Immort Ale
Dogfish Head Craft Brewery

 

 

Five year old bottle. Dark clear ruby color, minimal head and lacing. Lots of particulates. Scents of dark fruit, malt, and vanilla. Taste is similar, with some smokiness. Medium bodied, mouth watering finish, boozy. A little thin, but pretty flavorful.

My favorite D.H. brew!
It's a shame they no longer brew it.
I still have a vintage bottle that will probably never get opened.

 

 

 

December 13th, 2015 - I have a mixed record with the non-number IPA beers from Dogfish Head, but this is a somewhat special occasion, coming out of the cellar after having spent a considerable amount of time there. Even with it's aging and silvering in the dark depths of a suburban home, the foam and carbonation suggest the body is still vivacious and alive. My first sip reveals a heavy vanilla, bourbon and cake trio, and subsequent samples reveal the same, but refining the boozy note into a rum soaked cake taste, or more simply, rum raisin and cake batter. These are some of my favorite flavors in the dessert world, though some might find them to be a little cloying and a little too "birthday" in their gustatory profile. The aging has clearly helped a lot here, where in the taste there is a better-than-anticipated balance in the sweetness, juggling vanilla and rich custard notes on a soft mouthfeel. There's also more of that rum soaked sponge cake taste, though it goes far beyond that, and retains a gentleness that is hard to produce when dealing in such boozy potions.

Bottle bought in 2016 and cellared for several years.

A - Hazy dark red-brown body, poured with a smidge of a whitish head, and no real lacing.

S - Pungent nose of wood, a bit of berry sourness, and a strong raisin and prune aspect.

T - Follows that nose, with vanilla and berry over a heart of oak, a buttery note, and a close that turns foremost sour, with just a hint of bitterness.

M - Given how big this beer is, the alcohol is well integrated. A bit of weight, some warmth, but a subtle quick fade.

O - This is a pungent, powerful beer. Not at all my style, but a well-built example. My quibble is that this would be better if the fruit and vanilla were more forward and the oak were not quite so overwhelming.

Murky light purple color; slightly see-through.

HUGE off-white head; decent lace.

Tobacco, vanilla & plums in the nose.

Medium thick mouthfeel.

Booze, tobacco & oak-the vanilla is dominated. Tough to finish.

 

 

NO! Too smoky and not good.

 

Dogfish Head just needs to stop doing bizarre stuff for shock value.....This is better than Sircusa Nera or Bitches Brew, but it's still way too far out in the fringe.

Poured into a tulip glass. Brownish copper color. Strong cherries, raisin, and a little chocolate on the nose. Fluffy head that dissipates after a couple of minutes. Big oak taste right away. Loads of stuff in suspension, but very nice feel. Slightly sticky finish. Subtle on the vanilla to my palette.

Malty kinda sweet it's not boozy at all and very little carbonation. Kinda like a Barleywine but for some reason not quite there. Dogfish did a great job on describing and classifying this beer.

Hazy dark amber color with beige head. Aroma has lots of dried fruits like figs, dates, raisins, plums but also dark sugar and light booze. Taste is sugary, bittersweet and fruity. The bitterness is woody, herbal. Medium body and carbonation. It's a quite nice strong ale / barleywine, slightly boozy but not difficult to drink.

 

A: Dark brown, opaque with a beige head that disappeared as I drank the beer. Many particles in the beer as I emptied the entire bottle which had a lot of matter settled at the bottom after sitting in my basement for two years.


S: Raisin, cherry, vanilla and faint notes of peat, faint islay single malt (think Ardberg not Lagavulin), sweet sugary/maple syrup, vegetal, earthy, umami note I'd describe as overcooked collared greens that is actually quite off putting. I did not get in this aroma in the beer fresh. And often get this type of aroma with beers using maple, so I assume it is from that.

T: This beer actually does not have a ton of flavor. There is some maple syrup sweetness, and nutty and woody oak flavors, some sweet dried fruit notes like date as it warms up. A touch of bitterness on the finish.

M: Medium level of carbonation. Smooth and full bodied.

O: I did not love the aroma on this one, but the flavor profile has some redeeming qualities. This is my first time experimenting with cellaring this beer, and the experiment did not live up my expectations unfortunately.