Beer?

For all you hopheads....

We tried the Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA last night and WHOA! I don't know that it should still be considered beer. More like beer flavored liquor. With its 40 proof and all... I didn't make it through my glass, but it still makes for a good story.

From the Dogfish Head Website:

120 Minute IPA

Availability: limited - 3 releases scheduled for 2007

Release Date: Jan, May, Sept. 2007

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 nother 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!

20% abv

120 ibu

In case you care... the average 12 oz. serving has 450 calories.



A more refreshing brew:

Pliny The Elder - AMAZING!! We tried this one after the Dogfish and were more than pleasantly surprised. It is my new favorite beer. Here's a great review:

A - Hazy pale golden amber body with two fingers of milky white head that receded into a quarter inch of retention and left some exquisite lacing around the glass. Modest amount of carbonation present.

S - This is about as West Coast as it gets! Pliny's aroma is to oranges as Dorado's is to grapefruit. This is basically like fresh squeezed orange juice in the form of a beer. However, there are some piney and perfumy notes to spice things up a bit, but overall this sucker's brimming with oranges. There's also plenty of balancing malts, with apparent sweet caramel and breadiness present, as well as a slight tinge of alcohol.

T - Juicy citrus fruit abounds in this exceptionally balanced DIPA. The pine, floral and perfume characteristics are also there, but more so just to spruce up the flavor a bit. Such a simple yet effective flavor. Bold citrus hops paired with sweet caramel and bready malt.

M - Smooth, creamy texture with a bit of oily hop residue on the palate. Softly carbonated and surprisingly only moderately bitter on the tastebuds with a fairly short duration. This has a wonderful balance of sweet and bitter characteristics. Overall, this is pretty light bodied, at least for a DIPA.

D - Superior drinkability for a DIPA for sure. I can't believe this is 8%! Pliny certainly drinks like a champ and is definitely worthy of all of the praise and hype.

Serving type: growler