Beer of the Week! 06/24/24

Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA

Normally $14.99 / Now on Sale for $13.96
Imperial IPA

This week, we decided to go for a classic from the famed Dogfish Head Craft Brewery (originally founded in Rehoboth Beach, DE). This beer’s story is that of a unique process that produced a double IPA that put its brewery on the map.

So, when you brew, you add your hops at different discreet points in the process depending on whether you want to extract bitterness, flavor, or aroma from them. Once again — discreet additions. It’s like when you’re making soup. You don’t just add in your salt, pepper, and spices all the time you’re cooking. Right? Right?

Well, in the 90s, Dogfish Head founder Sam Calagione was watching a cooking show and saw the host/chef add pepper in small doses throughout his full soup preparation, claiming the continual peppering provided a deeper, more savory taste. Calagione thought, “Well, if that works for soup, then why not for beer?” So he rigged up a machine to steadily deliver hops throughout a 90 minute boil, and Voilà! The 90 Minute IPA was born!

Like we said, this beer is a classic … which means it had been a while, so we wanted to revisit it. We had forgotten what a work of brewing art this beer is! A classic structure of sweet malt is supported by Ionic columns of hops making it the Parthenon of double IPAs. It’s like a mini Barley Wine and begs for a burger or a steak.

It’s nice when you can find your past pleasures worth revisiting.