Dogfish Head

I found a lone bottle of Dogfish Head's Indian Brown Ale in my basement today and figured it was about time I got around to reviewing it. I started off knowing practically nothing about this beer other than what was on the label. The name perplexed me a bit, what is an Indian Brown Ale? Everyone knows what an IPA is, so surely the India in this beer's name refers to the hop levels. The brown ale part of this beer I assumed was the base, much maltier than you'd get with a plain old IPA. Sounds interesting but I'm not entirely sold on the concept...

I've been looking forward to this beer ever since it was announced that Dogfish Head and Sierra Nevada would be collaborating. I really like the Dogfish Head beers I've had, but I haven't been real crazy about Sierra Nevada's brews. I was anxious to see how Dogfish Head's extreme beer styles would jive with Sierra Nevada's tendencies to just throw a bunch of hops into a bottle and call it beer. Ok, that's a bit harsh... but that's what my experience with Sierra Nevada has been. I finally got the chance to have a glass of Life & Limb on tap and was quite pleasantly surprised.

Dogfish Head's Festina Pêche sounds like it'd be a one trick fruit beer. Judging by the name and this beer's label you'd expect it to be something like Pyramid's Apricot Weizen. That isn't necessarily meant as a dig to either beer, I like Pyramid's Apricot quite a bit. Like many fruit beers though, it's just that... a beer with some fruit in it, nothing terribly special. The Festina Pêche is a bit different than other fruit beers because it is based off of the Berliner Weissbier style that is quite unique. A stock Berliner Weisse is very tart like a hard cider. Dogfish Head took the Berliner Weissbier and added their peaches to that to create an even more unique beer.

Dogfish Head's 60 Minute IPA is the Goldilocks of India Pale Ales... and I mean that in a good way. The 60 Minute IPA isn't too hoppy, or too malty. It's not too bitter, too floral or too sweet. For all intents and purposes, Dogfish's 60 Minute India Pale Ale is just right. This is actually the first Dogfish Head beer I've been able to get my hands on so I wasn't sure exactly what to expect. I'd head a lot about the brewery itself and how they are pushing the envelope with some interesting styles of beer. My fear was that they're IPA was going to be too hoppy and too bitter to be enjoyable. You see, when people usually talk about pushing boundaries when it comes to Pale Ales what they really mean is that the brewer just doesn't know when to STOP adding hops. I'm quite glad that my fears, in regard to the 60 Minute IPA, are unfounded. This beer is really quite delightful.