Barleywine Review #2 - Dogfish Head Olde School Barleywine

Posted by: Tyler Rippeteau

Oct. 18, 2011

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Courtesy of Beer Bottle Photos

I picked up the Dogfish Head Olde School Barleywine at Liquor Mart in Boulder last week.  I had no idea it was there, but when I asked about Dogfish Head 120 the guy brought me to the back room, gave me the last bottle they had and then showed me a fresh case of the Olde School, so I picked a couple up.

Aside from that there’s not much of a story behind my hunt for this one, so how about a review?

Location: Boulder Liquor Mart

Cost: $5.50 – 12oz. bottle

ABV: 15.04%

IBUs: 99

Brewery Location: Milton, Delaware

Style: American Barleywine

Average Beer Advocate Rating: B+/3.89 – Very Good

My Beer Advocate Rating: B/3.73 - Good

Current Number of Reviews on Beer Advocate/Rank in the Top 20: 809/5^th

Brewery Description: Olde School Barleywine

Bottled On: NA

APPEARANCE:  (4 out of 5) Poured from a 12oz. bottle into a tulip glass from Funkwerks in Ft. Collins, Colorado.  The Dogfish Head Olde School Barleywine pours a hazy, deep copper that leans more towards orange than red when held up to the light.  About a finger and a half of fluffy, off-white head caps the beer.  Head retention is not the best I have seen, but it is not bad.  A small geyser of bubbles streams up from the bottom of the glass, long after the head has turned into a paper-thin topper, providing a little mound of bubbles smack in the middle of the glass.  It looks like a hot spring of beer.

As the beer level declines not much lacing occurs.  In fact, a few random splotches are all you’ll get.  However, the “bubble geyser” continues throughout 75% of the glass, assuring that there is always a little mountain of foam right in the center of the glass.  Additionally, a couple of swirls of the tulip glass at any point bring back a nice, beer coaster-thick head.

SMELL:  (4.5 out of 5) The malt smacks the nose as soon as this beer is poured.  Big, sugary and toasty malt aromas fill my entire kitchen within seconds of cracking this bottle open.  Closer inspection reveals some bready smells and a lot of dark fruit.  In some ways this actually smells like a fruity and sweet Pinot Noir.  The booze is also very noticeable in this one, it smells like it’s gonna be dangerous.

TASTE:  (3.5 out of 5) The first sip is intense.  The alcohol is very strong and the burn is right up front for the first several sips.  It is immediately apparent that this is an extraordinarily complex beer, but early on the alcohol makes it difficult to distinguish what is what.  A little deeper into the glass, as the bubble geyser is continuing to provide a little mound of bubbles in the middle, some more specific flavors reveal themselves. 

Sweet, sugary malts are what the palate begins this adventure of a sip of beer with.  The alcohol joins the sweetness up front, but as the sweetness fades, the booziness increases until it crests about mid-sip.  At this point the burn recedes to make way for the big, dark fruity finish which the nose hinted at.  Oddly enough the aftertaste goes in almost a completely different direction, but we’ll discuss a little more of that below in the ‘Mouthfeel’ section. 

This is, of course a Barleywine and the hops are hiding somewhere in this beer.  They never really come out from behind the massive curtain of malt that defines the Olde School, but they do lurk in the background, providing enough balance throughout in order to prevent this beer from becoming a runaway malt bomb. 

MOUTHFEEL:  (4 out of 5) The bubbles in this beer are absolutely crazy.  This has got to be the fizziest Barleywine I have ever tried, maybe one of the more fizzy beers in fact.  It tickles to the point of almost making me giggle when I hold it on my tongue for a moment.  It’s that same giggle that you get as a kid when a parent is bouncing you on their knees.  Even if you don’t want to giggle, the sensation almost forces you to.  The sweetness, combined with the ever-softening alcoholic burn set the palate up for a much drier and slightly sour finish which creates a small puckering feel with each sip. 

OVERALL:  (3.5 out of 5) In slowly sipping this beer and writing this review (which, so far, has taken me about 30 minutes) I am realizing that this may be the most I have ever had to say about a single beer - no, not in word count, but in the number of different sensations experienced.  The Olde School Barleywine is simply one of the most complex beers I have ever tasted, but it is not for the faint of heart. 

