Tap/Bottle: Tap

I need to drink outside my comfort bottle and sample something different. I am no big fan of the IPA, but for the sake of journalism, I will travel to new frontiers.

At Strangebrew, I ordered an old favorite: French Onion soup. Some days you feel like a nut, some days you feel like soup. To go with my soup I picked a Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA.

60 minutes has nothing to do with consumption time. It coincides with the brewing process and the length of boil time the wort endures. During this time, hops are continuously added for either 60, 90 or 120 minutes, thus increasing bitterness. The longer the boil the stronger the bitter.  Trust me on this, none of these beers are for sissy Budweiser drinkers.

The color of this beer was seductive enough that I thought nothing of the flavor, until I tasted it. According to my buddy, the look on my face was priceless. I will say this: Dogfish Head makes a fine beer. I just can’t seem to get them down too easily.

Thankfully, my soup arrived, which meant I had something to wash the beer down with. The 60 Minute IPA is slightly easier to get down than the 90 Minute, as you could have figured. The 60 starts off deceivingly smooth and nails you with the bitter when you least expect. However, the 90 is bitter all over. Having never tried the 120, I only can imagine how strong it must be.

I do have a slight bias against IPA’s, I don’t always enjoy bitter beers. I’ll drink them when I want some excitement. Maybe I’m just too weak for IPA’s, oh well. If you feel up to the challenge and enjoy strong flavor, give this one a go.