Dogfish Head World Wide Stout 2001/2003-Present (18%)

Bottle recieved from axilla. Vintage 2006. Pours an opaque black with a smallish beige head. Smells faintly of alcohol and a hint of caramel and smoked malts. Very sweet and sugary. Strong alcohol notes but also aromas of caramel and toasted malts. Hints of coffee and chocolate. Some residual sugars. As it ages in the glass aromas of dried fruits are realised... figs and raisins. Hides the 18(!)% alcohol very well. Full bodied and somewhat sticky mouthfeel. Medium carbonation. Sugary finish with some aromas of smoked malts. Good stuff. I especially like the hints of rauch aromas. Good with dark chocolate.

Pours black with carbonation very noticeable. Tastes fruity, very complex and hard to explain. It kind of tastes like carbonated Jeagermeister. Worth a try once but thats about it. Nice ABV though.

Bottled 2007. Pours a black color with a thin tan head. Aroma is very heavy on the molasses and alcohol with some malty chocolate showing as well. My wife mentioned how strong and alcoholic it smelled and she was sitting a few feet away. Very rich and chewy with some bold flavors: Sweet figs and molasses, dark bitter chocolate, with some traces of coffee. There’s definitely some heat to this... lots of sweet alcohol which doesn’t make it the most drinkable thing out there and it seemed to over power the rest of the flavors. I guess you can’t hide 18%. I absolutely wouldn’t have wanted any more than 12 ounces and even then it took me a while. A complex stout and pretty good but it’s a bit too much and definitely over-priced.

22oz bottle. Thanks to DSG. Pours pitch black with a small creamy brown head. Strong, heavy & strong aroma. Roast, sweet, alcohol, resin, sugar, coffee. Smooth & oily palate. Very heavy & quite complex. A true sipper!

Black with a small, light brown head. Aroma is overpowered by alcohol and solvent, with some rich chocolate and other good stout stuff trying to break through that. Feels like you could get high just sniffing it. Flavour is sweet alcohol, with chocolate and licorice notes. Finishes with a little charcoal roastiness, and brown sugar sweetness. Way too sweet and alcoholic, but still an exciting and complex experience.

Bottle, 2007. I had been nervous about trying this beer because of the high alcohol percentage, but excited that it would be quite good because it has been rated so highly. Well, I was quite dissapointed. Pours a dark brown with a dark tan head that dissipated (but I was surprised by the ammount of carbonation for a 18% beer). Aroma of smoked/charred meats, alcohol, and acetone. Flavor of smoked ham, sweet alcohol. Very hard to drink and a complete sugar bomb. I really am surprised by these ratings because this was quite undrinkable to me. Not at all like an Imperial Stout, maybe a barleywine?? Ugh.

Bottle, 2007. Aroma of alcohol and a slew of complex flavors from generalized departments of coffee, chocolate, overripe cherries and other dark fruits. Flavor continues in much the same way, far too complex for me to do it any justice by describing it. Some acetone, but not as much as in the 120 Minute. While I cannot deny that this is an unbelievably complex beer, after having it I’m shocked that after over 1100 reviews it’s sitting in the top 50 while Sam Adams Triple Bock lies in the 27th percentile with a modest score of 2.77. I may have enjoyed this more if cautioned to consume it in 2-oz. servings as with the Triple Bock, but when consumed as a full beer, there was just too much alcohol and sweetness to put it in the 4 range for me.

12 oz bottle, dated 2007. Pours black with a small head that immediately dissipates into a ring. Aroma is primarily alcohol and sweetness (I’m reminded immediately of DFH’s 120 Minute). Some dark fruit, chocolate, and soy sauce tones are hidden behind the alcohol. Once you get over the initial shock, the combination actually creates a nice and unique overall aroma. The sweetness is definitely up front in the flavor, but it also has a solid dark fruit flavor with hints of roasted coffee, chocolate, caramel, and alcohol that’s not entirely hidden by the intense sweetness. The flavor doesn’t really start to come together until about a quarter of the way through the bottle, but when it does it’s an amazing combination. This beer is a hell of an experience that can’t really be explained with the individual rating categories, so the "overall" rating goes up to an 18. I almost feel bad rating this on the same scale as other beers because it’s so hard to quantify exactly what makes it so amazing. Oh well.