90 Minute IPA

The details: Dogfish Head 90 Minute Imperial IPA, 9% ABV, 90 IBU, served in a 12 oz bottle poured in a pint glass

Please don't stop reading! I know the last thing you want to read about is yet another IPA. I feel that. But this one is one of those that you can compare against all the rest. It might be just like the original kilogram. It's the standard - though this one isn't losing weight.

I'm not sure if my my first experience with 90 Minute was at the source or at the bar. I remember having it during my visit to Dogfish Head in Milton, DE. I also remember a night in RVA where the 90 Minute had me.

I've written before about Capitol Ale House. It was one of those fore runner craft beer bars even if these days I'd compare it more to a World of Beer and less to a Tørst or Blind Tiger. Those dozen years ago, however, it was all we had if we didn't want to keep drinking PBR (hint: we did want to and did in prodigious quantities). 

Capitol Ale had theme nights to get people in the door. Mondays were dollar burger nights, late at night. Wednesdays were the best - it was steal the glass night. I filled not only my own kitchen with painted pint glasses from breweries all over the country, but I filled the kitchens of friends and still had more to give away as gifts. Each week they would put a beer on special for the night and you got one pint glass for each pint you bought until they ran out. The night they put 90 Minute on special we were out at their West End location - it was myself, my best friend Andy, his brother Dan, our friend Clark, and (i think) someone else. Let's just say I had a good time enjoying this IPA; so much so that I nearly picked a fight walking to the restroom and was quickly taken out and home by my friends. 

I still have one pint glass from that evening. This beer is in it right now.

As much as I love Heady Topper, or as much as I love Tesseract, it's 90 Minute that I consider the standard for Imperial IPA's. First and foremost, it's available damn near everywhere. To be the standard bearer for a style you can't just be available in one state or one city, everyone's got to be able to give it a shot. This also means that time and time again the brewery has to nail the recipe and make a great batch of beer. Dogfish has been nailing it since 1995.

The beauty of 90 Minute is that it's got strong flavors without any one of them running away with the show. It's piney without being too evergreen. It avoids being too dank with just an earthy note. There's a little citrus but it doesn't taste like fruit. It's got malty sweetness but it's not sticky on the tongue (unlike it's bolder sibling 120 Minute IPA). It's surprisingly easy drinking for 9%, though not such a crusher that at 9% it'll leave you naked and bleeding in the gutter with no memory. You just might try and pick a fight on the way to the restroom, though.

The verdict: 4.5 out of 5 (on Untapp'd - find me there @slownumbers to see what I'm drinking!)