Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA

Dogfish Head Brewery of Delaware.

I love these guys, and I'm so glad they're back in our market. I buy them in the stores when I know it's a beer that hasn't appeared here on the nib, yet. And if I get a new one in kegs at Acadia, I tend not to take notes from on tap at the pub. So, no Beer For Breakfast or Siracusa Nera, until I find bottles. And then, we got a keg of 120 minute IPA. I don't remember even asking for it, it just showed up. That's always nice, when you are found deserving. And so, 120 Minute IPA. Tapped last Sunday, and going so fast, that I had to take a pic, and not take notes, for I'd reviewed it from a bottle way back in ....November, 2003? Almost 14 years ago? Yes, for DFH had been here, and departed, and I traded for bottles back then.

So, instead of writing new notes on this beer from on tap at Acadia, I quick took a photo of the one I had this evening, and will share with you my notes from a bottle from back then, and I believe they are better than what I could scribbled down while sitting on a bar stool:

120 Minute IPA. 

Gorgeous bright ruby red color, very sizable, bubblingly creamy head...
Aroma...massive, intense, huge, towering, flowering, flowing over in the air, in the senses, in the soul, ...big, fat fruit, grapefruit, peach, apricot, mango, more...and not too bitter, surprisingly pleasant...
...and, to taste...Oh, my goo'niss! Ah, ah, ah!!!
INCREDIBLE occurence on the palate, prodigious, amazing, and highly flavorful...floods and gushes, uplifts, elevates, urges pleasure at the very instance lip meets cup and ale enters body...full-bodied to say the least, with a long, tantalizing finish, and additional candyish notes that linger on and on...
An IPA that lays me low, knocks me down a notch, and leaves me no recourse but to bow down and let it wash over...every subsequent taste provides further onslaughts of flavor...oh, yum, yummy, McYum-Yums...
During consumption of this ale, I had no idea of the ABV, for it's been carelessly omitted from the label...20%!?!?! ...hot damn!
Sticky, fruity, gummy, sweet, this surely transcends the boundaries of the India Pale Ale, and feels closer to a barleywine, or even a mead or brackett...but whatever the Hell it is, I love it!

Yeah, I think that one covers it. The current version is labeled as 16.5% ABV, not the 20% I talked of above, but who's to quibble. It's incredible, and it's dangerous. Don't ask, I just don't want to talk about it.....