This is not the beer you will use to convert your Bud-drinking buddy to craft beer with.  In fact, I would imagine that there are quite a few beer geeks who would have a hard time with this.  Personally, I am not even really sure how I feel about it.  On one hand it is exceptionally complex and interesting, on the other, it might be more intense (in a variety of ways) than I am comfortable with.  It also should be said, that despite the complexity and the intensity, Dogfish Head’s offering here, is still very clearly a Barleywine.  It never even really comes close to breaking down the Barleywine barriers, rather it aggressively goes after the style and attacks it.

SOUND:  During the DIPA Project I paired almost every beer with a song, and many of them worked perfectly.  Others, however, did not.  So from here on out I have decided only to do beer/music pairings when a perfect match presents itself.  In the case of the Dogfish Head’s Olde School Barleywine, there is an ideal match.  The song is called “Bird’s Lament” and the original artist is Moondog.  The sampling artist, though, the man who took an already wonderful tune and added layers and layers of big, voluptuous complexity was DJ Yoda.  I turned to this track on my iTunes after about three sips because it immediately became clear that these two works of art had something in common.  So go download “Lament 1, Bird’s Lament” by DJ Yoda featuring the music of Moondog.  Then crack open an Olde School.  You’re welcome.

Review #18 - Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA

Posted by: Tyler Rippeteau

July 7, 2011

Prairie Moon comes through once again with the Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA!

Yep, after searching high and low, putting my name on waiting lists and even having my roommate who is a chef at Whole Foods get his name on their list I was left with nothing but disappointment the day that Dogfish 120 came out.  It seemed as though there was no hope of finding it and I’d have to rely on my year and a half-old review to complete the The List, but then I wandered into Prairie Moon and Kyle, one of Evanston’s finest bartenders, looked right at me and said “Hey, look what we got.” as he pointed at the specials board. 

Sure enough, in big, chalky letters it said “Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA - $19/bottle”.  $19 was a bit more than I wanted to pay, especially considering that my roommate told me he would get it for $12 at Whole Foods, but what are you gonna do?  I missed my opportunity to buy in the store and the Moon only ended up with eight bottles, five of which were gone by the time I arrived.  This might have been my only chance to get a bottle of this batch.

Coincidentally, eight bottles was the allotment for my roommate’s Whole Foods store as well.  They were apparently promised two cases initially and then the rep showed up with two 4-packs instead, saying he couldn’t even get a bottle for himself (which I find hard to believe, but his point was clear).  That lack of 28 more bottles squeezed me out of the equation at the time.  However, a couple days later, when someone on the waiting list bailed I was able to secure another bottle for $12 which I intend on aging for a year or two.

So that leaves us here at 20 Beers in 20 Nights with just two beers left on the list – Founders Devil Dancer (which I am having an extraordinarily difficult time tracking down now that it has been released) and AleSmith YuleSmith (Summer) (which I am currently attempting to trade for).  If any of you out there have leads on them for me, let me know.

And with that, I think it is finally time to get to the review of Dogfish Head’s 120 Minute IPA:

ABV: 18%

IBUs: 120

Brewery Location: Milton, Delaware

Style: American Double/Imperial India Pale Ale

Average Beer Advocate Rating: B+/3.86

My Beer Advocate Rating: B/3.65

Current Number of Reviews/Rank in the Top 20 on Beer Advocate:

Brewery Description: Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA

Bottled On: June 24, 2011

APPEARANCE:  (5 out of 5) The Dogfish 120 is an exceptional looking beer, which is somewhat surprising given its enormous ABV.  Most beers this big, even many of the more “normal” Double IPAs that we have already reviewed here on 20 Beers in 20 Nights, lack in the carbonation department.  The instant this beer is poured it becomes clear that that is not the case with the 120 Minute IPA.  Crystal clear in the pour, this beer is also a deep, dark copper with a pretty and fluffy half-inch head resting on top.  The lacing was spectacular, covering a solid 80% of the back side of the glass.  This is a very impressive looking beer. 

SMELL:  (2.5 out of 5) Unfortunately, the surprising look was balanced out by a surprisingly disappointing nose.  Just a hint of floral aroma was present as the beer was poured, but that seemed to vanish once the head finally receded.  This was a stark contrast to the bottle that I had in early 2010, which was rich with a whole array of aromas. 

TASTE:  (4 out of 5) This is an amazingly sweet beer.  As my bartender Kyle put it when he tried a sip “it tastes a little like a dessert wine mixed with coffee.”  He was right, the dessert wine flavors all came from the banana, apple, pine and dark fruit tastes along with a lot of sugar.  The coffee was far more subtle, but it lingered a bit on the back end providing some balance to what would have otherwise been far too sweet of a beer.  The 120 Minute is also a bit boozy, but by no means over the top, even at 18% ABV.

