Dogfish Head - A small Shark with a big bite

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Having grabbed 4 bottles of Dogfish head beer from drinkstore I proceeded to drink them over the St Patricks day week. I have had the 60 minute before but never blogged about it for whatever reason. I kept that till last so more on that later. The first one up was the 90 minute IPA which was a Sumptuous affair indeed. This imperial IPA weighs in at a respectable 9% and an IBU of 90. Even though the IBU is so high, it is not a very bitter beer because those 90 IBU's are backed up with a serious malty sweetness, dried fruit, caramel and pure heavenly appeal as well as the citrus (grapefruit) from the hops that it just fits together perfectly making it possibly the most balanced beer I have ever had. It is thick and creamy though not quite syrupy. The 9% abv is well hidden behind the hops and sweetness. I suppose that makes the beer dangerous since you will not realise how the 9% has affected you until you have had 3 and the room starts spinning.
A truly excellent beer.


Next up was the Palo Santo Marron which gets its name from the massive 10,000 Gallon Wooden barrel made from Palo Santo wood from Paraguay that they use to brew it. This beer is actually 12% and has an IBU rating of 50 which should be quite bitter but is not. On the nose I got caramel, wood, vanilla and prunes. The taste started off with a bit of wow then moved on to a creamy syrupy, woody, alcoholic (muted) caramel monster that had a little spice, moving to a little dryness, liquorice and a slightly sour finish. It was a memorising beer and one that I enjoyed for well over an hour.


I remember some of my French from school so when I read the next beer was called Raison D'être I was able to tell immediately that this translated to Reason to be or Reason for being. A tall order for a beer I would imagine. Clearly they are going for a Belgian feel here as it smells Belgian and has a huge foamy head. On tasting I found it thick and creamy with dried fruit, dark chocolate and some roasted grains. It reminded me of a malty Irish Red ale with Belgian spice (from the yeast). An interesting beer though not one I was overly excited about but that is down to Geography as I have been to Belgium and with Ireland being in Europe it makes it easy enough to get excellent Belgian beers. So American takes on Belgian beers tend to be lacking but then again, this was also better than a lot of real Belgian beers I have had in the past.

Sadly the last of the Dogfish Head beers was the 60 minute IPA. I am sure I have had it at one point but I can not remember for sure and I certainly never wrote about it. Like its big brother it is continuously hopped during the boil. Unlike the 90 minute IPA, this one is only 6% and 60 IBU but those are still figures to make this beer worthy of some respect as 6% is nothing to take too lightly. On the nose I got the expected grapefruit citrusy aroma I would expect with any American style IPA but that was all I could detect.
The taste was very hoppy but not as bitter as the 60 IBU would suggest, so it was similar to the 90 minute in that respect. There was a lot of citrus and it was quite dry but some sweetness to balance it out. This was no where near as balanced or impressive as the 90 minute but it was a good solid IPA but nothing to get excited about.


And lastly I did my 1 week taste test of Seeing Red and so far so good. It has the chocolate malt and caramel aroma I was going for and this translates in to the taste as well and the roast coffee is also pretty obvious. A lovely malty red ale to be sure. I look forward to this from the keg and seeing how it matures.