Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA

Brewed by Dogfish Head Brewery
Style: American Strong Ale
Milton, Delaware USA

Serve in Snifter, Trappist glass

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This beer pours a rich amber color with a pretty abundant and persistent soap-scummy head. A lot of "extreme" beers suffer in the appearance department (looking more like coffee or cognac than beer), but this one genuinely looks the part. Aroma is a lot of malt, significant hops, and a fair amount of bourbon and sourness. Aroma is in my opinion the high point of this beer. Flavor is a lot of alcohol esters (I get some astringency from it, but perhaps not as much as I should given its 21% ABV) along with a lot of malt cerealness that I typically find in bock beers, balanced with abundant hops, with some sourness/astringency at the finish. The taste is also rather floral. I definitely got a warming feeling in my mouth, throat and stomach after only a sip or two - this is not a beer to be trifled with (or sucked through a funnel, if you were considering it). Mouthfeel is astringent - it’s like you have a drying agent or hydrogen peroxide in your mouth - which must be a by-product of abundant alcohol. However, it’s not syrupy or unpleasant, which is a good thing. This is a very unique IPA. It doesn’t pack as big a hop wallop as many, and it doesn’t come with a lot of very easy-to-like citrus flavors, but it is rather likeable nonetheless. Definitely recommended.

12 ounce bottle that poured a dark orange color. Aromas of sweet malt, hops, and booze. Flavors are the same, tons of booze. Careful of this one, could get dangerous quick.

36cl, Vintage 2012, no mention of ABV, American brew, thx to AdamJackson!, very complex brew, sweet/alcoholic and slightly bitter/fruity, very heavy, yet balanced, clear, small head, very good and original brew, WOW!

Pours red orange with low frizzy head. Low to medium carbonation which quickly disappears? Very hoppy aromas of peach, caramel, alcohol, raisins. High sweetness. Sticky palate! Alcohol, a lot of caramel, sweet fruits as well. Its a bomb exploding in the mouth. Is it good? Its very special is my answer... Not a lot of bitterness, but the sweetness remains for quite a while, the stickyness as well... Its a dessert in it self. Overall very good!

perfect orange pour, a little dissipating head. Sweet malt and hop aroma. Sweet tangerine flavor with a medium body, as the beer warms, the flavor becomes much more like great apples. Also a hop background. Defined notes of alcohol all the way through and then on the way down but still drinkable for the ridiculous ABV. Quite an impressive beer given how it’s made.

Such a wonderful brew. There’s not an intense after taste. It’s high alcohol content does not weaken or destroy the flavor of the other ingredients. This is a very well balanced beer.

The 120 is really interesting, but you have to put it in it’s place. I don’t even like to drink a full bottle of one of these-- to me, it’s more than enough flavor and strength to share with 1-2 friends in small snifters. The general skunkiness, incredibly heavy, weighty feel, and the almost never ending hop montage is amazing. . . but every time I open I bottle, I find myself drinking it just too slowly for it to really be great beer. So, great experiment, great example, great experience. . . maybe not great beer to actually sit and drink.

A - Pours a super hazy golden-orange color with a finger of frothy off-white head. The head fades down at a normal pace leaving behind some lace. S - Aroma full of tropical and pine hops with lots of grapefruit, orange, citrus, and grassy aromas. There is also some sweet caramel malts, residual sugar, and booze. T - Starts off with lots of tropical hop flavors with grapefruit, mango, orange, and some bitterness, alongside some sweet caramel malts. Through the middle, lots of piney and grassy hops come through with strong bitterness with some sweet residual sugar and some booze. The finish is full of tropical and grassy hops, some floral hops, some good bitterness, sweet malts, and booze. M - Full bodied with moderate carbonation. Feels smooth and resiny with a warming, bitter, and dry finish. D - Very drinkable. Huge hop flavor and strong booze, but the body is able to hold it all and the overall beer feels well put together.

2008 bottle pours a hazy amber red with a paperthin head into my bruery tulip. Aroma of alcohol vanilla, bananas, and cherries. Taste follows nose but the alcohol isnt as present. Smoother than i expected, not a bad beer, i was expecting it to taste like an american barleywine but this is much better than any other barleywine i have ever had. very good

UPDATED: MAY 27, 2012 I’ve had this quite a few times just to make sure I wasn’t getting bad bottles. This is just a bad beer overall, and does not even hold a candle to it’s sister, WWS. This is overly sugary, syrupy, sweet sticky alcohol juice with a nasty nail polish remover note. Yuck. Fuck this tripe. I’d actually take Sam Adams Triple Bock over this disgrace of a beer.

Tap. Pretty apricot-golden with big white foamy head and decent lacing. I get perfume, grapefruit, pine, and malt. First impression is that it’s very boozy. Liqueur like sweetness followed by hot goodness. Thick bodied but not quite syrupy. still manages a dry hop finish. Very warming. A year ago I probably would have rated this higher, but I find I’m liking crisper lighter beers more these days. Still yummy though.