MOUTHFEEL: (3 out of 5) Sticky and smooth are the first two words that come to mind.  As I mentioned above, the carbonation is visible, but when it comes to the mouthfeel it is not as noticeable.  The sweet, mouthcoating stickiness is the most dominant feel here.

OVERALL:  (4 out of 5) For an 18%er this is a solidly drinkable beer.  That said, one is pretty much enough, or half of one.  I wanted to drink close to the full bottle for the purposes of this review, but the next bottle I have will probably be split with the woman as an after dinner drink.  By the end of the bottle, the sweetness is a little too much.  The Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA, however, is certainly a unique beer.  It stands out as one of the more memorable beers from The List and I do look forward to tasting the cellared bottle next year sometime.

DRAWBACKS:  There is no need to get too involved in the drawbacks here, it is probably clear to anyone reading this that the sweetness was my biggest issue with the Dogfish 120.  I tend to enjoy dryer tasting drinks and in both the taste and the feel department the sweetness was too much.  Of the three beers that Dogfish Head managed to get on this list I still have to go with Burton Baton as my favorite.  In the end, though, uniqueness earns it a 4 out of 5 overall.

Review #14 - Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA

Posted by: Tyler Rippeteau

Apr. 26, 2011

We’re rolling right along here at 20 Beers in 20 Nights and today we review the most reviewed DIPA on The List, Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA.  As of this writing it has 3,028 reviews and as far as I can tell, it also happens to be the most reviewed beer on all of Beer Advocate.  Here are some stats for you:

ABV: 9%

IBUs: 90

Brewery Location: Milton, Delaware

Style: American Double/Imperial India Pale Ale

Average Beer Advocate Rating: A-/4.25 – Excellent

My Beer Advocate Rating: B-/3.48 – Worthy

Current Number of Reviews/Rank in the Top 20 on Beer Advocate: 3,029/1^st

Brewery Description: Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA

Bottled On: NA

From PintLog

APPEARANCE:  (5 out of 5) Not too many beers earn a 5 in the looks department, especially Double IPAs given that their lacing and head retention tend to be less than stellar, however, the Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA is an exception.  It pours a bright, exceptionally brilliant orange-copper color with a nice, foamy, but thin head.  This beer is a real looker.  The head retention is excellent and the lacing is very interesting.  Towards the top of the glass it developed with the typical left/right pattern that I have mentioned in many a previous DIPA review.  About ¼ of the way down, however, it began to have a very, very nice and thick cathedral-like lacing on the back side of the glass while the left-right pattern remained the whole way down. (FYI: The picture to the left came from a great beer blog called PintLog.  Take a minute to check out some of Chris's reviews)

SMELL:  (2 out of 5) For being such a good-looking beer, the 90 Minute was a huge let down to the nose.  Floral and hoppy notes are barely detectable, but not strong.  In fact, there is almost nothing there to smell. 

TASTE:  (3.5 out of 5) Fortunately there is more flavor than there is aroma in this Dogfish Head creation.  Caramel is the most noticeable flavor with some floral and piney flavors lurking in the background.  Despite the floral notes, though, the hops do not provide much bitterness, this is a sweet beer.  The sweetness does tale off a bit towards the finish, but the 90 Minute IPA is malt and caramel all the way. 

MOUTHFEEL:  (4.5 out of 5) The 90 Minute is a very light and tingly beer.  The sweetness also gives it a mouthcoating sensation, but not as much as one might suspect given the how sweet it is.  This is a solid feeling beer. 

OVERALL:  (3.5 out of 5) Again, now that we are getting into some of the more easily obtainable beers on this list, the Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA is a strong go-to beer when, as it often will be, it is the only DIPA available.  It would also make a nice gift or 4-pack to share as well given that the seasoned beer geeks will still find it to be an acceptable option and the caramel sweetness keep this beer accessible to the masses, at least as much as a Double IPA can be.  Ultimately though, there are better beers on the list.

DRAWBACKS:  The Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA is sweeter than what I typically look for, even in a DIPA, and the nose was a real let down.  It looked so good and I really wanted to take a big whiff of flowers, hops and malt to whet my palate even further before taking the first sip, but none of it was there unfortunately.  Good beer, but does not live up to all the hype.

Review #7 - Dogfish Head Burton Baton

Posted by: Stonecipher

Mar. 6, 2011

The Dogfish Head Burton Baton has been much more difficult to track down than I initially suspected.  Here in Illinois, as is the case in 36 other states, Dogfish Head products are pretty easy to find, but given that the Burton Baton is not brewed year-round out there in Delaware, it can be a challenge to locate.

