Higher Math
Dogfish Head Craft Brewery

Higher MathHigher Math
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From:
Dogfish Head Craft Brewery
 
Delaware, United States
Style:
American Strong Ale
ABV:
17%
Score:
83
Avg:
3.66 | pDev: 18.31%
Reviews:
236
Ratings:
805
Status:
Retired
Rated:
Nov 17, 2023
Added:
Jun 17, 2015
Wants:
  50
Gots:
  410
20th anniversary beer—a golden ale fermented with cherries and aged on cocoa nibs.
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
Ratings by sendbeer:
Photo of sendbeer
Rated by sendbeer from Georgia

1.91/5  rDev -47.8%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 1 | feel: 1.5 | overall: 2

Dec 19, 2015
More User Ratings:
Photo of imscotty
Reviewed by imscotty from Massachusetts

4.32/5  rDev +18%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25
Wow, my mouth is alive! :)

This 7 year old beer poured pretty flat. A rich brown color, and a great nose of toffee and chocolate?

Briefly sweet up front and then burn baby burn. I'm not saying it tastes like whisky, but man it has the same burn as whiskey. I'm really enjoying that, but maybe not to everyones taste. The chocolate and cherry flavors are subtle. That's good in my opinion. Plenty of deeper, darker, toffee type flavors. Lacking in a bit of complexity, I'm guessing the age may have smoothed this liquid sugar daddy out a bit. I'm not complaining. After a hard day at work, a 'six-pack in one bottle' was exactly what I was looking for.

I would definitly buy more of these, but seven years later I am afraid I am too late to the game. If you still have one in your cupboard, Cheers! and enjoy!
Nov 17, 2023
 
Rated: 3.71 by walt5 from Delaware

Jan 20, 2023
 
Rated: 3.77 by mdaschaf from Indiana

Jun 18, 2022
Photo of burnstar
Reviewed by burnstar from Pennsylvania

4.24/5  rDev +15.8%
look: 3.25 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75
Pours a still brown with no head to speak of. Great smell, dark fruits, brewed with chocolate and sour cherries and you definitely get that in the nose although . Taste is also pretty spectacular. Rich chocolate and cherries throughout. It's complex though- and I think I'd like it even more if I didn't know the ingredients. Big boozy warmth throughout but especially in the finish. Feel is okay for what it is- super strong 17% beers aren't going but easy drinkers. Still, this is a little syrupy and quite heavy and boozy. Overall a delicious but I wouldn't want to drink this often.
May 25, 2022
 
Rated: 3.29 by TMoney2591 from Illinois

Feb 15, 2022
Photo of cjgiant
Reviewed by cjgiant from District of Columbia

3.26/5  rDev -10.9%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 3
2015 bottling reviewed in 2022:
Hoping age improved this one, and to a degree it or I have developed a little bit so I can get the cherry and cocoa nibs more distinctly. It's ability for longevity is commendable, but the way it comes together just doesn't work. Even though I am picking up things better, they just seem to fight each other, even before the ABV of the beer heats things up.
Feb 05, 2022
Photo of DaveMaciolek21
Reviewed by DaveMaciolek21 from New Jersey

4.44/5  rDev +21.3%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
Reddish brown pour with little head. Sweet cocoa tangos with sour cherry flavor and is nicely blended. Perhaps the key fact here is that I consumed this 2015 brew in 2021. Though there was heat and a booze underbelly, this beer was helped by aging, and ultra smooth. 17% ABV even leaves Samischlaus in the dust! Can't wait until Dogfish Head's next anniversary extravaganza.
Sep 21, 2021
Photo of SHODriver
Reviewed by SHODriver from North Carolina

3.75/5  rDev +2.5%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
A: Poured into a snifter to a deep reddish brown beer which is topped by a dense and slightly rocky finger of cream colored head which fades slowly to a collar around the edge of the glass with minimal lacing.
S: Smells of chocolate with some hints of cherries and caramel along with some faded bitter piney hops
T: Taste is tart cherries up front, caramel, woody hop flavor, caramel, and a huge smack of chocolate. On the finish there's more tart cherries, a lot of chocolate, some caramel, and some faded piney hops working to provide some balance to a very sweet beer.
M: This beer is big and syrupy on the palate. Carbonation is on the low end while the beer has a drying finish due to the ABV despite the immense amount of sweetness.
O: This didn't seem to get good reviews when it was fresh and I don't think time did it too many favors. It's kind of a mess of a beer. Some flavors are good and while the chocolate and cherry play well together the rest of it is kind of a mess.
Jun 17, 2021
 
Rated: 3.2 by DVMin98 from North Carolina

May 04, 2021
 
Rated: 3.69 by boocie from New York

Mar 06, 2021
Photo of ryan1788a5
Reviewed by ryan1788a5 from Massachusetts

3.75/5  rDev +2.5%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
12oz bottle poured into a large snifter. Bottle dated 10/20/15, putting it at nearly five and a half years old at time of consumption.

