The Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA comes to us from the fine folks at Dogfish Head Craft Brewery up in Deleware. It was sent to us as a gift from one of the fine vendors Son Beer Love does business with in his day job. It’s got a completely unassuming front label – just a picture of a hop leaf, the name of the beer and a statement that it “Ages Well.” The last part remains to be seen as we’ve cellared a bottle to have in a decade or so. The back of the label reads “What you have here is the holy grail for hopheads. This beer is continuously hopped over a 120-minute boil and then dry-hopped every day for a month. Enjoy now or age for a decade or so.”

The ABV comes in at a hearty 18% and the IBUs come in at an impossible (literally) 120. It’s a 12 oz bottle of mouth wallop for sure. Though not noted on the bottle, we feel like our batch is likely from 2009.

We thought about live blogging this as we reviewed it, but at 18% we thought our review might go something like this:

First sip: Sweet edge, strong alcohol presence.

Second sip: Nice notes of floral, caramel, etc.

Thir3d sip. Toff3e notez, aromza, sippy sip.

444444444444thhhf stepppp…… Glarfneck spoo.

After thinking through what a 12 oz bottle of 18% ABV beer might do to us we decided that splitting the bottle was the intellectual choice. Just so happened that Father Beer Love was in Charlotte visiting Son Beer Love (that’s a lie, he was in Charlotte visiting Granddaughter Beer Love).

For a little primer into the beer, check out this quick video of Sam Calagione talking about the Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA:

For our review we used a snifter glass which wound up being perfect for tight swirls and catching lots of aromas. Also for feeling all fancy like. We got a starting beer temperature of 51.3 F. We used some sandwich thins and water to cleanse our palates in between sips.

Our initial pour yielded a small 1/4″ creamy off-white head that left a fair amount of lacing as it dissipated quickly. There was no discernible carbonation and the body clarity was a bit hazy. The color was a brilliant amber/orange.

For our aromas we grabbed caramel, toasted malts, citrus, grapefruit, grass, orange, pine, resin, yeast, alcohol, apricot, fresh ginger, dry sherry and some general spices. Of all the smells grapefruit comes out the strongest. It smells super hoppy and may literally have the biggest nose on a beer we’ve done or can recall. The strength of the smell is outrageous and is only further concentrated by our snifter glasses. We’re notoriously not hopheads, so we’re not sure we’re going to like what comes next.

What comes next is the taste. We hold our snifter glasses like we’re 14th century aristocrats and take a sip. Initial flavors are a heavy sweet and a light bitter. The finish flavors are a moderate sweet, moderate bitter, very light salty and a very light tart. Our heads turn sideways like a dog that has just seen you juggle. Where’s the mouth punch? The tongue burning? The taste buds dissolving? It’s not there.

What is there is caramel, honey, toasted malts, toffee, floral, grapefruit, pine, resin, apricot, brown sugar, butterscotch, fresh ginger, dry sherry, spices and a touch of vanilla. It’s quite the taste profile and it has a surprising amount of sweetness to it. It’s a great sweetness for two malt madmen like ourselves. Wow. The alcohol, also surprisingly, isn’t around in the taste.

The finish length is long, the mouthfeel is buttery and the tongue hit is in the front. There’s a fair amount of body lacing as we drink it down and on our patented malt to hop scale it comes in 1.5 clicks to the left of balanced on the malty side. It may be an Imperial IPA, but that malt backbone is so strong that it brings it to the malty side of balanced. You can’t possibly fathom how odd that is to us.

For our bottom line notes we got a yes to drinkable, balance, harmony, memorable, wow factor, value and buy again. Our only no was to repeatable, which most 18% ABV beers aren’t going to score well on.

By the end of the review our beer was up to 67.1 F and it tasted even better than it did when we started. This one passes the 60 degree test with flying colors. Start out around 55 degrees or so and you’ll be in good shape as you sip it throughout the evening.

The Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA just blew our minds, in a good way. It’s nothing like we expected. Well, the smell was, but the taste so wasn’t. The smell is completely dominated by hops and the taste is completely dominated by the malts. The hop shock is smell-based only. We wound up calling it “A Malt Lover’s IPA” and we think that is the perfect description of it. We struggled with whether or not it was a 10 and in the end we decided to settle on a 9. When we try the bottle we’re aging we may come back and change our minds.

Thanks to our friend Dave for sending us this treat. We look forward to more!

Also – for comparison – check out our review of the Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA.

The Aventinus is brewed by G. Schneider & Sohn in Germany. The 500 ml bottle is a terrific size for this 8.2% ABV bock bock. We served ours up in a weizen glass and got an insanely huge 4″ frothy light brown head that dissipated slowly and didn’t leave any head lacing to speak of. There was a medium amount of carbonation and the color was light brown to medium brown with a murky haze to it.

The smells in this thing pop – chocolate, lightly toasted malts, wheat, banana, brown sugar, bubble gum, clove and dark fruits, with plum standing out most in the pack. The aroma has a really nice sweetness to it.