Fortunately, Binny’s Beverage Depot is an incredible resource and my local Binny’s happened to have one 4-pack left last week.  This was particularly good news considering that a couple weeks ago I lost the one bottle of it that I had been able to get my hands on.  As it turned out, that loss was actually a gain.  Rather than having just the one bottle, I was able to have a few extras to enjoy while I was not writing about them.  The reason I have this blog is because I thoroughly enjoy writing about beer, but sometimes it is nice to just sit back and enjoy one without thinking too much about it.  Plus, rather than stealing a sip or two from me, my girlfriend was able to steal an entire beer for herself. 

On to the review:

ABV: 10%

IBUs: 70

Brewery Location: Milton, Delaware

Style: American Double IPA (Blended with an English-style Old Ale)

Average Beer Advocate Rating: A-/4.14 – Excellent

My Beer Advocate Rating: A-/4.25 - Excellent

Current Number of Reviews/Rank in the Top 20 on Beer Advocate: 1,189/11^th

Brewery Description: Dogfish Head Burton Baton

Bottled On: NA

APPEARANCE:  (3.5 out of 5) I poured the Burton Baton from its 12oz. bottle into a snifter and found it to be a fairly standard (for a DIPA), but still good-looking deep, mildly opaque copper color.  A small, slightly creamy head rested on top, but it didn’t last long.  Within seconds it was completely gone, which did seem to negatively impact the smell.  As expected with the lack of head retention, not much lacing was evident, although a few scattered wisps of foam remained as evidence that a beer had recently been enjoyed in the snifter.

SMELL:  (3.5 out of 5) Speaking of the snifter, it is an absolute must for this beer.  The aroma is complex and should be appreciated to its fullest and the snifter provides plenty of surface area while simultaneously directing the aroma right into the nose.  Sweet smells of vanilla, malt and some citrus lead the way, but hints of oak and hops lurk in the background.  Had the strength of the aroma lasted a bit longer than it did I would have been able to give this beer higher marks in the smell category.  Unfortunately, though, my first sniff was by far the best and as soon as the head vanished the smell seemed to go with it. 

TASTE:  (4.5 out of 5) A strong, malty, vanilla and citrusy sweetness completely dominates each sip of the Burton Baton, but if close attention is paid to the taste, there is also a very intense hop flavor that might be missed by some.  It’s like drinking good bourbon in the respect that the strong alcohol flavors often fool people into thinking that it isn’t as sweet as it really is.  The Baton is sort of the opposite; the sweetness hides the bitter, hoppy flavor.  There are plenty of DIPAs (Hopslam immediately comes to mind) that would be good for introducing a non-hop head to the style, but the Dogfish Head Burton Baton might be the perfect beer in this respect.  The hop flavor is a large part of what makes it so impressively tasty, but unless you are really focusing on that in particular it is very easy to not notice what it is.  This is getting to be a long-winded description of the taste, though, so to get back on track notes of pine and citrus are also detectable in this very delicious Double IPA.  A slightly bitter aftertaste also leaves the palate craving the next sweet sip.

MOUTHFEEL:  (4.5 out of 5) The Burton Baton has the rare combination of having both a smooth, creamy and oily feel while still possessing some strong sparkle and carbonation.

OVERALL:  (4.5 out of 5) This is an absurdly easy beer to drink, at least for the first one.  I have not attempted to drink two in one sitting before, but I’m not 100% sure that I would want to.  It sits like a rich dessert would.  The palate craves more, but the stomach might disagree.  One of these days, though, when I have some Burton Baton around again, I’m sure my palate will win out and we’ll see how it goes then.

DRAWBACKS:  My biggest problem with this beer was the lack of head retention and lacing.  The head retention would not have been such a big problem if it had not impacted the nose so strongly.  In terms of the lacing, I know I tend to knit pick about it, but I like my beer to please all of my senses and strong lacing is a large part of what pleases my sense of sight. 

SOUND:  The Burton Baton is a very smooth, pleasant and accessible beer, but at the same time it is extraordinarily complex, lively and full bodied.  It also happens to be rare, at least compared to many other Dogfish Head products.  These characteristics reminded me of a very smooth, easy to listen to, yet still very complex song by a group called the Whatnauts.  The song is called “Help is on the Way” from their album, “The Whatnauts on the Rocks” and was released in 1972.  I usually try to include  a link to the song I am referencing in the sound section, but iTunes doesn’t carry it.  So you’ll have to do a little digging yourself, but in the mean time you can at least check the group out with one of their hit singles called “Livin’ My Life”.

