It’s been a very tasty week here in the Beersurfing office*, and Treehorn and I have both been busy finding some delightfully tasty beers to sample, and I believe that for tonight’s Thirsty Thursday, we have some winners! These are three of the tastiest beers I have ever had the pleasure of drinking. Lots of Twittering and Googling led to an hour-long trip to my local bottle shop to pick out specifics, along with some utter randomness. The result - two IPA’s, a hefeweizen, and four other bottles of beer whose contents are still a mystery to me five days later. Without further adieu, I give you tonight’s beers!
First, allow me to say that I haven’t met a Dogfish Head beer that I didn’t like. They make a fantastic series of IPA’s, and the amazing things they do with hops are the epitome of what IPA’s ought to be. I am well aware that no beer is the same as the next one, but DFH’s IPA’s are quite exemplary. Tonight’s first IPA is the 120 Minute IPA from Dogfish Head. I’ve been told by various sources that the DFH120 is a fairly rare beer and is only brewed by Dogfish Head a couple of times per year. They have one fermenting tank dedicated to it, and it’s brewed with the help of a specialized hopping machine lovingly christened “Sir Hops-A-Lot”. The brewer himself can explain his masterpiece much better than I ever could, so here he is:
The Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA is absolutely loaded with alcohol (20% by most counts, and it varies by the batch), so don’t think you’re going to have more than one of these and walk away from it easily. Since I had a friend that was equally as curious and amazed about the prospect of this beer as I was, I agreed to share it with him. We split the 12oz bottle and poured it equally into two glasses. The beer is a brilliant orange-amber and has the consistency of a melted popsicle – it’s very syrupy, and the 120IBU’s worth of hops brewed into it make it smell absolutely heavenly. In addition to the hops, it reminded me of a gummy bear and smelled like grape Jello, while my partner-in-crime claimed to have caught a whiff of some woody, oaken aromas. This beer has so much flavor you almost want to cry with joy when it hits your taste buds – it is extremely hoppy to the point of fruitiness, and reminded me of a cask-conditioned beer with just the right amount of bubbles. It is almost too rich to swallow – it goes down like a well-done bourbon and hits you about as strongly. Suffice to say, this beer is incredible – I would drink it all day if I could, but that’s the rub – few people could! As tasty and flavorful as this beer is, it is best enjoyed as a treat on a special occasion, like a nice bottle of tequila or a fine scotch on the top shelf. Indeed, this beer reportedly ages very well under the correct conditions, so if you find some, pick up a few extra bottles and savor them on special occasions. No liver could tolerate it as a daily driver, at least not for very long.
Stone's Ruination
I found it difficult to follow up the 120 Minute IPA properly with anything worthy – I thought my tastebuds would be forever ruined, but then I was reminded of this beer – Stone’s Ruination IPA, which claims and almost brags about doing exactly that. I mentioned Ruination in a previous entry but noted that I did not properly review it, despite picking up six bottles from my local grocery store and drinking them all. Disappointed at this revelation, I picked up another 22oz bottle on my last beer run to give it a proper introduction. While pouring myself a glass, I almost learned the hard way that my usual pint glass would not be large enough to contain this beer, and the overflow nearly caused a tasty calamity. This beer has the appearance of orange-juice and a wimpy head, and smells nearly identical to the Dogfish Head 120 that came before it. Despite having 20 fewer IBU’s, the Ruination initially smelled and tasted more bitter than the DFH. This baffled me, until I recalled a fact from the DFH brewer’s video and some advice from Dogfish’s Twitter feed that the DFH120 is best enjoyed “Cool, not cold”. That in mind, I let the beer set for a few minutes and came back to find that it tasted much sweeter, and almost syrupy like the DFH was. However, this flavor was shortlasted, and since I did not imbibe it quickly enough, it quickly devolved to another bitter state. Basically, unless the temperature is correct (55F, according to the bottle), you’re doomed to consume 22oz of extremely hoppy beer, which sounds like a dream to hopheads but turns into a chore as the temperature increases. That, really, is the Achille’s heel of the Ruination – it’s a fantastic beer with citrus tones and hoppy aromas at 55F, but if you can’t keep it within a few degrees at that temperature, it’s just another overhopped IPA. This was my 9th Ruination, and I’ve only enjoyed that magical flavor twice!
Finally, we come to the last beer of the evening, which surprisingly is not an IPA. I pulled a Flying Dog In-Heat Wheat out of my fridge randomly and decided to pour myself a glass. It came out of the bottle golden and nearly clear, more like an ale than a hefeweizen, and smelled fruity and distinctively hef-like; it reminded me of a cool summer breeze. The real treat, though, was the smell – this has to be one of the tastiest hefeweizens that ever hit my tongue! I reminded me a bit of a cocktail with some peach overtones to it, which is a nice touch above the usual banana-and-clove theme that accompany most hefs. Unlike the others, this one is very thin and watery, and the extra carbonation in this beer tickles your throat on its way down. Alcohol content is 4.7% ABV, which is a nice number for a fun beer like this. It really hits the spot regardless of your mood, and my only disappointment with this beer was that there was not more of it when I finished my bottle.
I came into this review thinking that Ruination was the finest IPA I had ever consumed in my relatively young adult life, but then Dogfish Head came and wrecked the curve with their elite IPA. I had the 120 Minute pegged as being similar to the 60 or 90 minute versions, but I was vastly (and pleasantly!) mistaken. My hat gets tipped to you, Dogfish Head, for creating such a masterpiece – I can’t wait to try your other beers! And now a question for my fellow readers – what is your favorite IPA? Do any stand out as “legendary”, and if so, where can we find some?
*: We are not actually located here, but it is one of my favorite places
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