The taste though is where this thing really stands out with just as much variety as the aroma – chocolate, vanilla, wheat, alcohol, light banana, brown sugar, bubble gum, cola and plum. The sweetness from the aromas continue on in the taste and it’s just a great touch. The chocolate and vanilla notes really harmonize with each other to create a great beer experience. The initial flavor notes come through as a moderate sweet. The finish duration is long and the finish notes evolve a little to stay moderately sweet with very light bitter and light tart. There’s not much body lacing as you gulp it down but the mouthfeel is delicious and creamy – really one of the best mouthfeels of any beer – rich, smooth and strong with a good flavor profile. On our malt to hop scale it comes in about 2 1/2 clicks to the left of balanced on the malty side – that is fairly heavy malts.

For the bottom line test – we got a yes for everything – drinkable, repeatable, balance, harmony, memorable, wow factor and buy again – yes to all. You get some nice warming action with the beer as you drink it thanks to the 8.2% ABV and the extra couple of ounces (16.9 oz). It tastes a lot like a Belgian ale with candy sugar and less like a doppelbock (which is technically a lager). The Aventinus website says it’s “streaked with fine top-fermenting yeast” which means it’s got ale yeast in it. So again we have a bit of a hybrid beer that’s hard to classify as a lager or an ale. Our advice? Stop worrying and love the beer – it’s one of the best beers you’ll ever try. I bought two and after this test cellared the second one so I could try it again in a year or so after reading several bloggers note that it cellared quite well (Update: cellar experiment status: Failed. I drank it in less than a month).

It’s as good as a strong Belgian ale like a Chimay Blue or a Trappistes Rochefort 8 – but it has a deceptive lightness to it. We struggled with how to phrase it but we settled on “a nice overstated subtleness.” We think that sums it up nicely. This is an absolute must try beer. Buy it in large batches and enjoy this as one of the top beers in the land.

We served ours up in a goblet and our 11.2 ounces of goodness came in at 53.1 F. The pour gave us an average 1″ fizzy light brown head that dissipated quickly and left very little head lacing. It has little carbonation and the body is a murky ruby/copper brown.

The initial aromas – and there are a lot of them – are hay, toasted, toffee, yeast, alcohol, black currant, brown sugar, bubble gum, cola, plum, port, prune, raisin, spices and a host of other unidentified dark fruits. This is a top smelling beer.

Though the smells are great, the taste is what makes this beer such a treat. Not quite as numerous as the aromas, you pull some nice notes – alcohol, cola and loads of the dark fruits. There’s also a possible hint of bittersweet chocolate. The initial flavor hits you with a heavy sweet and a light bitter and evolves in the finish to a moderate sweet with a moderate bitter. The finish clings to your mouth and lasts a long time and the mouthfeel is quite creamy. There is virtually no body lacing as you drink, proving that it doesn’t have to lace well to be a top beer. On the malt to hop scale it comes in about a 4 out of 9 – just to the left of balanced on the malty side.

Though it’s not repeatable (we couldn’t drink another one due to the alcohol level, though we’d be willing to try, you know, for science), it is quite drinkable, quite memorable, sports a great wow factor due to it’s complexity, has balance, has harmony and we would of course buy it again.

This is ultimately a very drinkable beer – so very complex with so much balance to it. The dark fruits jump at you and you get the alcohol notes pretty well. It’s so complex that it’s hard to isolate all that’s going on and pull it all out. Eventually you’ll get tired of trying and just sit back and enjoy it. As with other good beers, 11.2 oz just isn’t quite enough – those other 0.8 oz would be nice. It’s refermented in the bottle and we think the well water the abbey uses for the beer is probably a big difference maker in the solid rating we gave it. It is said that Chimay Blue can be aged for upwards of fifteen years.

Drinking this out of a goblet feels like drinking from a holy grail in the 3rd Indiana Jones film, and knowing you choose wisely.

In case you haven’t guessed, this Bell’s Expedition Stout review is one of our infamous Thursday phone reviews between Father and Son Beer Love.

This 12 oz bottle of Expedition Stout goodness sported a 10.5% ABV and came in right at 50 F when poured into our American pint glass. The pour produced an average 1 1/4″ dark brown creamy head that had excellent lacing as it dissipated slowly into the murky depths below. Completely black and opaque in color, we noted very little in the way of carbonation.

The initial aromas gave us chocolate and coffee, earth and black licorice. The initial flavor gave us a moderate sweet and a heavy bitter, which stayed true through the finish with the exception of a light saltiness we started to pick up. The regular chocolate and coffee aromas though turned into dark chocolate and espresso tastes, with some additional smoke flavor coursing through our taste buds. The finish duration is long, the mouthfeel is oily and the body has a good amount of lacing to it.

