Considerable approbation is deserved when a brewery manages to achieve high levels of excellence with each beer they produce. Plenty of breweries nail one particular style, but the menagerie of beers they create is lacking. While the examples are abundant, this a beer review, not a brewery review. The point is, Dogfish Head invariably produces quality and delicious beer, and their 90 Minute IPA is no exception.
The beer poured smoothly. High in carbonation, I thought. The light piercing the liquid revealed a beautiful coppery/ruby color. After the nearly one inch of head dissipated the edges of my glass with thick lacing, foreshadowing the maltiness to come.
The hop filled aroma was citrusy and dominant, but forcing my senses further the malty and alcoholic character of the beer was present. The toasted malt coupled with a raisin/grape aroma practically warmed up the inside of my nose.
The mouth-feel was pleasant. Despite the high carbonation the IPA was extremely smooth and silky on my tongue. Initially I was a tad surprised at how ‘unhoppy’ the beer was off the bat. I mean, I was expecting a burst of bitterness as soon as the beer hit my tongue, and don’t get me wrong, it was hopped up, but the hopped seemed subdued, at least in the batch I purchased. Perhaps I got a slightly aged batch and the hops were loosing their presence to malt flavors.
Regardless, the beer was balanced. The sweet malt echoed of figs and raisins. Complemented by the fruity hops, it was pleasant. The most striking feature of the beer was the alcohol content. Usually, beer of this strength, whether they be a similar imperial IPA or another variety like a barley wine, lend themselves to sipping. Typically these types of beers, due to the pronounced alcohol flavor, are drunken singularly. But I found that this beer went down as smoothly and covertly as an IPA with an ABV of 6%. Thus said, it is a good thing that these are sold in packs of four, or else the unassuming consumer may end up being consumed by crapulence.
Basically, I thought the beer is great. In a sea of IPAs, this one tops the list.
Once again, this beer is good in the bottle but absolutely terrific on tap. Here is a link that talks about this very subject of bottle and tap beer. http://thankheavenforbeer.com/2008/09/29/bottle-vs-tap/
Nice review Nate. I would add that I thought there was a nice toasted quality to the beer and that it had some very nice caramel notes. Dogfish is one of the best breweries out there. I know that Andrew will probably take issue with this “topping the list.” of IPA’s. Of course, that is the beauty of preference. Either way, I think we can all agree that it is a quality product. Try it on tap if you can.
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OK – I’ll start by saying that this IPA style is taking a long time to grow on me. Just not that into it, but I feel like I’m just missing something because EVERYONE raves about the Dogfish Head IPAs.
That said, I did have their 60 minute IPA, (wasn’t crazy about it) what’s the difference between the 60 and this 90?
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60 min is hopped continuously for that time duration. 90 min has 90 minutes of continuous hopping and is dry-hopped hopped during the fermentation cycle. Can you guess what they do for their 120 min? Don’t feel bad about not being that into IPA’s, it took my quite a while to like them. I could appreciate that they were well made…but not so much on the hopped taste. Now I really like IPA’s. Some things just take time to really like. Here is an interesting example of a historical necessity turned into a preference. Here is a link to IPA stuff.
http://thankheavenforbeer.com/2008/12/22/style-series-pale-ale-india-pale-ale/
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I really like the Dogfish Head IPA lineup, save for the 120. The 60 is an excellent example of your basic IPA, while the 90 is one of my favorite Imperial IPA’s. I bought a bottle of the 120 about a year ago, and it was nearly 20% ABV. There was way too much residual sweetness for my liking; it was almost like drinking a honey-based syrup with some malt added for complexity. Not much of a hop kick to it seeing that it was rather sweet.
Back to IPA’s I like… Bridgeport IPA is a good NW IPA as is Dechutes Inversion IPA. As far as Imperial IPA’s go, my favorite is the Hophenge from Deschutes. Heck, give anything from Deschutes a try if you can find it where you are. Excellent beers all the way around.
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Yeah! I have a bottle of Deschutes Buzzsaw brown sitting in front of me right now. My wife’s parents live in Idaho, so I got it when I went out there. I personally like the 120 but your point is well taken. I’d be interested to try it on tap. I’ve got a couple 120′s cellaring (hopefully for about 10 or so years). It’s amazing how they change…but this one may grow even sweeter. I agree that hops can get lost in the malts. Thomas Hardy is similar in this way (it runs about 70-80 IBUs, but you’d never guess it. I think 90 min is a good compromise. It pushes you some but not too much. Thanks for coming by
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To be clear, the 120 wasn’t bad, but it totally wasn’t what I was expecting in an IPA. If I can ever get my hands on some again (not the easiest in the NW), I’ll have to cellar some. My hope would be that the sweetness would diminish over time, but the hops would also lose some punch too.
Buzzsaw brown. Good stuff. Another good NW brown ale is from Iron Horse, just east of the Cascades in Ellensburg, WA. They featured it in the BYO Replicator a within the last year and half or so. It’s a small brewery with limited distribution, and therefore even difficult to pick up in the Seattle area.
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I’m pretty certain that you would get an increase in sweetness. Along with the reduction of hops, it would be even more noticeable.
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