A: Dark cherry-colored liquid with mahogany hues. Too dark to see through. Very short lived head crashes into nothing, which shouldn't be a surprise considering ABV. Tiny dots are the only thing close to lacing.

S: Big top note of cherry juice. Black cocoa powder and mild chocolatey undertones. Sweet treacle-like malt base. Faint whiffs of alcohol. Vague fruit skins. Pretty straightforward.

T: Big wave of sweet cherry juice up front. Black cocoa powder, dark chocolate truffles, and German chocolate cake ride up in a big way and vie with the cherry for dominance. A little nutty too. Very sweet malt base tastes of treacle and candy shell. Spike of booziness toward the back end. Vague fruit skins. Papery and sherry-like oxidation. Finish is cherry juice and lingering alcohol.

M: Big and thick in body. Slick with residual sugars, and coating. Carbonation is very fine and mildly prickling. Big alcohol warmth.

O: A huge, cordial-like beer that hits with blunt force rather than precision. It isn't particular complex or graceful. Age has rounded down the boozy edges a fair amount, and added a bit of complexity. I'll admit to feeling pretty indifferent about it. It's fine, just not particularly special or interesting unless you're easily impressed by the novelty of its size.
Mar 01, 2021
 
Rated: 3.84 by Tcsox from Massachusetts

Dec 26, 2020
 
Rated: 3.6 by Bogdawg from Massachusetts

Dec 26, 2020
Photo of JayQue
Reviewed by JayQue from Virginia

3.78/5  rDev +3.3%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75
I have had a bottle for a few years. finally decided to try it/ Pours into a goblet, a dark very lightly hazy red color/ No head or lacing to speak of. The color is really nice. The aroma and flavor are rich malt, cherries/cherry juice and a little chocolate. The flavor reveals a strong sweetness and alcohol presence too. Mouthfeel is rich, moderately boozy (even though well aged). and sweet. This is definitely a slow sipper/dessert style beer. Not bad, I would drink some again on a cold day
Dec 13, 2020
 
Rated: 4 by animal69 from Louisiana

Aug 13, 2020
Photo of Rug
Reviewed by Rug from Massachusetts

3.78/5  rDev +3.3%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75
Bottled 10/20/15

I passed up on the opportunity to grab a bottle of this last year and I’ve been kicking myself since. I came across a single bottle the other day for $8 and I just had to have it

Pours a murky chocolate brown with no head whatsoever, but decent legs as expected of the abv

The nose is...interesting. Quite a bit of brown sugar, soft cherry, vanilla, oak, and light dark chocolate. It doesn’t blend together particularly well but it’s not bad

The taste is pretty much the same interesting train wreck as the aroma. It starts off with chocolate and bourbon notes before settling to a smooth caramel with mildly tart cherries. The aftertaste is boozy and the cherry juice creeps up slowly but surely

A full body with minimal tingly carbonation, surprisingly not finishing all that sticky. The alcohol can definitely be tasted (and felt), but I wouldn’t have guessed 17%

Well this one was fun. I feel like almost every sip I took was different, with the flavor notes coming out at different points during the sip, so take my review with a grain of salt. It wasn’t quite what I expected, but I tend to enjoy most of what these guys do
Aug 04, 2020
 
Rated: 3.14 by rangerred from Tennessee

Jul 24, 2020
 
Rated: 5 by RiceOwls27 from Texas

May 19, 2020
Photo of Ego
Reviewed by Ego from New Jersey

3.1/5  rDev -15.3%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3
the quarantine cellar dive continues...

eyes...
on an easy pour the head is still nice, one full finger, audible crackling, head settles down rather quickly, decent lacing and legs, about as opaque as brown can get, there is some schmutz, you know particles, suspended in there floating around, some carbonation noted when you look really close, interesting looking

nose...
boozy musty chocolate, is that a thing ? some bright tartness, kind of like amped up raisins

taste etc...
carbonation is barely detectable, relatively heavy in the mouth, very sweet, chocolate covered raisins dipped in rock sugar and then again in rock sugar, whew, way too sweet, the booze is there but not in the flavor (just warming the old gut region), I am not sure which off putting flavors wish to dominate here, sometimes there is this way over the top tart flavor, there is always the way to cloying factor, there is a chocolate layer in there that I sense "wants" to balance this out (but doesn't), as a beer this one really throws me

verdict?
I always hated math... I was an english major fer crissake, I appreciate DFH being out there and trying things, sometime they hit absolute homeruns, sometimes they foul it off their ankle which leaves a bone bruise, this would be the latter (using a baseball analogy since there are no sports happening besides pocket pool these days...)
May 06, 2020
Higher Math from Dogfish Head Craft Brewery
Beer rating: 83 out of 100 with 805 ratings