By way of background, DFH first came up with the idea for the 60 several years ago. The concept was simple – keep adding hops to the boil for 60 minutes – the resulting beer is 6% ABV, and 60 International Bittering Units (IBUs). DFH is one of those rare breweries that’s into pushing the envelope, and so figured that if 60 was good, 90 would be better. For the 90, DFH continuously adds hops to the boil for 90 minutes, and then dry-hop it in the tank. The 90 is 9% ABV, and 90 IBUs. This year, DFH decided to go even one step further, and so the 120 was born. For the 120, DFH adds hops to the boil for (surprise!) 120 minutes, but also also dry-hops it daily in the fermenter for a month, then ages it for a month on whole leaf hops. The 120 is over 20% ABV and checks in at 120 IBUs. DFH calls it an Imperial IPA.

When the 120 came out, a plan to conduct the Hopizontal Tasting was born. Both Dan and I had previously tried the 60 and 90 – this tasting, however, was our introduction to the 120. The sequence of the tasting went from least hoppy (the 60) to most hoppy (the 120). The table below summarizes our findings.

[if !supportEmptyParas] [endif]

[if !supportEmptyParas] [endif]	60-Minute IPA	90-Minute IPA	120-Minute IPA
Appearance	Hazy golden body with big off-white head.	Murky amber with a big beige head.	Clear(!) amber body with medium beige head.
Aroma	Floral hops, backed by pine and grapefruit. Medium sweetness.	Grapefruit (definitely Cascade) and pine.	Floral hoppiness dominates, with medium sweetness. Some malt aroma too, perhaps nuttiness. Surprisingly, the hops aren’t overwhelming. Amazingly, the alcohol is undetectable – this is a 6.5% beer, right?
Taste	Pine/floral hoppy, moderately sweet. The finish is unusual – sweet, then a maltiness that isn’t quite caramel, then the bitterness reasserts itself.	Really bitter with limited sweetness. Grapefruit is the primary flavor, along with some floral. Some floral/spice in the back of the throat.	Syrupy, medium sweet, definite (but not too strong) alcohol, and oh yes – hops (basically floral, but light citrus as well). Still not the hop-bomb you’d expect, doesn’t even taste as hoppy as the 90. Like many DFH beers, you’d never be able to guess the ridiculously high alcohol level, but there’s a definite warming on the way down.
Palate	Nice medium body.	Full body.	Syrupy, very full bodied, light carbonation.
General Comments	An eminently drinkable beer.	Occasionally, a one-dimensional really hopped beer is quite enjoyable – this is that beer.	Wow! Once again DFH has done the impossible (it’s beginning to look routine with them) – made a high-alcohol beer taste like it has less than half the strength it actually does, all the while producing a quality beer.
Aaron’s ratings	8/4/9/4/17 = 4.2	7/4/8/4/16 = 3.9	8/4/8/4/16 = 4.0
Dan’s ratings	10/4/9/4/18 = 4.5	8/5/8/4/15 = 4.0	8/4/8/3/17 = 4.0

We discovered that for these rather hoppy beers, Animal Crackers served as a solid palate cleanser.

Interestingly enough, both Dan and I gave top honors to the more standard beer, the 60, even though the 90 is far and away the highest rated of the three on the site. Maybe more folks should do a side-by-side comparison. That being said, we rated all three beers high, and thought they all showed the quality DFH is known for.

Who knows if DFH will be creating a 150- or 180-Minute IPA next year. But if they’re in the same league as the 60, 90, and 120, I say bring ‘em on!

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