Brewed By: Dogfish Head Brewery in Milton, Delaware
Purchased: 12oz bottle bought at West Lakeview Liquors in Chicago, IL; 2013
Style/ABV: Imperial IPA/American Strong Ale, 15.0% ~ 20.0%
Reported IBUs: 120
A few months ago, I was walking into my girlfriend's apartment when I took a tumble like a drunken clown. This normally wouldn't be a big deal, but at the time I was carrying a 4-pack of BCBS and some bombers of Pumking. By some miracle, the 4-pack of BCBS remained intact. A bomber of Pumking did not. I fucked up my hand pretty badly as well, and scratched my watch too. Walking is hard, man.
Evidently the universe still hates me. Last weekend, as I was walking from my car to my girlfriend's apartment, the 4-pack carrying case I was holding bottomed out on me. The collateral damage included two bottles of 120 Minute IPA. My heart was immediately broken as I watched the bottles drift towards the ground in slow motion. It was like some Max Payne bullet time shit, except I looked like a 5-year-old who just had his Batman action figure stepped on, rather than a badass anti-hero. So here I am with another bottle of the 120...ready to try this again. On the bright side, dear three people who read this shitty blog, my story is a testament to the increased availability of the 120 Minute IPA. It's out there...go get some. About Dogfish Head:
I'm feeling a Decent Divine Brew on this, and fuck the haters. Even at 10 dollars a 12oz bottle, this works for me. It's complex, subtle, and big. Is this an IPA? Nahhh. I don't even think this is comparable to a wine. While the Fort reminded me of a really boozy red wine, this reminds me more of a dessert spirit. And guess what? I would pair this with dessert. This beer would pair wonderfully with any dessert that had citrus: lemon bars, lemon cake. You could also pair this with a cigar, or just drink solo like I am now. Dogfish head suggests pairing this with smoked almonds or smoked meats, grilled lamb, or gingersnaps. I can see that...with the disclaimer that when I'm eating smoked meats, I like to drink lots of beer. Maybe start with another beer, and work up to this? Oh, and this is pretty awesome fresh/hot. I know everyone and their mamma likes to age this shit. And I am. I threw a couple bottles into the cellar to dig out in a few years...because why not? But honestly, this is pretty great fresh, so definitely drink a bottle of this hot before you age it.
Random Thought: At some point in the near future I plan to start Homebrewing, because why the fuck not. There was a great post at HomeBrewTalk, where user scottland brewed a 120 Minte IPA clone. He did a great job documenting the whole process, and the whole process is PRETTY CRAZY. The amount of sugar he has to feed the yeast during fermentation is nuts. Definitely check the post out....
Reported IBUs: 120
A few months ago, I was walking into my girlfriend's apartment when I took a tumble like a drunken clown. This normally wouldn't be a big deal, but at the time I was carrying a 4-pack of BCBS and some bombers of Pumking. By some miracle, the 4-pack of BCBS remained intact. A bomber of Pumking did not. I fucked up my hand pretty badly as well, and scratched my watch too. Walking is hard, man.
Evidently the universe still hates me. Last weekend, as I was walking from my car to my girlfriend's apartment, the 4-pack carrying case I was holding bottomed out on me. The collateral damage included two bottles of 120 Minute IPA. My heart was immediately broken as I watched the bottles drift towards the ground in slow motion. It was like some Max Payne bullet time shit, except I looked like a 5-year-old who just had his Batman action figure stepped on, rather than a badass anti-hero. So here I am with another bottle of the 120...ready to try this again. On the bright side, dear three people who read this shitty blog, my story is a testament to the increased availability of the 120 Minute IPA. It's out there...go get some. About Dogfish Head:
Dogfish Head is a craft brewery based out of Milton, Delaware. The brewery was founded by Sam Calagione back in 1995.The brewery began as a brewpub (the first in Delaware) called Dogfish Head Brewings & Eats, and was originally located in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. The initial brewing setup included three kegs and propane burners. They brewed 12-gallon batches of beer three times a day, five days a week. In 1996 the brewery began bottling their beer, and by 1999 they had distribution to around a dozen different states. In 2002 the company outgrew their Rehoboth location, and moved to Milton, Delaware. More info can be found HERE.
If you roll over to Dogfish Head's 120 Minute IPA page, you can read about this crazy beer. Of course -- you already have -- and I'm just pissing in the wind at this point, as this beer has been subjected to the beer geek hype machine. But nevertheless...
