Dogfish Head World Wide Stout 2002 (23%)

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

(Bottle) Pours beautiful dark with deep red and brown tones. Heavy malty and liquor-ish aroma with complex tones of dark chocolate and dark fruits like raisins and figs. Raspberries, soy, rum, caramel, dark fudge, syrup, brown sugar, dark bread and English fruit cake are also present. Spicy with notes of vanilla, cardamom and cinnamon bums. Good strong alcohol warmth on the nose. Vinous flavour with tones of vanilla, mature dark fruits and mature dark berries. Also a lot of creamy dark chocolate, some anise and liquorice. Malt brings heavy tones of caramel, syrup and dark bread. Liquor like and sweet but not too sweet, just perfect. The dark fruit tones bring raisins, dark grapes, figs and plums flavour wise. Numbing (without destroying the palate) peppery alcohol warmth. The aftertaste goes on end on with a complexity never seen before. Surprisingly smooth but a bit syrupy mouth feel. Full bodied. I can imagine that this beer was way too “hot” when it was first released but now, wow – a perfect and fantastic Imperial Stout liquor.

(21% UK Import version) At last I have got my hands on this beer! Has a deep dark hue with a small brown head. Smooth chocolate malt nose with roasted coffee, toffee and hints of date and prune. Rich full bodied feel with most of the flavours following from the nose. Coffee, chocolate and a long lingering roasted malt finish. Slighly sweet. This is a fabulous beer that smells, tastes and looks great. The best thing is that despite its great alcoholic strength the flavour does not really suffer for it and it could just as well be a very normal 5-9% imperial stout. These guys truely know how to make a great beer and I hope to sample more like this. The only down point is the price, £6.99 for the 35.5cl bottle. I have bought a couple to age and will report my findings from these in a couple of years time.

12 oz. brown, longneck bottle. Bottled in 2002 label on front of bottle, along with inked out Vim and Vigor on front label. I’ve had it aging in my cellar for 6 years now. Weak pfftt when bottle was opened. Still has a very little carbonation left in this old girl. My pocket beer engine produced a quick 1 finger dark mocha colored head. Major legs on this beer. Aromas are of molasses, rum soaked prunes, whiskey barrel, licorice, burnt sugar. Flavors are astounding. Major molasses / rum in the flavor. Along with licorice, burnt sugars, espresso beans, vanilla, and alcohol. Aging this brute of a beer has mellowed out the alcohols somewhat, but they still burn all the way down. Brandy flavors blend with the massive malt backbone. Some cherry pit flavors at the end. Thick, rich mouthfeel. Surprizing, since this beer is now 6 years old. Chewy texture. Almost a meal in a glass. This beer has aged extremely well, especially since it’s been moved around 4-5 times in it’s lifetime. It makes me kind of sad to know I only have 2 more of these beauties aging in my cellar. A first class, world class beer from Sam & the gang at Dogfish Head. Cheers!

Pours out a blackish cola color settles inky black with thin little brown highlights at the edges, no head or lace was produced but not necessarily anticipated due to the 23% ABV. Aroma is largely warming and candy sweet alcohol, port-like dark fruitness within; between each breath of heat resides some raisin, dark cherry, dates, currant, molasses, cocoa, and chocolate, touches of spice too but the sweetness of candy-like oakyness and brandyish alcohol retains on top with strength maintaining a nice portly bouquet. Taste is super full and oily thick with nice deepness of sweet port-like alcohol, very warming and soothingly rich, lots of barley sweetness, candyish and strong, playful but with a certain flare of aggresion that lets you know if you get out of line it'll lay you out flat. Flavors are sweet, deep, rich and invigorating, good amount of dark fruityness with more raisin then anything, mixing with some dates, black cherry, and currants, molasses and vanilla notes with oakened sweetness and some touches of chocolate, cocoa, and espresso. Oh...and the warming, oh the warming, so very nice... meltingly nice. Feel is rich and full, warming, somewhat puckering sweet but maintains a great smooth oily-like creamyness with a favorable punch of good Ol' alcoholic burn and sweetness in the end. Quite a ride with this one, lots of everything; surely a major sipper but it has a dangerously smooth chararter that thankfully keeps its alcoholic edge as to keep you in check. Great, great stuff, akin to Sam Adams Triple Bock.

Ok I originally wrote a huge long, creative, humorous comment on this but it messed up. So, simply put: I drank a full 12 oz. bottle at Thanksgiving Dinner. This beer will rock you and light any cowboy’s fire to the depths of his soul. Not for the faint of heart. Possibly not even for the stout of heart. Only maniacs, masochists, and martyrs need apply

Molasses and raisins with plum notes. With a subtle touch of crème de cocoa that nestles in the nose. With a wonderful relaxing exhale to boot. Dark head tan lines of dark golden lacey oily syrup. Cocoa essence enhanced with molasses raisins and plums. With a slight coffee finish. Nice strong and portly in flavor is this one. Alcohol is very noteable but, yet sensual and yet oh so smooth. This beer is gargantuan in stature. I mean it’s HUGE!!! Very thick viscous mouthy feel. Heavy and heavenly if you will.

It’s hard to fathom how something this glorious could even be brewed. very little head on top of the red-tinged black snifter. aroma, especially as it warms, is peppery higher alcohols, molasses, figs. the mouthfeel on this one is slightly thicker than i remember the other years being, but who knows how much of that is memory betraying me. again, as it gets warmer, the alcohol becomes more noticable. the flavor is lots of chocolate, a minor hint of roast (aged out, perhaps?), caramel, figs, and more chocolate. this is world-class stuff. easily in my top 5 beers.

Bottled@Akkurat, Stockholm. Dark black colour, small brown head. Aroma is bigtime coffee, hops, chocolate, caramel and some roastedness. Flavour is really much roasted malts, coffee, vanilla, some alcohol and lots of caramel and toffee. Really wellaged and pleasant brew!