Dogfish Head’s 12o Minute IPA is practically a rite of passage among beer geeks. Q.) How is it then that until recently I was a 120 Minute virgin? A.) Ohio’s silly alcohol laws.
So since I couldn’t find this beer in my neck of the woods, while I found myself in Michigan the other day I scoured the small towns I drove through till I discovered a beer and wine shop that might have a different selection. Lo and Behold, there on the shelf was one remaining bottle of the holy grail of hops.
No wonder this beast is so renowned. It boasts a fierce ABV of 20%. I had to chuckle. This is 1% lower than the alcohol laws placed on hard liquor in Ohio. Forget the audacity of the alcohol content…it has an IBU of 120. The bitterest of most Imperial IPAs rarely top 100. With this in mind, I knew that this was one malty beer.
Dogfish Head’s describes this beer as:
Too extreme to be called beer? Brewed to a colossal 45-degree plato, boiled for a full 2 hours while being continuously hopped with high-alpha American hops, then dry-hopped daily in the fermenter for a month & aged for another month on whole-leaf hops!!! Our 120 Minute I.P.A. is by far the biggest I.P.A. ever brewed! At 20% abv and 120 ibus you can see why we call this beer THE HOLY GRAIL for hopheads!
Upon pouring, the color of the beer was not drastically different than a typical IPA. A beautiful copperish color, it invites you to drink. Upon closer inspection, there is something peculiar about this beer. First of all, the head is extremely minimal. In fact, there was almost no head at all. Swishing a bit in my snifter revealed a sticky-sweet heavy viscosity.
The aroma is not as hoppy as one might expect. Digging my nose into the glass, I did not have to search hard to find it, but the most prominent smell was that of alcohol. The malt, missing with this smell creates a tempting aroma reminiscent of grain vodka or a dark cane sugar rum. Holding the glass a few inches from my nose revealed a candy like smell. It actually reminded me of “Sugar Daddy” candy.
Tasting this beer is like sipping on an aged Brandy. You dare not guzzle it (if you still want to walk to bed!) The taste was not very complex. The intense alcoholic flavor hides a lot of subtleties that may be derived from the malts in the brewing process. The hop flavor, while present, is not strong. It does make the malty alcohol drinkable. As I was sipping it, it tasted like a very sweet caramel candy. Were it not for the pleasant hop bite as the brew went down my throat, I would have trouble with this one.
Despite the way this review sounds, I thought this beer was fantastic. It is in a class of its own. It is a sipping beer. After cutting the grass on hot summer day, would you guzzle a pint of single malt scotch to quench your thirst? No. In the same way, you would not guzzle a 120 minute IPA. But you would enjoy sipping your scotch or 120 minute IPA on a quiet evening and enjoy the experience.
Given my choice, I prefer Dogfish Head’s 90 Minute IPA more, but I do intend on venturing back to Michigan to pick up another 120 Minute to throw in my cellar for a few years.
Nate’s Rating:
Overall Satisfaction: 
Among other Imperial IPAs:
When I had this one it took me well over and hour just to drink it. Just like you said it is a sipping beer. I’m pretty sure if you drank it fast you would do all kinds of harm to your body.
I too enjoy the 90 as my favorite of the 3 IPAs from DFH. Great review.
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Thanks for the comment Mike, I added you to the blogroll here.
It took me about an hour and a half to drink it…maybe a little longer. To be honest, the thought of guzzling this beer makes sick to my stomach. It reminds me of that scene in “Animal House” where Bellucci guzzles a bottle Jack Daniels.
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Nate,
You make me wanna try this one again. I had it over a year ago visiting family in Austin, Texas. I recall the 12oz. bottle cost me about $8. Sounds delicious.
However, in true Dogfish Head fashion, they push the boundaries of style, and even in what I would call beer. I’d be hard-pressed to demonstrate that this beer is indeed not a beer, but it’s flavors do not match what I normally expect when I drink a beer. Further, part of my previous reaction to this beer is that it is labeled IPA, but it didn’t come close to the flavor profile I expect of an IPA. The description indicates a hop schedule akin to other IPA’s, but I did not get the hop punch that normally finds its way into other IPA’s. In fact, the flavor (in my mind) lends itself more to Barleywine.
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I think so on the Barlewine Tex. This thing is hopped so much that the it started to become really perfumey.
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It’s an interesting beer, though I would agree that it lacks complexity. As far as calling it an IPA…well, it hardly matters _what_they call it. They made it, they sell it, and they can call it whatever they want. The current trend of classifying things as being “to style” (or not) has gotten a bit out of hand anyway.
My main reason for just treating this beer as an eccentric but partially failed attempt is this: I think that releasing such a strong highly hopped beer after only 2 months of aging is one of the roots of the problem with this and so many of the other stronger beers of this type made these days. Traditionally, a beer like this would have aging more like 8 months to a year before bottling.
I don ‘t know if they filter (I’m guessing that they do) but if so, that largely removes any real potential for improvement by bottle aging. As it is, the beer is bold experiment that really doesn’t seem to work in the end if complex flavor was the aim. As an alcohol hop bomb, it is a screaming success. It’ is really more of a curiosity whose idea shows some real potential, but basically fails in the execution. However, I will say that this _is_ one beer I’d love to see them devote more tank aging time to. At that point, it could turn into something really remarkable. It would still be a slow “sipper”, but I’d wager a more tasty one.
I think that the Dogfish beers are certainly pushing the envelope (a good thing). Problem is they often seem to be doing so just for the sake of it (not always good a thing) with a tad less attention to how the end product tastes. The resulting beers reflect that fact. The products are by and large ok, but I think that there is room for some improvement.
Kudos to them for their success, however. Any micro brand that can survive the competitive glut of product taking up shelf space these days deserves some sort of thumbs up I suppose.
In any case, these are just my personal opinions which are, like anything on the interweb, worth exactly 2 cents.
One’s own taste is always the final arbiter of what’s good and what isn’t..
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Prof. Thanks for your comments. I do think that a little bottle conditioning would be a good thing for beer like this, so I’m not in disagreement there. However, I do think that the aging would and will continue to break down the alpha acids from the hops and, therefore, aroma and taste. I’m personally opposed to that because I’m not a hop head and I see this as an aging improvement. But those who love the taste of a “fresh hop” find this insinuation repulsive. However, I had a nice 2004 Fuller’s Vintage Ale that had really changed for the better in the bottle. I aged until a few months ago.
As far as the envelope pushing to no particular ends; many breweries are guilty as charged. Stone’s Arrogant Bastard is a good example of something like this. I’m especially talking about the things like double IPAs that have become ubiquitous. I’m not at odds with the essential point of having a purpose and longer aging process for some of these beers.
Thanks for chiming in!
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