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I got back from my son’s preschool graduation tonight and felt like grabbing something both refreshing and strong, and much to my delight, I found a Dogfish Head 90 Minute Imperial IPA in the back of the beer fridge. The bottle says, “what you have here is an Imperial India pale ale featuring a single, constant 90 minute hop addition. It’s balanced by a ridiculous amount of English two row barley. Then we dry hop in every tank.” It also says that it’s 9% ABV.
I also noticed that it said it was bottled on June 16, 2009, so it’s almost a year old. When I poured it into the glass it had a nice amber appearance, and was clear, until the yeast came out in the end of the bottle. It had a fairly thin head and became a small ring around the top of the glass.
The aroma was a bold citrusy smell with a bit of sweet caramely malt coming through. The body was medium-thick and smooth. The flavor was very malty sweet and caramely. It had a pronounced citrusy and earthy hop flavor, but surprisingly, it was the sweet maltiness and caramel flavor I noticed most in the finish. I get the sense that the hops have faded quite a bit over the last year.
I’ve had this beer before, and I always enjoyed the hop crispness, but this one was not as refreshing as I was expecting. While the maltiness stood up to time, the hops did not. Despite it’s 9% ABV, I definately recommend drinking this one when it’s fresh in order to get the true hopiness out of this beer. As for a food to accompany this beer, I’m feeling like spagetti and meatballs or another type of pasta dish. Please don’t take this review the wrong way, I’ve had this beer before, and have loved it, but aged almost a year in the bottle, even in my beer fridge, it doesn’t hold onto the great hop character it has when it’s fresh.
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