I recently pontificated about Dogfish Head brewing and their 90 Minute IPA as being one of the best double IPAs. This is saying a lot, as the market is flooded with great IPAs. Last night I had two of those great IPAs--Pliny the Elder from Russian River, care of Don, and Moylan's Hopsicle, one of the last remaining bottles in the Twin Cities I'm sure.
First, the Pliny. Whoa. Russian River is known for pushing the brewing envelope, and has made their mark by producing some wonderful sour/wild beers (I'm not a fan of the style--yet), but this Pliny is incredible. Bitter and hoppy yet superbly balanced. Great mouthfeel, full and rich, and an absolute all-around amazing experience.
The Hopsicle was the opposite--completley and utterly unbalanced, intentionally so to be sure, but an amazing curiousity and a nice treat. I could feel the enamle being stripped from my teeth. Glad to have tried it, but I probably won't buy another bottle.
Then, heading the advice to resist sharing some treasures, on the heals of drinking IPAs last night, tonight I popped open a 120 Minute IPA from Dogfish Head. I bought two 12 ounce bottles of this, setting me back $20. ($10 for a 12 ounce bottle of beer? What?) As you can expect, this is no ordinary beer. It approaches 20% abv., and pours a nice amber color with almost no head. The aroma is sweet and sugary, orange and raspberry maybe. Smells like a port. And...tastes like heaven. Sorta port, sorta beer. Really hard to classify. It'd be amazing to try this without knowing what it I was tasting. Yes, one of the best beers I've ever had.
I put the other bottle away for another year or two at least. For sharing.
(Photo by Benito.)
1 comment:
Ahhhh, 120 Minutes! I have 2 bottles that have been tucked away since December 2006...wow, has it been that long?! Just checked and yes, the date on the bottle (wrote it myself) is 12/15/2006. No idea what it'll be like at this point but you'd think at that ABV it'll last a while. My first time having it was Mike's Uncle sharing a 12oz with himself, Mike, Don and I at his house. Sure it was just a few ounces but it still blew me away! Not the most drinkable beer around for sure, like you say more like a port. This is a great share during the holidays/cold weather time. Helps warm the soul and let the good times roll.
Later-----------J
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