Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA: Revisited

A few years ago, I reviewed Dogfish Head's 60 Minute IPA here. It wasn't my first time having this beer, and my taste for the hoppier brews was just developing at that point. Recently a friend of mine came over with a 6-pack of this popular brew, and ended up leaving a bottle behind in my fridge. Now that my taste buds have developed even further, I wanted to see how my perception of the beer stacks up, especially considering the vast range of amazing beers I've had this year alone. That said, I'm also not going to try to be overly harsh to this brew as it is a beer available daily for a reasonable price and across a wide distribution range. This bottle is fairly fresh, having been bottled last month and left refrigerated for most of the time since then.

The first thing I noticed is that it doesn't smell all that hoppy to me now. I'm getting roast malt, bread, and caramel scents more than anything else. Perhaps there are some wood/spice smells, but I'm definitely not getting the citric qualities I noted a few years ago.

My first sip revealed a mild sweetness up front, followed by just a touch of citrus. In the back of the mouth I experienced a pleasantly substantial bitterness with a more peppery quality to it than I had expected. Considering that I have a copy of the recipe for 60 Minute found in Extreme Brewing, I don't see how this taste comes from the ingredients listed. Maybe I should try brewing it myself sometime.

I'll spare you all the boring details of mouthfeel and such, these remain largely unchanged from my previous review. What I will say is that even though I have had offerings from other breweries that I vastly prefer (see Evolution Lot 3 or Southern Tier 2XIPA), even brews that are just as easily had for about the same price, I still see a place for 60 Minute. There's a sense of balance to this beer that can be hard to match. It certainly isn't the overly malty, syrupy beer that some people make every Dogfish offering out to be. The flavor profile is pretty drastically different from your standard IPA, and I can easily see some people choosing it over some of the more citrus flavored offerings out there. At it certainly beats the pants of Sam Adam's Latitude 48 IPA.

- Adam

Revisiting

So today is a day of re-visitation for me. For the first time ever we're going to make the same recipe we've already made once before. Depending on the availability of cherries, we're going to make the Chewy Cherry Wheat again, or (more likely given how early in the year it is) we're going to make Aberinkula, our Imperial Brown Ale. This is my favorite beer we've made to date, and I'm really looking forward to seeing if we can replicate what we made the first time. This is the same beer we recently sent to the National Homebrewers Competition, which should be judged this week. It involved 8 lbs of grain, 6 lbs of extract, and 5 ounces of hops.

Meanwhile while I wait for Dan to get home so we can brew, I'm going back to the Dominion Oak Barrel Stout. I had this beer at a Superbowl party in 2009, and remembered that I really enjoyed it. I hadn't had it again since, and I wanted to see if it stacked up to the memory of it. Looking back at the review I posted, it actually is even better. There's no oily sensation to it or fast-food smell. The taste is still really good. I'm surprised a little bit, since I figured in the last year my palate would have changed at least some. All in all, it's nice to be able to go back to something and just enjoy it.

- Adam

Revisited: Sierra Nevada 2009 Bigfoot

So what happens when you let a beer sit for 6 months to a year? Well, generally speaking probably some pretty terrible things. Beers with lower alcohol content tend not to hold up well, but given the right beer with a high enough alcohol content (around 8% or more) it becomes possible. The goal is to gain complexity not found in the fresh brew, and a better blending of flavors. Well, I have a bottle of 2009 Bigfoot from back in February that I'm ready to try out and see what has happened.

The first sniff pouring the beer in the glass revealed a strong fruity scent, which dropped off fairly quickly. Underneath is a roasted malty quality similar to caramel. There's a touch of apple cider as well. Mostly it's got the caramel sweetness to it that I didn't feel came out as much originally.

The appearance is identical to the fresh version, so I'll skip over it.

At the first sip I got a fruity sweetness on the tip of my tongue for just a moment, cherry or apples, but it quickly went away. The hop bitterness took over on the back of the tongue, and was followed by a warmth and a somewhat grassy aftertaste. On the second sip I noticed that the bitterness was more mellow and rounded than I previously remember it being, but I found the flavor slightly astringent. There was a dark chocolate flavor just around the bitterness that I didn't think mixed well. I noticed that if I didn't hold the beer in my mouth, the unpleasant flavors subsided. The fruit loop flavor I had noticed in it with the previous bottle was gone.

The feel of the beer was pretty similar, although I felt the warmth came through more than before, and the carbonation was significantly reduced. Instead of the prickling sensation I had previously mentioned in this beer, there was just a mild tingle on the tongue.

I'm not entirely sure what to make of this. After 8 months or so, I was hoping that it would make the beer much better, but I'm actually not enjoying it as much as I did when it was fresh. Granted I didn't exactly keep it temperature consistent, and the flavors have changed quite a bit. However I guess I'm not appreciating the changes as much. I think Dan has a bottle of the 09/09/09 that he's putting aside for us to try in 2012, so that will be an interesting experiment with a beer that's designed to be aged.

- Adam