Dogfish Head World Wide Stout 2002 (23%)

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

12oz bottle@Hoboken#1-pours no head and dark brown color. Aroma is sweet dark malt-molasses, dark fruit. Taste is dark malt-molasses, dark fruit. Smooth. Minimum carbonation.

The beer pours dark not opaque black in a white wine glass with basically no head. The aroma is firm and complex, extremely malty with plenty of molasses, toffee and prunes. We also notice the alcohol in there, but would of course never say 23%, making us believe this could be around 12% is an art by itself. The taste is also relatively complex, but way too sweet, almost harsh candy. The mouthfeel is full and a definition of syrupy: toffee, cinammon, vanilla, chocolate and coffee and an alcoholic malt finish. Definitely more on the barley wine side, but the sweetness is too overpowered for me to really appreciate this beer although I recognize it is a must-live beer experience that I won't forget so soon.

The aroma is more smoky than I remembered it being the first time around. The 23% ABV is very well hidden. Cloyingly sweet, though. Still, a great sippin', "knock-you-on-your-ass" stout.

Had this bottle since it came out and thought it needed some aging. Finally, I got around to trying it: Pours a very dark brown with very little light tan head. Mildly complex aroma with some dark fruits, roasted and caramel malts floating on alcohol. Body is very sugary sweet with little to no noticeable hop presence. This definitely lacks the complexity of the 18%. Very one-sided with a ton of malt sugars and no balance. Hides its alcohol pretty well, but is sort of a let down.

very dark brown colour, almost no foam, roasted black chocolate aroma, strong notes of portwine, nougat, gingerbread and wood; incredibly oily and very sweet, some finishing bitterness, explosive and deeply warming alcohol finish, long dry and very sugary aftertaste - The alcohol is so present that I would believe it if the label would say: 35% - confusing and unbalanced, the 18% version was much better; interesting experience anyway

Very thick, rich and sweet, with a fair bit of alcohol warmth. Very sweet palate- choclate, vanilla, some dark fruit, coco. A lot of alcohol in the finish, and too sweet for me. Out of this and the 18% version, i'd take the 18%, its a bit more balanced and softer, with less alcohol noticable. (Bottle GBBF 03')

(draught !) Jet-black, slim brown head. Roasted, grilled bacon, BBQ and soy sauce for a nose. Impossible to write or explain, but you can both SMELL sweet and bitter. This is a quite sweet stout tastewise. Saying it's a very strong one is as forcing open doors, but that's the problem. It's got a rosewater flavour, so sweet it's made lopsided. Still a superb beer, but I prefer the 18%. Mouthfeel: well. Liquified coffee-flavoured pudding with a dash of soy sauce. How DOES that feel? OK - there's alcoholburn. Huge.

Tar black colour with a small light brown head. Very strong alcohol sweet aroma with notes of chocolate and vanilla. Malty flavor with some fruity sweetness and notes of liqourice. Sweet balanced alcohol finish. Smooth oily palate.