If you're late to the party, then definitely tread lightly. The 120 Minute IPA is an extreme beer, clocking in at a variable ABV that ranges from 15% to 20% from year to year, and packing 120 IBUs. This beer achieves those numbers thanks to a two hour boil, where the beer is continuously hopped the entire time. The beer is then dry-hopped daily during fermentation for a month, and aged for another month on whole-leaf hops. This crazy beer is probably more comparable to a spirit/whisky than beer OR wine, and can easily be aged for many years (like 10+). With that said...let's get this into a glass, and see what's up.
This one pours a hazy orange color, with a finger's worth of white-orange head. The head is made up of tiny, finely packed bubbles, and hangs around for a surprisingly long time given the massive ABV that's lurking. The head does eventually fall off, leaving a nice cauldron effect of sea foam head. You get so much sticky/residual lacing when you swirl the beer in the glass, that it's hard to see the massive alcohol legs. But they are there. This one looks about the same in bright light: a hazy/cloudy orange color, with a ton of visible carbonation in the form of tiny bubbles rising upwards.
The aroma....oh my. My initial thought is, "I wonder if this uses the same yeast as the Fort?" There's a ton of resinous, sticky hops jumping off the nose, along with a ton of candi and caramel sugars. Initially, I was getting a lot of burnt plastic and apricot on the nose, but now I'm getting resinous citrus, resinous pine, Pine-Sol, and some raisins. The more I smell...the more tangerines, sweet citrus, boozy sweet bread, and plums I get. The nose is still incredibly resinous, and there is an underlying boozy character. Honestly, for a beer dry-hopped so hard, the nose is somewhat subtle.
Again...as I taste this, I am reminded of their Fort. This is drinking a lot more boozy than I remember the bottle from last Friday, but I may have already been one or two beers into the night at that point. This is super sweet up front, with fruity plums, fruity alcohol (sweet berries, boozy bread, cake), a blast of resinous, enamel-crushing, citrus hop bitterness, and then the beer hits you up with cake, lemon bars, resinous hop bitterness taken to the 120-IBU-degree, and lots of bitter, super super dry, and woody pine/citrus on the back. This dries out like a champ.
Again...mid-palate, I'm getting a lot of Pineapple Upside-down Cake, and booze. I had my girlfriend sip this, and she thought it was exceedingly bitter (soapy) and boozy. As a trained alcoholic and fan of hops, I find this beer to be neither. And I'm drinking this fresh. Keep in mind...in order to dial this beer up to that 15~20% range, the yeast is fed a fuckton of sugar during fermentation. This is a really sweet beer, and reminds me of a dessert spirit more so than a "spiritual IPA." If you go into this expecting an IPA...meh. Hell, the 90 Minute IPA has a lot of complexities that remind me of a boozy dessert spirit. When in Rome....
This is drying my mouth out worse than my first case of cottonmouth. This is exceedingly sweet, resinous, sticky, and dry. And yet, all the carbonation sort of grounds this in medium-full to light-full mouthfeel range. This beer is carbonated well. Palate depth is good, and complexity is great. This is very complex, and is reminiscent of a spirit. At 15-20% ABV (tonight, this is drinking pretty hot, so rant about this not hitting the quoted ABV AVOIDED), this is obviously a sipper. Also, the 10 dollars +/-ish a bottle makes this a beer to savor, not chug. Up front is big citrus, fruity yeast, alcohol; the middle rolls into heat, cake, sweetness, lemony sweetness, plums; the back fades sweetness with some resinous hop kick, you can feel your enamel peeling back; the finish is warming, SUPER DRY, and slightly resinous/woody.
Rating: Divine Brew
If you're late to the party, then definitely tread lightly. The 120 Minute IPA is an extreme beer, clocking in at a variable ABV that ranges from 15% to 20% from year to year, and packing 120 IBUs. This beer achieves those numbers thanks to a two hour boil, where the beer is continuously hopped the entire time. The beer is then dry-hopped daily during fermentation for a month, and aged for another month on whole-leaf hops. This crazy beer is probably more comparable to a spirit/whisky than beer OR wine, and can easily be aged for many years (like 10+). With that said...let's get this into a glass, and see what's up.
 |
| Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA |
This one pours a hazy orange color, with a finger's worth of white-orange head. The head is made up of tiny, finely packed bubbles, and hangs around for a surprisingly long time given the massive ABV that's lurking. The head does eventually fall off, leaving a nice cauldron effect of sea foam head. You get so much sticky/residual lacing when you swirl the beer in the glass, that it's hard to see the massive alcohol legs. But they are there. This one looks about the same in bright light: a hazy/cloudy orange color, with a ton of visible carbonation in the form of tiny bubbles rising upwards.
