Review: Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA

Author: Jason Harris
October 1, 2009

When it comes to types and styles of ales, Imperial Pale Ale is amongst my favorite. We have many great IPAs here in the Northwest including Widmer’s Broken Halo and Deschutes Inversion IPA.

However, at my local micro-brew grocer, I had a new IPA catch my eye on my last trip. Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA is the product of the Dogfish Head Craft Brewery of Milton, Connecticut, USA.

The 120 Minute IPA is continually hopped over a 120-minute boil and then dry hopped every day for a month. According to Dogfish, the 120 Minute IPA is the “Holy Grail” for hopheads.

This IPA weighs in at 120 on the IBU scale for bitterness and has 20% alcohol – so this is definitely a sipping beer.

This beer snob was very surprised with my first taste of 120 Minute IPA. Surprised, that is, not in a good way. The beer, at first sip, is especially sweet, almost like a Barleywine such as the one from Anchor Steam of San Francisco, CA. The intense sweetness doesn’t last long and after it wears off you are greeted with a slightly bitter after taste.

This beer is so strong and sweet, that this puppy (pun intended) would take well over 120 minutes to finish – it’s truly a strong sipping beer.

Have you sampled Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA? What are your thoughts?

I look forward to the conversation in the comment section below.

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3 Responses to “Review: Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA”

  1. Vin Thomas Says:

    This is one I want to try! I bet my wife would like it a lot!

  2. Jason Harris Says:

    you’d probably like it – watch out though, this is a strong beer!

  3. Pints and Steins » Blog Archive » Review: Frankenlou’s IPA, Seven Brides First IPA Says:

    […] this to be a hoppy bitter beer that made me cringe when I took my first sip.  Almost like a DogFish Head 120 Minute IPA. This ale will definitely delight any hop head, but it’s not a pucker up and […]


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