A Great Beer Review for 120 Minute IPA by Dogfish Head

120 Minute IPA by Dogfish Head is a big bold beer due to weighing in at 18.0% ABV. One of the few IPAs that age well up to a decade and is brewed by the rock star of the craft brew industry, Sam Calagione. This article covers a review and relation to Albert Pujols as a sports reference.

Technical Details for 120 Minute IPA (2016 batch)

• Beer Name: 120 Minute IPA (2016 batch)
• Beer Style: Imperial IPA
• Brewery: Dogfish Head Craft Brewery (Milton, DE)
• Brewery website: https://www.dogfish.com/front
• Purchased: moving gift from a life long friend on 3/12/21
• Tasted: 4/22/21
• Glass Used: 19.1 oz Spiegelau IPA Glass

120 Minute IPA (2016 batch) Scoring Categories

Beer Review Dogfish Head Craft Brewery’s 120 Minute IPA (2016 batch) Scoring Categories:

• Bottle Design: power of a single hop continuously hopped for two hours and then dry hopped for over a month
• Appearance: dark orange with some haze 4/6
• Aroma: strong alcohol up front, touch of orange candy, comparable to a white wine aroma 21/24
• Flavor: a ton of caramel malt up front, strong orange rind and molasses middle, lingering hop bitterness from start to finish, pure alcohol burn at the end 37/40
• Mouthfeel: heavy, syrupy and sticky 8/10
• Overall Impression: high octane beer has aged well for five years, gets better with each sip and is meant to be shared 18/20
• Total Score: 88/100
• This IPA stands out due to how it ages and could be enjoyed as an after dinner drink, similar to cognac. Comparable to the 2011 and 2012 batches and more complex after sitting in the bottle for five years. I need to cellar bottles of future batches for tasting comparisons.

Brewery Background

Dogfish Head Craft Brewery is located in Milton, Delaware and opened in 1995. Founder Sam Calagione decided to drop out of graduate school and focus on making unique beers in 1994 and the rest is history. With the introduction of craft beers in the mid 1990s, Sierra Nevada, New Belgium and Dogfish Head were the three national trendsetters in getting their beers out to the buying public.

Sam Calagione quickly became one of the key figures in the craft beer market by giving countless interviews, writing business books and staring in the excellent documentary, Beer Wars, released in 2009. That led to Dogfish Head Craft Brewery being the subject of the Discovery Channel series, Brew Masters, in 2010-2011. Dogfish Head has continued to expand their business portfolio by operating a microdistillery and a beer inn located in Delaware. In 2019, Dogfish Head merged with Boston Beer Company to form one of the largest craft beer breweries in the United States.

I was lucky to attend the Great American Beer Festival (GABF) in Denver, Colorado from 2014-2016. Each festival started with me and my family members standing in a long line at the Dogfish Head booth, to get a one ounce sample pour from Sam Calagione. The wait was worth it each year, due to Sam’s personality, knowledge and he truly cares about beer. There’s numerous reasons he’s a spokesperson for the craft beer movement and he’s absolutely the right guy for the job.

120 Minute IPA Background

Dogfish Head takes great pride in brewing the following IPAs:

• 60 Minute IPA – 6% ABV, Untappd rating 3.85
• 90 Minute IPA – 9% ABV, Untappd rating 4.05
• 120 Minute IPA – 18% ABV, Untappd rating 4.39
• Sixty-One – 6.5% ABV, Untappd rating 3.66
• Aprihop – 7% ABV, Untappd rating 3.70
• Burton Baton – 10% ABV, Untappd rating 4.06
• 75 Minute IPA – 7.5% ABV, Untappd rating 3.97

Words can’t explain this YouTube clip that shows three college friends comparing notes and technical details of 60, 90 and 120 Minute IPA. It’s an instant classic for beer geeks.

Sports Comparison for this Libation

• Albert Pujols, 1B/DH for the Los Angeles Angels. Played eleven seasons for the St. Louis Cardinals and currently in his tenth season with the Angels. Three time National League MVP in 2005, 2008 and 2009. Won two World Series titles with the Cardinals in 2006 and 2011. Physically imposing at 6′-3″ and 235 lb in the batters box. Batting average of .300+ for his first ten seasons in MLB. Currently sitting at 664 home runs and trending towards 700 due to good health and solid swing mechanics. Baseball career has been defined as a contact hitter with patience and raw power. In this current day of baseball analytics and hazy IPAs that seem to get new batches released daily, it helps to slow down and remember the basics. Solid batting average, moving the runners and timely hitting. Similar to old fashioned IPAs that tear your tastebuds out and make you appreciate the brewing process. Pujols and 120 Minute IPA compliment each other during a late night showing of MLB highlight clips on ESPN and MLB Network. Both play ball the old school way and there’s nothing wrong with that.

Are you interested in finding this beer? Check out this article that tells you how to locate great beer near you.

Cheers and keep it classy everyday!