Dogfish Head World Wide Stout 2002 (23%)

Formerly brewed at Dogfish Head Brewery
Style: Imperial Stout
Milton, Delaware USA

12 oz bottle? why? i dont understand? 23% seems just stupid and pointless to me. smells like alcohol, and candy. tastes to sweet and, thats it. noithing i look for in a beer. the worst imperial stout ive had. is this just a gimmick?

A black beer with no head. The aroma is sweet malty with strong notes of alcohol and raisins almost like brandy. The flavor is sweet caramel with notes of malt, alcohol, apricot, and chocolate. The alcohol runs prickling over the tongue and it has a very strong body.

Pours very black and syrupy. Huge aromas of port, molasses, cognac, prunes. Tastes thick, malty, super complex, and alcoholic. Finishes with a heavy complexity that involves licorice, cognac, port, coffee, prunes, and molasses. A very nice beer, but at small quantities.

Here it is, my first "real-time" review. I will type my thoughts as I drink, and it's no ordinary brew at all. This is my second bottle of this mighty stout, the first one gave me one of my worst hangovers of all time. It was my 5th beer of the night, but it counted for 5 more! I'm more in my right mind tonight... First off, someone didn't like the label! The words "vim and vigor" are markered out! My guess is that someone in government beurocracy thought that the phrase suggested healthy properties to the beer. Idiots! So now it reads "A very dark beer brewed with ridiculous amounts of barley," Color is completelely, fully Stygian black, head is a good 1/2", that slims down right quick, and a tannish hue. Aroma is strong and powerful from the start. Magnificent! Deep, dark, roasty and toasty, boozy, rummy, ...the deeper I drinker in the nose, the more the alcohol kicks into my senses! Like a rich, roasted cognac! A stick of molasses candy, wrapped in a licorice whip and doused with a cocktail of Meyer's, Amaretto, B&B, and Booker's bourbon! This aroma is utterly unheard of! Now to drink the damned thing! Gargantuan mouthfeel, thick, rich...well, really those phrases are useless in this case, I need something stronger. You bite, you chew, and this dark, lush, and, yes, dangerous elixir washes over the mouth , the senses swim, reaching and grasping for adequate words to describe the experience, yet always wanting. Alcohol is sharp and stinging, always present, always snaking itself up and in and "Drunkening". Malt is massive in this mammoth stout, providing thick flavor and booze, glorious booze. I can't detect a stitch of hops anywhere. So who needs 'em, Mac? "How dry I am...how dry I am..nobody knows...how dry I--HIC!" Tiny sips, brother, tiny sips, there's no guzzling allowed with this monster, unless you're some kind of maniacal masochist. I had to take the drinkability factor way down because there's no way you can have more than one, unless you have a death wish. I wish, I wish, I wish this came in tiny bottles and was a hell of a lot cheaper. That'd make a nice, lovely nightcap. I wish, I wish...yeah, all those wishes and a magic wand will grant me world peace and a date with Salma Hayek... Oh!What!A!Beer!...Ti for beddy bye, y'all!

(2002) thick syrupy pour, dark brown/black color, no discernible head, just some fizz, strong alcohol aroma (wow), roasted malt, vanilla, chocolate, slight woody character; alcohol dominates the flavor with a slight burning sensation, roasted malt, slight chocolate sweetness creeps in, vanilla, woody – maple syrup, texture is syrupy and rich, but very smooth, complex

I enjoyed this beer, however it is meant to be enjoyed in small quantities. The flavor is too overwhelming to consume 12 ounces in a sitting. Pours dark, oily and black. Head is thin, champagne like and brown. Nose of chocolate , raisins and alcohol. Packs quite a whallop at 23 percent. Very port or armagnac like. Next bottle I will share with friends over dessert.

I was very excited to get ahold of this one. Unfortunately I was somewhat disappointed, and would have been more so if it had not left me feeling so good. I was just not able to enjoy this beer due to the overpowering alcohol taste. A friend compared it to "guinness with a yeager bomb in it." I don't know about that, but I doubt I will be picking one up again. It's a one time thing really.

Malty currenty aroma, like you would expect from a liquer, WOW!! very sweet raisin malty alcohol taste, alcohol not disguised but not offending, nicely warming down the throat. an elegant sipper