World Wide Stout - Utopias Barrel-Aged
Dogfish Head Craft Brewery

Poured stout black with a quickly dissipating brown head.
The aroma was lost on me, sorry.
The taste is, well, a high octane barrel aged stout that isn’t bourbon or whiskey barrels but closer to rye whiskey. Curiously good.
The feel is appropriate for the style, I enjoyed quaffing it.
OA, rather sad I only had one, but happy I got to try it.

 

Look - black and thick slight head great rimming and lacing
Smell - boozy toffee dark cherry
Taste - boozy toffee dark cherry, a lot like a bw.
Feel - full body light carb
Overall - definitely has the utopias taste, a blend between bw stout.

12oz bottle poured into a snifter

A- pours a deep brown color with a one-finger foamy khaki head that reduces to a ring

S- aroma is as complex as utopias. Rich caramel, toffee, chocolate, leather, brown sugar. Barrel notes emerge, adding port, bourbon, figs, prunes, black cherry, oak, rum. The complexity continues to build as it warms

T- sweet and malty to open, with notes of caramel, toffee, brown sugar & molasses. Mid-palate brings our dark fruit notes of black cherry, black grape, figs & raisins. Mid-palate brings out note of chocolate, oak, dark grape, sherry. The finish gives oaky bourbon, chocolate and a tannic red wine note that sticks around on the linger


M- medium body with moderate carbonation leads to a velvety mouthfeel that turns slightly creamy into a warming finish, alcohol sticks around on the linger

O- For me, this beer reaches the level of complexity that Utopias does on its own. I consider that a successful BA beer

Review: 2378
Name: World Wide Stout Utopias Barrel-Aged
Brewery: Dogfish Head
Location: Milton, DE
Style: Barrel Aged Stout
ABV: 17.3%
Canned: 2021
Date: 26 April 2025
I bought this around the time that I bought Olde School. I have been holding on to this in my cellar. Utopia is a beer that I want to try, but the cost restricts me from buying it. I am serving the beer at 50 degrees in a tulip glass. The pour did not create any head; I also did a hard pour. The color is mahogany-red with a Coca-Cola hue and is transparent, charting at 24. This beer's appearance is below average; I would have liked to have seen some head, regardless of the ABV.
Nosing the glass, I smell wood, char, a sterile hospital room, flowers, raisins, phenolic dark brown sugar, earthiness, dark chocolate, espresso, caramel, and dark roasted malts.
Sipping the beer, I taste chocolate, roasted coffee, char, leather, wood resin, treacle, tobacco, phenolic, caramel, toffee, oak, floral esters, dark toasted bread crust, malty sweetness, soy sauce, and herbal.
The mouthfeel is warming and astringent, finishing with some bitterness. The body is heavy and has medium-low carbonation.
How can I describe this beer? The Utopias Barrel aging has given the World Wide Stout a phenolic/pharmaceutical vibe with a strange alcohol presence. The alcohol comes across as rubbing alcohol in the oddest sense. I did not care for this beer at all. I know the beautiful World Wide Stout is lost in this version, creating something bizarre.

 

 

 

**
01/05/2025

2021 Bottle to snifter.

LOOK: dark black with brown hints around the edge. zero head.

AROMA: wood, bourbon, rum, fruitcake

TASTE: wood(oak+cedar), plum, tobacco, bourbon, cola, raisin, port wine. There is a lot going on. It's still quite hot, but mellow enough.

FEEL: drinks more like a barleywine in both taste and feel. very little carbonation, but high abv makes this more of a smooth sipper. medium to full body.

OVERALL: very nice at 3+ years....excited to let my others sit and mellow further.


**

 

Looks like cola coming out of the bottle before settling into a slightly deeper shade of brown in the glass. Some short-lived tan head that receded to a very thin ring.

Up close, the aroma has loads of rich malt notes. Molasses, brown sugar, figs and booze.

Alcohol is more prominent on the tongue. I still get the molasses and fig from the nose, but add in wood flavors and loads of booze. Feel is surprisingly thin.

Overall, this is an interesting beer. At 17.3%, I assumed the alcohol would be noticeable, but it's more prominent than I expected. The warming it provides on the finish is really nice, while on the tongue I'd prefer to be slightly less front and center. Either way, this is a really nice sipper for a Saturday morning.

 

 

L: Pours a thick oily black with almost no head or lacing on the glass.

S: Booze is the forefront, followed by brown sugar, figs and a rich chocolate. Solid aroma but I am getting a lot more brown sugar molasses compared to the chocolate and figs. Also has an almost rubbing alcohol taste.

T: The taste of this is very boozy almost bordering on rubbing alcohol, some slight chocolate dog and barley wine notes, but the rubbing alcohol notes really take away from the taste for me.

F: Thick oily with very low carbonation.

O: I'm getting a lot of rubbing alcohol in this one and it doesn't necessarily do much for me.

Big boozy figgy chocolate smooth bomb of a beer

 

 

12oz bottle poured into a snifter.

A: Pitch black pour kicks up only a thin slip of a head even with some aggression behind it. Even that settles shortly after. No real lacing.

S: Black strap molasses, chocolate ganache, concentrated coffee syrup and vanilla extract. Roasty backing with a bit of smoke. Black raspberry reduction and black cherry cordial.

T: Follows the nose to a T. Rich malty underpinnings of chocolate sauce, ganache, German chocolate cake, and a thick blanket of roast and char. Black raspberry sauce and black cherry cordial. Stiff whiskey-like alcohol. Vanilla extract. Finishes with more thick roast and raspberry syrup.

M: Thick and rich in the mouth. Coating and somewhat syrupy, though not at all cloyingly so. Ample carbonation has a firm but gentle scrub. Big alcohol warmth and a bit of wood tannin.

O: Very solid stuff. It drinks like a huge imperial stout that's been barrel aged and blended with some cordials added. Given that the Utopias blend comprises a great many barrels, it's no surprise that the beer has that very cordial-like dimension. I'm also getting way more of a bourbon influence than I ever remember Utopias having, too, but then again I haven't had the more recent releases.