Dogfish Head 90 Minute Imperial IPA

Brewed by Dogfish Head Brewery
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
Milton, Delaware USA

The fist IPA I ever liked. The aroma is largely of hops with a nice malty sweetness in the background, plenty of floral & fruity notes in the nose. The beer looks gorgeous in a glass, it is a very deep copper color with a big fat fluffy head that sticks around till the end and sits at the bottom of the glass leaving plenty of lace along the way. The flavor is amazingly well balanced and huge; the first tasting notes are absolutely that of very spicy hops, but there is a sweetness in the malt that calls to mind a barley wine. Notes of apple, raisin, and lemon are also present. This is also remarkably easy to drink and always a pleasure.

A nice hoppy beer. We scored it low in the aroma dept. but wish we would have tried it in a snifter. Full and oily with a crisp hop finish and a pang of alcohol at the end along with some orange and roasted malt. Overall a nice Imperial IPA!

Pours dark amber, off-white head. Aroma is fruity, malty, floral hops, and grapefruit. Taste is hoppy, floral piney hops, sweet with caramel malts. A better version of the 60 minute IPA. Who thought the East coast couldn’t make great IPA’s.

Pours dark amber with a 3 finger light tan head that lasts a long time and leaves lots of lacing. Aroma is lots of citrus and pine hops with candied fruits, rum, caramel malts, grapefruit rind, and some dried grain. Flavor is sweet - rich milk caramel malts, puffed wheat cereal adding a bit of toasty/roasty appeal, more candied fruit. Then the strong-ish hops come in. First lemon candy with some lime bitterness, lots of pine, grapefruit, honey bitter hops, a very slight earthy backbone to tie all of the flavors together and make it seem really a hearty, wholesome brew. The puffed wheat cereal comes back for the finish and holds on with the only slightly bitter, mostly pine and citrus hops for the finish. The feel is slick, yet a little sticky, and substantial, like a good IIPA should be. Overall it is a fantastic beer that just oozes complexity. While it has hops and malt in spades it really suprised me how the rather strong hops aroma turned into the flavor actually being fairly balanced, and hops a little on the weak side in my opinion for the style. That oddity aside, I really can’t say anything bad about it.....great brew.

12 oz bottle. Pours honey in color with off-white dissolving head. Aroma has a quality of shellac; flavor has a huge frontal assault of hop bitterness with orange marmalade, and alcohol. It provides one cohesive aggressive flavor and finish: malty caramel sweetness balanced by this signature bold (but not coarse) hop presence that is not distinctly citrus peel or pine, just outrageous. (Reminds me of an improvement on Port Brewing Tide IPA, the coarse one. Would like to try 60-minute.) By the way, how can Esquire vote an IMPERIIAL IPA best IPA, since these are two different styles? Anyway, I bet they didn’t try Moonlight Bombay by Boat IPA.

Hops are bursting forth with plenty of resinous oil and more pine than citrus. The appearance is a medium copper off white head, with great initial head retention. Great silk stockings down the glass. It’s flavor is full of pine, some citrus, some alcohol, w/ a taste that reminds you of the way nail polish smells very sharp. It’s smacks of alcohol, not at all a session, very potent, and to be honest I felt like it was less balanced than the 120 or the 60 minute brews.

Pours orange in color with a solid head . Hops dominate the aroma. Plenty of hops to share in this bad boy. The alcohol is barely noticeable until you finish a couple and stand up.

I was a little disappointed in this. Pours a light golden color with a big fluffy, white head. Aroma is citrus, hops, and caramel. Body is actually not very bitter at all- very creamy, sweet, and smooth. The alcohol here really dominates over the hops. Very oily on the palate as well. I really prefer the 60 Min IPA to this. As for imperial IPAs, I would stick to Stone Ruination. This is too expensive and the extra gravity and alcohol really takes away from what I believe is a perfect beer in the 60 Min IPA. 120 Min....now that is just insane.