Pours a lovely dark orange/copper color, with a small head. I get a lot of dark fruits and maple coming out of the aroma. Flavors of a slight peat character, maple syrup sweetness, dark fruits (raisens & figs). Very complex ale, but very smooth all the way down. Palate is nothing special, just has a nice light-medium body. Overall, if you do not like peat flavors stay away, because it is an aquired taste.

Pours reddish with minimal head. Aroma is caramel, fruit, and lots of citrus hops. Flavor is very woody with a roasty, almost smokey aspect. Lots of dark sugary sweetness, but never cloying. Palate is silky, with a dry finish. Unique. ***September 18th Re-rate: Deep red pour with an excellent tight white froth. Aroma is vinous, loaded with fruity esters and some citrusy hop character. Toasty, oaky, with some vanilla bean and almost a bit smoky or peaty note. Flavor is quite sweet with caramel, roasted malt, and a distinct fruity alcohol note. Oak and maple syrup come through more powerfully in the flavor. On the hoppier side for the style, with sweet citrus notes being more prevalent. Palate is effervescent with a medium body, and a nasal warming boozy quality. A tad on the hoppy side for my ideal representation of the style, but well put together and suitably unique.

Warm finish but not overdone. Pretty smooth for 11% and not as boozy as I was expecting. Maple and vanilla really come through in the finish, but I really didn’t pick up on the wood notes. This beer needs some time in the cellar, to let all the flavors mesh more. It will probably be quite a beer in a few years. Buy, store, wait, and drink. One of the guys from DFH said that they had some immortals from around 2002 sitting around and that they continued to get better upon every "sensory analysis".

Thanks to oteyj for this one. Pours a red brown with minimal head- standard barleywine look. Aroma has cane sugar, vanilla, fruit, and woody notes- quite nice. Flavor is very interesting- has definite malt, even some smoky aspects, to compliment the sweet flavors. Palate is also very nice, an excellent brew.

This one was quite an interesting concoction--the main reason I ordered it. In the end, however, it seemed like too much stuff in one pot. The end result was a pretty good tasting brew, but any one particular flavor was difficult to distinguish. From peat, to juniper berries, to vanilla and maple syrup, I found it really difficult to properly identify what I was tasting. It’s still worth a try though because it tastes pretty good.

12 oz bottle. Pours red orange with lots of sediment and an off-white head that quickly disappears. Aromas are sweet caramel, honey, spicy, some alcohol sharpness. Flavors are caramel, honey, maple syrup, definite alcohol, plus a woody character. Very tasty. Alcohol might be considered a little harsh, but I enjoy its influence on the flavor.

Cloudy copper pour, slightish white head that quickly dissappated. Very malty aromas, with maybe some cherry also. Pretty sweet maltiness, raisins, maple, apple cinnamon waffle. A stickiness to it, but I would call it medium bodied. Mild spiciness through the finish with only a bit of tart and carbon. Not usually a huge barleywine fan, but this was pretty good.

From the growler station at the Party Source. A cheap customer filled one up, then noticed the $24 price tag. Needless to say, I went home very happy that night- with a free growler of Immort Ale. In a large tulip glass, this has an intense ruby to light brown color and a bright vibrant sheen. An intensely sweet aroma- full of maple syrup, honey, sour cherries, blackberry jam and raisins, is luscious and fragrant. There is a certain spiciness from the juniper; strong salty sea air and peat, like an islay whisky, and sticky gum drops. The taste is complex and incredibly unique- very delicious and quite easily drinkable, with a strong grape medicinal note. The tongue picks up an extreme sticky fruit candy sweetness, prickly pears, fig compote and vanilla. This is rounded out and quickly transformed into a smoky, pungent, earthy peatiness, with oak chips and wood. The body is very thick, but not quite syrupy. It is oily, silky, and sticky, and glides slowly and gently across the tongue, leaving a trail of intensities- such as smoke, spicy cinammon and cloves in its wake, as well as a sour, funky moldiness that continuously makes me think of bleu cheese. Nonetheless, this beer is great, and is so easily enjoyed. As with all of Dogfish’s beers, the alcohol blends seemlessly and one could wind up quite drunk before even tasting it. Overall, Immort Ale perfectly blends the best characteristics of a Scottish wee heavy and a Belgian quad into one intensely enjoyable brew. I drank this every night for a week, and it never got boring. Niiiice.