Dogfish Head World Wide Stout 2002 (23%)

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

12oz bottle. brought by tytoanderso to An Evening with Pantanap 4. thanks so much for bringing this gem Tyler! pours black with no head. tons of alcohol in the aroma at first but once it breathed it really developed wonderful notes of port, sweet raisiny, and licorice. flavors are sweet port and raisins, sugary but really nice. the alcohol is actually very well hidden as it only warms the throat. wow this has aged wonderfully. thanks Tyler!

Enormous! on tap at the strong ale fest 2002. flavors of dark cherry, chocolate & port. Jet black w/ creamy mouthfeel.

Bottle at Akkurat, Stockholm. Thanks oh6gdx and tbone_! Black color. Sweet aroma with burnt sugar, vanilla, port wine, soya sauce, quite boozy. Very sweet and sugary flavor with chocolate, port wine as well as both warming and sharp alcohols. I prefer the 18 % version, which is less sugary and boozy.

Rating #1 Bottle (9 3 8 5 18). Black oil color with basically no head. Sherry and whiskey aroma. Smooth, chocolate, cherries, raisins, and plums. An amazing beer. Thanks to Sanjay for bringing this back from Maryland for me. Rating #2 (9 3 9 4 18) in 2004. Dark brown color with a diminished head. Strong port like qualities with a smooth oily cherry, plum and raisin finish.

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!

Originally mistakenly put in as the 18%. My bad. Sigh. I'm just not a fan of the ultra-heavyweight beers. They seem like a brewer's stab at making a port, and I can't help but compare the two while I am tasting. Unfortunately, I greatly prefer port. Black with a tinge of brown in the glass, virtually no head. Sexy legs hint at the alcohol content. Aroma is massive, but overly dominated by ethanol. The flavor improves as it warms, but it is ultimately out of balance. The alcohol is incongruously out of place, like a Hammond organ playing alongside a string quartet. The notes of chocolate, raisins, and figs, which again bring to mind port are nice, but are only in the front of the palate. Alcohol overwhelms the middle, and some hop flavor creeps into the finish. Don't get me wrong, I generally like alcohol flavors. Give me a nice bourbon and I am quite content. But I don't feel it worked in this case.

Pours a really viscous black color--almost like motor oil. There is a small 1cm brown head which dissipates into some mild lace. The aroma of this beer is almost fruity, although I think it may be the ethanol that I smell. There also may be some sweet chocoalte hints in the aroma. The start is sweet, followed by some buring of alcohol, which then goes away and the sweetness comes back to end with a nutty chocolate flavor. The alcohol is present throughout, but surprisingly is not overbearing at all. I have read how the alcohol is too much in this beer, but I must say that it is hidden very well and not overbearing. Worht the $9 I paid. I split half a bottle with my brother. The 2002 vintage Sierra Nevada Bigfoot I had yesterday seemed much stronger than this

12.10.05 12oz bottle, all to myself. I don’t remember who gave this beauty to me, but you’re a saint. Deep brown color with ruby highlights do not wear a cap of foam, rather a halo of fine tan bubbles. Aroma is chocolate indeed, and with decadent fillings like cherry and hazlenuts. The flavor is equally intriguing as one could consider an entire box of chocolates with this brew. Surely I taste marzipan, nougat, berries, cocoa, caramel and more. Terribly complex and yet never overwhelmed by the outrageous alcoholic burn. The burn attacks the gums, the palate, and the entire path from throat to belly. Wow! This is excellent stuff, if over the top and a bit unweildly.