Dogfish Head World Wide Stout 2002 (23%)

Formerly brewed at Dogfish Head Brewery
Style: Imperial Stout
Milton, Delaware USA

Serve in Snifter

send corrections   |   shelftag   |   edit barcodes   |   update pic

very dark brown colour, almost no foam, roasted black chocolate aroma, strong notes of portwine, nougat, gingerbread and wood; incredibly oily and very sweet, some finishing bitterness, explosive and deeply warming alcohol finish, long dry and very sugary aftertaste - The alcohol is so present that I would believe it if the label would say: 35% - confusing and unbalanced, the 18% version was much better; interesting experience anyway

Poured with almost no head, dark black color. Aromas of chocolate, coffee, dark fruits, maple syrup, and alcohol. Tastes sweet and syrupy with a moderate alcohol (but no where near the 23%) finish. Not a beer you can drink fast - one to sit down, sip and enjoy.

Bottle at USA comes to Skövde. Pitch black beer, almost no head. Malty boozy aroma, chocolate, caramel, salt, leather, figs, dades, vinous, roasted, sweet, cocoa. Sweet raisin flavor, dades, salt, syrup, vinous, caramel, leather, salt, cocoa, chocolate. Boozy of course, but with quite a lot of other flavors.

12-oz. bottle via trade with firemoose15. Pours near opaque with no head. Perfumey, fragrant floral hop aroma, dark fruit (raisin, prune, plum), oak, caramel malt (roasted, meal, cookie), sugary and alcohol notes. Flavor is moderately sweet, medium acidity that is drying, caramel and toffee roasted malt, chocolate and coffee notes, alcohol burn. Dark and full bodied, warm, dry and yet smooth. You must sip this beer.

(draught !) Jet-black, slim brown head. Roasted, grilled bacon, BBQ and soy sauce for a nose. Impossible to write or explain, but you can both SMELL sweet and bitter. This is a quite sweet stout tastewise. Saying it's a very strong one is as forcing open doors, but that's the problem. It's got a rosewater flavour, so sweet it's made lopsided. Still a superb beer, but I prefer the 18%. Mouthfeel: well. Liquified coffee-flavoured pudding with a dash of soy sauce. How DOES that feel? OK - there's alcoholburn. Huge.

Had this bottle since it came out and thought it needed some aging. Finally, I got around to trying it: Pours a very dark brown with very little light tan head. Mildly complex aroma with some dark fruits, roasted and caramel malts floating on alcohol. Body is very sugary sweet with little to no noticeable hop presence. This definitely lacks the complexity of the 18%. Very one-sided with a ton of malt sugars and no balance. Hides its alcohol pretty well, but is sort of a let down.

UPDATED: DEC 5, 2003 Black. Brown head. Very potent aroma of wine, bourbon, cherries and wood. Rich flavors, very thick drink. Alcohol is covered suprisingly well, but this one is just too rich to drink the whole 12oz bottle in one sitting. RE-RATE: I must up the flavor and overall points. I "aged" this one quickly... basically let it sit out on my desk for 2 months... and holy crap did the flavors improve... rich, chocolatey coffee flavor and amazingly smooth.

1st half of bottle : A fierce alcohol pendulum swings steady throughout as ashes, bananas and plums gravitate around...With belligerent oppression, it rules the day just like most clocks do with our lives...A thin, feeble simulacra of the 18%... 2nd half of bottle : A galvanic chocolate cream, emboldened by a now philanthropic alcohol, churns the palate to revival and, very soon, fondness...Prunes emerge, macerating in a sticky treacley bitterness, to offer sanative care and aphrodisiacal heat...A utopian world with no hierarchy...Rating is an average of both glasses...

Pours very black and syrupy. Huge aromas of port, molasses, cognac, prunes. Tastes thick, malty, super complex, and alcoholic. Finishes with a heavy complexity that involves licorice, cognac, port, coffee, prunes, and molasses. A very nice beer, but at small quantities.

Bottled. Poured clear and much lighter than expected with exactly zero carbonation. The aroma was anything but weak with alcohol-powered chocolate and molasses upfront paired with sherry and some oak.. sweet and very warm, but remarkably presentable for such a strong beer. The flavor had more of an impression from the dry sherry notes.. molasses, tar, and aged caramel at the core with candied molasses and dry cocoa through the finish.. more sherry at the end and this was warm (but never harsh). Heavier-bodied, but not as thick as I expected.. bonus point for balancing the heavy ABV in here.. dry, warm cocoa finish. Very good stuff!