Mixing Beers #7

Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA (2012) "VS" Dogfish Head World Wide Stout (2009)

WHAT'S GOIN' ON: What is it about extreme craft beers that attract and intrigue drinkers from around the globe? A rather valid question I would say so myself. The answer, dear reader, is the booze! Deny it as you may, forlorn objects of destitute bewilderment, but know it to be true as my words speak in an absolute resolution when I say that yes!, sweet succulent and inviting booze warmth is indeed a spectacular and wondrous event to behold. True as it may be that hidden, layered and sometimes even delectable textures  - flavors even - come about within a drink of higher altitude, be not fooled preposterous mortal, for it is booze which is the code of law. The very law and blessedly horrid nature in which dictates the ceremony's presented craftsmanship: Getting shitfaced.

HOW IT WENT DOWN: I pop the yellow warning caps off of both bottles. I slowly bring the just released 2012 bottle of 120 up to my nose. It smells amazing. I grab the 2009 bottle of WWS, and do the same. Is smells scary. I think I'm in lust. Let the games begin, I say to myself, as I type this very sentence.

The mix of these combined monstrosities forms into a super dark cinnamon that's not exactly jet black and features a glowing reddish brown head. The head is minimal and leaves a thin layer of foam around the edges. Grain is evident throughout the newly evolved brew.

I lean in and notice that it smells like a forest full of ripe prunes, plums and berries. Some coffee comes through, but it's way off in the distance, underneath that pool of devilish booze. I close my eyes and smell this for another three minutes, slowly drifting into another plane of consciousness.

I take my first gulp, and realize that this is indeed, some righteous shit. The depth, the flavor... is just, legendary. It's sweet, has a fiery haze of boozy dark fruit notes that hit right away and bounce and explode all over the place, then after the swallow a gentle sweet cut-grass and mocha coffee come flowing through. A minor burning sensation strangles from the inside of the throat in each swallow. This is most indubitably, a syrup of ecstasy. A heavy smokiness from the WWS engulfs the senses, as do incredible candied hop notes from the 120, and it just a masterful blend of liquid death.

And on top of it all, my misanthropic minions, this mixing of two elixirs is incredibly smooth! The mouth feel is silky, velvety, syrupy and yet, it feels as if it becomes whipped cream disintegrating during the swallow. This beautiful potion is indeed... a drink of wonders.

Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA

Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA - The Imperial India Pale Ale (2012)

Occasional Rarity (Limited)

12 fl. oz. / $9.99 USD / 15-20% ABV

About: "Too extreme to be called beer? 120 Minute IPA is brewed to a colossal 45-degree plato, boiled for a full two hours while being continuously hopped with high-alpha American hops, then dry-hopped daily in the fermenter for a month and aged for another month on whole-leaf hops! Clocking in at 15-20% ABV and 120 IBUs, 120 Minute is by far the biggest IPA ever brewed! It's easy to see why we call this beer THE HOLY GRAIL for hopheads! We brew 120 Minute IPA a few times a year, but it goes fast. If you find some grab a few bottles -- some to enjoy and some to age."

Thoughts: 120 Minute poured very hazy orange color with an off-white sliver of a head that faded rather quickly. As I hold the beer up to the light, I notice that this beer is grainy as The Gates of Hell. 

I don't think I've ever smelt anything this good... well, besides my fingers on the way home from my first date. The scent is complete and total sweetness, with an apparent and strong warning of alcohol fumes coming up from behind. It smells dangerous. Dangerously good that is!

Hot damn, this is some strong shit. Not only does it immediately warm, and leave a sting of agonizingly blissful poison, but it's just beautiful and sweet. I don't think I've ever had anything this strong that tasted this good. I think I'm in lust again. It tastes of incredibly beyond-sweet caramel at first, and just as those hops start to come through the looming shadow of booze darkens the palate before all the flavors at once mingle together. It gets very peppery.

The mouth feel is like........... Rock Candy!

To me, 120 Minute tastes like a barleywine (I see what you did there!), and I like that. I like that a fucking lot, actually. It's not uber hoppy as I had expected. Sierra Nevada's Bigfoot is a hell of a lot hoppier than this. In fact, the strong alcohol holds precedence over the other flavors while cold with its buzzing, cloudy haze. As it warms and you've been into it a bit, the alcohol blast dies down a it makes it even more of a wondrous experience. This beer is blended superbly, and those hops get a real time to shine and come through at the end of it all. They're still not over the top hop strong, but it doesn't matter as nothing fucks this beer up. Would I buy another bottle of this? Hell yeah I would.