Dogfish Head ApriHop

This was a refreshing beer with a lot of apricot flavor and sweetness. Very smooth and easy to drink. I’m surprised that it has an ipa base because it wasn’t bitter.

12 oz. bottle courtesy/shared with Naka. Pours a red/orange-gold with white head. Good carbonation. Head quickly dissipates, lacing is decent. Light apricot nose wit hsweet sugar and mild caramel and toffee. "Slight floral and citrus hop melds with the apricot to produce a mongo-like nose" (Naka 2008). Good, sweet malt body with a crisp apricot finish accented by a moderate hop bitterness. Jolly Rancher-like candy sweetness. Very refreshing and tasty.

A really nice golden orange with a small fizzy white head. The apricot and hops mingle nicely in the aroma. It creates a mango-apricot-citrus scent. A little bit of earthy floral, but mostly apricot. Very bright with a sour and bitter finish. A slight dryness as well, but still very refreshing. A decent thickness for a light flavored beer. Good, but only in small doses, I imagine.

Pours a beautiful crystal clear orange/amber with a nice, tall white head. Deliciously sweet aroma of apricot and other fruits. The body doesn’t have too much going on though. A little fruitiness at first and light hops on the finish. Flavors could have been a bit more pronounced.

This beer has a weird hoppy aroma. I am trying to understand why I don’t like the aroma. The aroma is rather weak. The fruit smell is there. I am not always throwing back apricots, but I can smell the fruity sweetness in the aroma. The hop aroma is very slight. It is not extremely noticeable, but I can tell there are hops in the beer. I don’t care if the label says its an IPA, I don’t smell a lot of hops in the beer, and for it to say it is an IPA is a bit of an overstatement. The is impressive in regards to the fruity smell, but the hop smell, not so much. You really have to inhale through your nose to get the hop smell. The color is really cool. There is a nice transparent orange/caramel color; perfect color for an apricot IPA. The flavor has a decent hop taste, and the apricots are in the before taste, but not really in the after taste. The hops are there the entire time the beer is in your mouth. I like the mouthfeel, but it is nothing exceptionally special. Overall, I would say this beer has a decent hop presence. The flavor is not so heavy on the apricots, but I do love bitter beer, so I am all about the hops. The hops were pretty good actually. I was happy to see that the fruits and hops were not 50/50. The color is really cool, and the beer is decent.

Pours amber with a white head. Awesome fruity nose, grape, apple, apricot. Pretty bland flavor-wise. Some white grapes and a tiny bit of hops. Why does it say IPA on the bottle? Not IPA like at all.

Pours a nice amber, but it’s clear. A nice copper color, but it’s translucent, did they filter out the flavor. Mild bubbles in the beverage. Tame 1"+ head. Frothy at that. No mistaking the apricots on the aroma. And in the flavor for that matter as well. Tastes almost like apricot malt. Damn good, if I must say so myself, for I and damn fond of apricots. I mean how could you not be. Do you even know how to get them? Yeah this is the best fruit beer out there. Shark head does it again. And it packs a punch without you knowing it. If you must drink wine coolers, or drink the same beer as the wife and have it be one that she likes, drink this instead. The finish is quite dry and nice, and resembles dried apricots.

12 oz bottle obtained from Central Market in Dallas, TX. Poured into a snifter. Appearance: Dark orange colored with a small amount of white head which quickly dissipated. Medium amount of carbonation. Aroma: A slight amount of hops, malt, and apricots was present. Taste: A slight taste of bittering hops hits the palate but then is overwhelmed by the apricots. I’m not sure if this can be called a "strong IPA", as many of the characteristics of an IPA are not present. Nice mouthfeel. Overall: Not a bad beer. Could be better on a hot summer day.