Dogfish Head ApriHop

Brewed by Dogfish Head Brewery
Style: Fruit Beer
Milton, Delaware USA

Serve in Flute

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Pours a beautiful rich copper color, nice head, nice head retention. Aroma is mostly hops but with a definite hint of the fruity apricot. Flavor is nice, rich and full, a real hop bitterness that pairs really well actually with the apricot flavors. This is a great example of what a fruit beer can be... not some insipid kool-aid, but a well-though out and well-executed mature brew. Excellent! My only complaint: the price!

12 ounce bottle drank out of it, little apricot, and dried fruit aroma. Flavors of light malt, and light bitter hops, this is due to the masking of it with dried apricots. Decent beer to enjoy outside.

12 ounce bottle from Total Wine; a successful fruit beer. It delivers fruit flavor and aroma and most importantly a little fruit sweetness. Fruit beers with no sweetness seem to be the disappointing norm in this genre. The hoppy-bitterness is there as well.

Dense, lasting head. The apricots bring out some sweetness that balances the bitter in the front. You get some apricot/fruit on the backend that clears away some of the hop bitterness as well. I like this for a summer beer. For me it adds enough of both of both fruit and iPA sides.

Really low aroma. Even confirmed with a friend as this is two out of three beers that came up really low on aroma tonight. Dogfish Head knows how to make IPAs, so not shocking that this is decent, but having just finished a Pizza Port IPA, this comes up really short. Way too much bitterness for a "Fruit Beer", and not nearly enough apricot for an IPA. (S/be listed as an IPA). The apricot brings out the sweetness over the bitterness in a great way, but the package fails. Meh.

Bottle. First let me say that I believe this should be an IPA, not a Fruit Beer. The Apricots are there only in the background to add character to the profile; this is IPA through and through. Pours amber orange with a medium off-white head, good retention and lacing. So far, so good. Smell is of pine, apricots and roasted malt. Very similar to the 60 minute, minus citrus plus apricot. Taste is apricot, roasted malt and pine/resin. There is a bitter aftertaste with apricot sweetness mixed in. This is not bad, but in my opinion, the apricots, while not dominating, are offputting to me in this beer.

Growler from Chuck’s 85th. Pours deep reddish amber with medium creamy head. A light hop aroma with hints of fruit. Taste is heavy pine and lighter citrus hops. Nice chestnut malt and restrained apricot on the finish. Kinda peachy as others have noted. Very refreshing. Much more of an IPA than a fruit beer. This has to be built off the 60 minute base, which is not a bad thing. Some of Dogfish’s wacky ideas fall flat but this is just right for me. Not so big that you can’t enjoy a few either.

Simple yet satisfying. A decent IPA with some fruity undertones. Almost tastes a little more like peach than apricots, but definitely far less sweet than most fruit beers.

The Pour: Not alot of head. Dissipated almost immediately. It just, sort of, beaded up in the middle. The Look: Light ruby color. The head is white. Go figure, red beer and white head. There was minimal carbonation. Just a small stream coming from the bottom. Although, as the beer warms up, the carbonation does become more pronounced. Aroma: It wasn’t really what I was expecting. I don’t smell any apricot. The aroma was very similar to the 60 minute IPA. Light malt, light hop, just light everything. The crystal malts were probably the most prominent aroma. Taste: I was pleasantly surprised because there was no apricot/peachy flavors to speak of. Only an astringent peachy aftertaste. The Hops and Malt are definitely the prominent taste in this beer. The apricot definitely doesn’t do anything for this beer. It’s almost as if it was an unwanted accident. And DFH said, let’s just go ahead and bottle this beer anyway. Verdict: It’s very astringent, it’s not very hoppy. I can drink it without cringing (I guess). This is just... It’s not that good. Definitely not as good as what they are charging for it. I would give this a ’C’. I’m never gonna buy this again. I’m never gonna look for this. I’m gonna get through this glass but... It’s nothing special. I’m definitely not going to waste my money buying another one of these. I don’t really care for the astringent aftertaste that the apricots provide. The plus is that it’s NOT a fruit beer, as the name would suggest. But on the down side, It’s certainly NOT an IPA either. I’ve had weak American Ales with more hop presence than this. The hops are VERY subdued. The DFH websites describes it as being... "continuously hopped with irresponsible amounts of amarillo hops." Irresponsible? I don’t think so. Maybe in the brewery, but it doesn’t come through in the smell or taste. Worth the Money: So based on all of that, is it worth the money? $2.99 per single bottle == .25 cents per oz $10.99 per 4 pack. == .23 cents per oz $9.99 per 1/2gal growler. == .16 cents per oz. I don’t believe in 4 packs. Especially not for a beer with such low quality (compared to the style it is classified under). If this were about $9 for a 6 pack, I can see myself paying that for this particular beer. But it’s not worth more than that. And I am stretching here to find some positive aspects. Most people like this beer. I don’t know why. But you make your own decision. Maybe this beer’s for you and maybe it isn’t.

Very enjoyable. Nice bitterness with fruit, pine, hop and citrous notes. However, just a hint of apricot. I wish it had more...

Pours a deep copper, with plenty of head. The nose is a bit funky, almost like a cleaning solution. Some Apricot, but almost has a smell of pine sol mixed with malts. Flavors are immediate Apricot malt with a hint of bitter walnuts. Not sure if I really care for this.... The Dry Dock Apricot was much, ,much better... I understand the different style, but this is not so good...