The Mystery of the Missing Burton Baton – A Short (and True) Story About the Three Beers I Didn’t Get to Drink this Week.

Posted by: Stonecipher

Feb. 18, 2011

It has been a tough week here at 20 Beers in 20 Nights.  If all had gone well, we would have had three more of the Top 20 DIPAs reviewed and checked off the list, bringing us close to the halfway point.  Instead, the beer universe was against us and we are still stuck at #5.

I’ll begin with the worst news of all – the beer that went MIA and is now presumed dead.  As some of you may have read, we were in Nashville, TN over the past weekend.  While we were there we actually began the trip with a bit of good beer luck when we found some Oskar Blues Gordon Ale, one of the Top 20 that is not readily available here in Illinois.  That, however, is where our luck ended. 

When we got back from the bar that night we decided to throw the one bottle of beer that we had brought with us in the hotel room’s refrigerator.  That bottle was a Dogfish Head Burton Baton, which comes in at #11 on The List with 1,176 reviews.  The plan was to take advantage of some of the downtime I was hoping to have to review it and cross it off the list.  Unfortunately, I never ended up having too much downtime in the hotel room.  So, I never got around to it.

When we arrived back in Evanston on Monday, I asked my girlfriend where the beer was.  She thought it was in one of our bags.  Turns out it wasn’t.  I thought maybe I had left it in her refrigerator.  Turns out I had not.  Then she suggested maybe it was in my fridge.  Nope.  The trunk of the car?  No dice.  Was it rolling around in the back seat?  Negative.  We could just not figure out where it had vanished to. 

Finally, last night, while sitting at one of our local hangouts and sampling a few of Goose Island’s high-end sours, it hit me.  I turned to my girlfriend and said “I know where the beer is.”

“Where!?!” She replied.

“It’s in the hotel fridge.” 

And with that, the mystery of the missing Burton Baton was solved.

Of course, the Burton Baton would have been Beer #6 on The List, but what about the other two, #7 and #8?  Well, number seven, was supposed to have been the Weyerbacher Double Simcoe.  Many of you read about that last week.  Due to some minor technical difficulties, however, it looks like the Double Simcoe may not arrive until sometime this weekend… if I am lucky.  By the way, none of this was the fault of my trading partner; it was the middle man who totally dropped the ball on this one.  Said middle man has promised to straighten things out quickly, but we shall see.  Hopefully, there is a swift and happy conclusion to this story.

As for number eight, well, this one was simply a case of false advertising.  OK, maybe not false, but at the very least it was lazy advertising. 

Two nights ago, we planned to take my mother and my aunt to see Les Mis in the City.  On the way we picked out a nice restaurant called Erwin on Chicago’s North Side.  After picking it out I went on line to see if they had much of a beer list.  I was not very hopeful, but I figured there would at least be a standard Goose Island brew or two and maybe another craft selection.  As it turned out though, their beer selection was very impressive, I would even say inspired.  Of the 17 available bottles, only Amstel Light and Kaliber Non-Alcohol were non-craft selections.  If you click here and scroll down you can see just how impressive it is – Lagunitas, Two Brothers, Left Hand, even Ska! 

Sure enough, the Avery Maharaja was listed as well, and in fact, still is.  Shortly after we arrived, however, the waiter informed us that they have not had any in stock in quite some time.  I should have known better, Maharaja is not an easy beer to find and it is only brewed a few times a year (I believe three), but still, it was heartbreaking.  Plus, in all fairness, I probably would not have reviewed a beer in that setting, but still, I thought I was going to have a crack at a rare treat.  So Erwin, I appreciate the amazing salmon we had, the delicious burger I tried and whatever that delicious bean spread was that came out with the bread before the meal, but please do me a favor and take the Maharaja off of your online beer list.  Or, wait, better yet, get some Maharaja and let me know when you do so that I can come back.

The good news from all of this is that it shouldn’t take too long to get all of these beers back into my possession and reviewed.  Dogfish Head is distributed here in Chicago, so even though the Burton Baton is a tough find, I’m sure I can track it down.  Avery is also distributed here, but even if it continues to hide from me in Illinois, I will be in Boulder in late March and I will be sure to stop at the brewery then.  As for the Double Simcoe, well, it could show up any time between now and Wednesday and if not, well, I’ll have another topic for a blog post. 

Enjoy your weekend everyone, and remember, just say no to Bud, Miller-Coors.  Say yes to good, American craft beer!