It’s a bold taste and the bitterness we pick up is not in the hops. Though it’s as far to the malt side of the malt-to-hop scale as you can get, in your mouth it’s actually almost perfectly balanced – between the sweet of the chocolate and the bitterness of the coffee it finds a terrific niche. There is no alcohol in the taste initially, but as it warms you start to pick up some alcohol notes in the finish. The beer overall becomes more refined as it warms into the upper 50′s and lower 60′s. It’s a stick-to-your-ribs kind of beer and a taste bud tingler – it’s an almost overwhelming experience in your mouth.

It would be good with cheeses, crackers and fruits and great with a fine steak (Ruth’s Chris, maybe?). It’s repeatable, drinkable, memorable, has a wow factor to it and we would buy it again. One of the few times we’ve agreed on all those factors. This would frighten away a beer newbie, but after a year or two of gradually working into the dark stuff they’d be able to appreciate this beer for what it is. Definitely a top beer.

The Celebrator is one of the highest rated beers I’ve tried – it’s in the 100th percentile at RateBeer.com and has an overall 92 at BeerAdvocate.com. On RateBeer it currently ranks as the 47th best beer in the world.

This beer is aged for a half year before they ship it, giving it a full body. It has a strong pour with a dark tan head that gets big and lasts several minutes before dissipating almost completely. The color is deep brown and burgundy, another one that looks almost black in the glass until you hold it up to the light. It has a rich smell of roasted malts and chocolate with secondary aromas of black licorice and earth. These smells seemed pretty clear to me on this one and weren’t too hard to pull out. There may be some other smells hiding in there but I wasn’t able to discern them.

It has an intense flavor that sits perfectly in your mouth. It has a good sweetness with chocolate, coffee and malt flavors prominent. It reminds me of the intense flavors from the Rochefort 10 with a lot less alcohol (but at 6.7% it’s still more than a normal beer). It has a well balanced mouthfeel – you almost want to chew it. It is a dry beer, but fantastic – like a good dry wine. It has a good aftertaste that wavers very little from the taste itself – a little smoky but very nice with no bitterness. A very true beer.

As with some double bocks, it may be too sweet for some people. It’s just perfect for me. It’s not an every day beer but it’s a tremendous treat when the time is right. The fact that the bottle has a little plastic ram on a string attached to it (a keepsake of your beer journey), coupled with the excellent taste, gives this one of my top ratings at a 9.

Father Beer Love Review (April 6, 2007):

North Coast Brewing Co. Fort Bragg, CA.

Beer temp. 52.6 F ABV 9%. Used a tall glass so I could watch for a fall.

Pours dark ruby brown but still clear. Nice brown head that holds well and laces sides pretty well. Pronounced molasses aroma with maybe a touch of anise. Taste yields complex flavors of dark chocolate and coffee (maybe espresso) and incredible smoothness. This is a sweet stout with a lingering black licorice flavor and a distinct smokiness. It is complex and deeply satisfying especially as it warms. The flavors cling to the roof of the mouth and the middle of the tongue. It isn’t quite as smooth as Young’s Oatmeal Stout but the complexity is all hell bent for leather. Started as an 8 and went to a 9 at the end, if it was in a bigger bottle who knows where it would have ended up.

The fact that this is made in the U.S.A. is great. I’ve had some damn good American pours but this is far and away the best. The folks at North Coast Brewing definitely got something right. A definite tip of the glass to you all. Keep it up. Only wish I could find it locally.

Son Beer Love Review (May 14, 2007):

Surprisingly, this beer is actually brewed in California. I looked up the North Coast Brewing Company and it doesn’t look like I’ve tried any of their other beers. If Old Rasputin is any indication of the quality of their work, I need to try some of their other brews, stat.

It’s a deep, rich pour with a lot of aroma jumping out – it may be the most aromatic beer I’ve tried. It smells of coffee, chocolate and roasted malts, along with a hint of alcohol (no wonder – it’s a 9% ABV). The color is near black, though it is actually a dark dark brownish red, and the thick, creamy tan head just taunts you to dive in, though it dissipates rather quickly. It smells unlike any other beer I’ve tried, though I’ve not tried a lot of stouts and don’t necessarily have the best benchmark there. Scratch that, I think I now have the benchmark.

The taste is complex and strong – huge on chocolate and coffee – a perfect beer tandem. It’s a sweet treat that’s not too sweet. I also pick up some black licorice and some roasted, smoky flavors. The mouthfeel is good and smooth.

The aftertaste hangs around your palate for a long while and tastes like rich coffee and earth. This one hangs around longer than any other beer that comes to mind. It’s a wonderful treat. This was the last of a 4 pack and I loved every one of them as if they were my own children. I had tried this beer in the past as well, as I was beginning my beer journey, and didn’t think quite as highly then, when I had a limited beer tasting experience. I actually thought the first time I drank it that it was too bold. The second one got through to me though and since then it’s been gaining momentum. It’s absolutely worth picking up and putting in the rotation.