Dogfish Head Immort Ale

Brewed by Dogfish Head Brewery
Style: Barley Wine
Milton, Delaware USA

Serve in Snifter

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too many flavors to mesh into a beer

A BIG beer, but the combination of flavors doesn’t come together as well as it does for other barleywines. It’s surely above average for its style, but Dogfish is just a bit off-the-mark here. There’s a bit of smokiness along with all that malt.

UPDATED: OCT 13, 2008 Rerate 10/13/08 Ok. I turn out what this beed NEEDS is aging. Two years is getting it close to be palatable again. I look forward to trying it again in a year to see if it can reclaim the glory I found in that intial bottle, which must have been an OLD one. Re-rated 5/23/06 WTF happened? One of the most excellent beers I’ve ever had is utter dreck in its most recent expression. What did DFH do to the fomula? Maple, vanilla and spice completely gone and replaced with a salty/sweet and smoky taste that comes off as nothing so much as rancid bacon! I’ll keep the other three bottles (a four pack is now $4 cheaper than it used to be, hmmmm) for aging and keep my fingers crossed, but I can’t see how things could improve dramatically enough to save this near drain-pour. Lo, how the mighty have fallen! Originally rated 6/3/02 (4.6) An excellent, excellent strong ale/barley wine. 11% alcohol and tastes it. I’m not sure if all the flavors evoked in the commercial description are clearly evident, but this thing is damn complex (and expensive -$16.99/six)and well-balanced. There are big and bitter hops but they are married so well to the rich and sweet maltiness that I didn’t mind a bit. A must try for lovers of BIG BEERS.

Real strong, almost undrinkable. Kind of crude, but quite interesting. They’ve changed it since, probably for the better.

Bubbly, clear russet color; Medium dense head; Nose had a bit of smoke, but otherwise unextraordinary. Alcohol punch to start. Heavy hops with a maple back. Vanilla for sure. Sweetness is bound by a dryness that’s very unusual. Alcohol bite hides itself after a few sips. Getting cloying at the 1/2 mark. Surprisingly unimpressive.

The ’Immortale’ is an exceptional beer not only because of it’s flavor, but also because it breaks the mold. It does something with the barley wine style that hasn’t been done. Additionally, for such a complex brew in terms of materials and process, it’s fairly impressive that they’ve maintained such a high level of consistency. In my personal opinion, one of the best beers in the world!

one of my top beers,rich in taste. The more I drink of this the more I love it.

A very complex beer. I was at first overpowered by the smokieness, but by mid bottle the other flavors blended much beter. The maple and vanilla create a taste like I have never had before. It comes together nice and silky. The alcohol sticks on the palate a little more that I would like. A very good beer.

excellent stuff. full of nuances. red copper colour light head.hoppy nose yet sweet with traces of vanilla and brown sugar. complex taste combining a strong hop character with a earthy sweet maltiness. throw in some spices and vanilla to round this off. a very velvet like palate. smooth and creamy - the ideal sipping beer. not sure if this is a barley wine- more like what I would expect an old ale/trappist blend to taste like.

Deep red in color - mesmerizing... I imagine that this is exactly how a barley wine should taste. Very hoppy, but perfectly balanced by the extreme amount of malt. Its just to complex - I need to try more of it!