Dogfish Head World Wide Stout 2002 (23%)

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

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!

For me, this review has to make comparisons with the 18% WWS. First, this beer is not just 5% stronger, it is a million percent better in every way. First, the ABV. I honestly drank the 12 oz. bottle of the 18% and didn't really feel it. On this one, I drank it in one sitting, 4 oz. at a time in my GABF glass, and I was buzzed after half of the first glass! Now I am about halfway through the last 4 oz., and I will admit to being ripped. Now, the taste. It is incredible. There is so much going on here, fruity tastes, sweet sugar tastes, malt, some hops, and of course the alcohol. And an intangible taste is there as well, one that only this combination could produce. It has gone beyond the world of beer, yet it is so very much a beer, unlike the Sam Adams Triple Bock which did not taste like anything that you would ever want in a beer (a soy sauce maybe, but not a beer). And this stuff actually has some carbonation and head to it! I have had Utopias too, and this is SOOOO much better. I won't even start on the price of the Utopias. This cost me $7.99, and I had one bottle and don't need any more beer for the night. It will be bedtime soon. I can't bring myself to rate any beer as a 5, but I am going to rerate the 18% WWS that I had at 4.9.

(gabf'30 - 2002 on tap at Falling Rock) After a day and night of tasting every type of beer imaginable at GABF, this blew me away. This stout poured dark and rich. The palate is like a cross between a barleywine and a stout. Many complex flavors highlighted by plum and cherry. Deep, roasty flavors of a stout but also the sweet undertones of a sherry or port accented by the undertones of the immense alcohol. This tastes too good to drink slowly but you defintely want to take your time caressing this stout. Superb.

Bananas, hints of vanilla, vinous nose. Midnight black colour. Tan head. All sweet, chocolate, plum, black cherry, terribly warming, alcohol is definately evident, but this is terribly drinkable for the weight. Full bodied, velvety soft mouthfeel, smooth and sweet, light bitterness tries to push through in the long lingering alcohol laced finish. AN incredible brew from Sam and the guys at Dogfish, HOT DAMN.