Tonight, I was planning to do a head to head of the DFH 90 and 120 min IPAs. The 90 has been the bar by which I measure all other hoppy beer, and Beers of the World just got the 120 in recently. I was aching to try it. Unfortunately, the 90 must have been a bad bottle. I didn't taste the hops at all. The fact that it was still pretty decent is a testament to its malt, but it was more like a 3 heart beer instead of a 4.5-5 heart beer. I decided to try the 120 anyway, even while fearing I might have lost my ability to taste hops. I paid $9.95 for a single 12 oz bottle. This beer weighs in at an epic 18% ABV, though, so it's somewhat understandable. If a beer that packs 4x the alcohol of regular beer costs 5x as much, I can deal with that.
The beer pours a nice reddish gold with a modest head. As I'm drinking it, it laces my glass a little, but it's largely dissipated. I noticed some sediment in the bottom of the bottle. Figuring it for the yeast, I swirled the last little bit to mix it all up before adding it to my glass. It wasn't like most yeast, though. It added an opaque swirl to an otherwise clear beer that was slow to diffuse into the rest of it. After a few min, though, it's now a consistent cloudy color.
The beer smells dominantly of evergreen trees, mostly noble fir, one of the most aromatic fir trees. There's also a little caramel sweetness in there, too. Sipping, it's largely a mix of sweetness and pine. The dominant pine flavor is pretty unusual. Most other IPAs or barley wines are citrusy or floral with their dominant flavor. The maltiness of this beer is delicious, but I'm kind of surprised it's not as overwhelming with hops and bitterness. I'm going to award this beer [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img][img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img][img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img][img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]. There's no denying that this is a great beer. However, if I'm going to pay $10 for a single 12 oz bottle, I want it to practically make me cream my pants. The DFH World Wide Stout lives up to this. The 120 doesn't. It's one of a kind, and I'm glad I tried it, but I won't be buying it again. For the same price, I can get a 4 pack of the DFH 90, and if it tastes like what I remembered it should (not what I got tonight), then I'll get more pleasure from 4 of those than one of these, and they'll get me twice as drunk, if that's my goal. Similar idea with the Curieux, the Old Rasputin, or the Old Ruffian. You could call this the epitomy of a "balla" beer. Flashy and extravagant, but when you get down to it, you can do better for less money.