Dogfish Head World Wide Stout 2002 (23%)

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

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

'bout freakin' time. Bottle. What's with this stuff marked out? Did we get a defective batch that was brewed without vim nor vigor? If this is the case, it doesn't show in the brew. Yow! "Alcoholic chocolate" are our buzzwords here. It makes me think of this box of chocolate liquers that I got from a vendor as a Christmas present last year. They were pretty crappy and I only consumed like 4 of them, but if they had been filled with fine brandy and coated with the best of Belgian chocolate instead of whatever crap the vendor picked up in the duty-free shop in the airport...that's what it would have tasted like and I'd have been plus 10,000 calories last year. Fine sherry, brandy in the aroma which follows beautifully into the flavor. Tame but clever mouthfeel with a GREAT finish. I like this a lot more than the 18% 2001 version, but part of it might be that I was less experienced then. But from now on, when the "most overrated beer" thread that seems to come up every 3 months happens, I won't mention DFH WWS anymore.

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.

Wow! It smells like they dropped a shot of vodka in this beer. This beer appears like a normal stout but the flavor is crazy!! My first sip blew my mouth away with pure malt and alcohol. This sure clears the sinuses because it is like drinking bourbon. Presence of raisin and date flavors and then WHAM! The alcohol hits your tongue for a spike in flavor and then slowly dies off in the aftertaste. I shuddered everytime the alcohol hit. The folks at Dogfish Head must be beer masochists because this is insane.

OK, I just tried the latest, 23% version, on tap (11/02). In a reversal from my previous experience (18%) I have to say I really enjoyed the WWS this time around. Nicely balanced, on par with port with some similar characteristics. Plummy, raisins, slightly chocolaty. Warming, but not burning alcohol. Purple-black, filmy head. 666 calories/12 oz bottle. Yikes!

Poured out of bottle, bought at Sam's Wine & Spirits in Chicago, 4/27/03. Truly awesome stuff. Perhaps *too* awesome, at least for my tastes. Very rich, very sweet, very full-bodied, almost syrupy beer. No head to speak of (and I dumped the beer vertically into a pint glass), but still a nice looking pour with the deep brown color. Tremendously powerful and complex flavors-- a total palate-shocker. Amazing to behold, and it does a hell of a job masking the 23% (!!) alcohol content. You can still taste the alcohol, of course (and you can certainly feel it by the halfway point of your first bottle), but it doesn't burn of 23%. Kind of steep in price ($7.99 a 12-oz. bottle where I live), but absolutely worth the splurge. A "six-in-one-pack" is what I like to call it, and it's a damn fine beer, but I can only handle it perhaps once every couple of months.

#986, Bottle at the Champaign-Urbana private tasting held at Radio Maria. Special thanks to Phillip for providing this monster. I am a huge fan of the WWS, in fact when I got into beer it was one of the first beers that I really enjoyed. To try this vintage has really made my day. Dark dark brown, thin with nearly no head. Nose is very sweet, suggary with just a bit of smoke glazing. The taste has lots of alcohol but tart and tangy crisp with just a touch of sugar. Big, nasty and great.

Very strong aroma. Deep black pour with a fizzy tan head. Alcohol present in the flavor. Much more than the 120 Minute IPA. A little too strong for me. Complex flavor full of roasted coffee, roasted malt, spice, floral. I couldn't handle another full bottle of this. This is potent stuff. Drink with caution if you think you can handle this. Wow!