The aroma....oh my. My initial thought is, "I wonder if this uses the same yeast as the Fort?" There's a ton of resinous, sticky hops jumping off the nose, along with a ton of candi and caramel sugars. Initially, I was getting a lot of burnt plastic and apricot on the nose, but now I'm getting resinous citrus, resinous pine, Pine-Sol, and some raisins. The more I smell...the more tangerines, sweet citrus, boozy sweet bread, and plums I get. The nose is still incredibly resinous, and there is an underlying boozy character. Honestly, for a beer dry-hopped so hard, the nose is somewhat subtle.
Again...as I taste this, I am reminded of their Fort. This is drinking a lot more boozy than I remember the bottle from last Friday, but I may have already been one or two beers into the night at that point. This is super sweet up front, with fruity plums, fruity alcohol (sweet berries, boozy bread, cake), a blast of resinous, enamel-crushing, citrus hop bitterness, and then the beer hits you up with cake, lemon bars, resinous hop bitterness taken to the 120-IBU-degree, and lots of bitter, super super dry, and woody pine/citrus on the back. This dries out like a champ.
Again...mid-palate, I'm getting a lot of Pineapple Upside-down Cake, and booze. I had my girlfriend sip this, and she thought it was exceedingly bitter (soapy) and boozy. As a trained alcoholic and fan of hops, I find this beer to be neither. And I'm drinking this fresh. Keep in mind...in order to dial this beer up to that 15~20% range, the yeast is fed a fuckton of sugar during fermentation. This is a really sweet beer, and reminds me of a dessert spirit more so than a "spiritual IPA." If you go into this expecting an IPA...meh. Hell, the 90 Minute IPA has a lot of complexities that remind me of a boozy dessert spirit. When in Rome....
This is drying my mouth out worse than my first case of cottonmouth. This is exceedingly sweet, resinous, sticky, and dry. And yet, all the carbonation sort of grounds this in medium-full to light-full mouthfeel range. This beer is carbonated well. Palate depth is good, and complexity is great. This is very complex, and is reminiscent of a spirit. At 15-20% ABV (tonight, this is drinking pretty hot, so rant about this not hitting the quoted ABV AVOIDED), this is obviously a sipper. Also, the 10 dollars +/-ish a bottle makes this a beer to savor, not chug. Up front is big citrus, fruity yeast, alcohol; the middle rolls into heat, cake, sweetness, lemony sweetness, plums; the back fades sweetness with some resinous hop kick, you can feel your enamel peeling back; the finish is warming, SUPER DRY, and slightly resinous/woody.
Rating: Divine Brew
I'm feeling a Decent Divine Brew on this, and fuck the haters. Even at 10 dollars a 12oz bottle, this works for me. It's complex, subtle, and big. Is this an IPA? Nahhh. I don't even think this is comparable to a wine. While the Fort reminded me of a really boozy red wine, this reminds me more of a dessert spirit. And guess what? I would pair this with dessert. This beer would pair wonderfully with any dessert that had citrus: lemon bars, lemon cake. You could also pair this with a cigar, or just drink solo like I am now. Dogfish head suggests pairing this with smoked almonds or smoked meats, grilled lamb, or gingersnaps. I can see that...with the disclaimer that when I'm eating smoked meats, I like to drink lots of beer. Maybe start with another beer, and work up to this? Oh, and this is pretty awesome fresh/hot. I know everyone and their mamma likes to age this shit. And I am. I threw a couple bottles into the cellar to dig out in a few years...because why not? But honestly, this is pretty great fresh, so definitely drink a bottle of this hot before you age it.
Random Thought: At some point in the near future I plan to start Homebrewing, because why the fuck not. There was a great post at HomeBrewTalk, where user scottland brewed a 120 Minte IPA clone. He did a great job documenting the whole process, and the whole process is PRETTY CRAZY. The amount of sugar he has to feed the yeast during fermentation is nuts. Definitely check the post out....
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