I loved that beer as well, it is one that they seem to bring back every year in cans at the brewpub. Unfortunately our trips to Delaware have yet to coincide with its return. The malt character paired very nice with that lick of apricot sweetness too. I hope one day I can manage to snag some of the cans.
Heading to Rehoboth this summer, and DFH is a top stop Im looking forward to! Don't see myself looking for it up in Mass, even with Sam Adams distro., but when at the source...
Dogfish Head was recently included in Untappd's top 10 US breweries of 2024 according to the number of Untappd community award winning beers from a brewing company at a state or national level. Awards were based on consumer ratings within beer styles. Others on the list include Tree House, Hill Farmstead, Schilling, Anchorage and Side Project. So if one wants to use that as an indication of certain consumer attitudes about the state of a company, then they seem to be doing fine in that regard.
I just posted the criteria for the Untapped awards, I also did some poking around on Untappd through the awards. You can get an award in each substyle for being national recognized and/or within your own state. This isn't necessarily a knock on Dogfish Head, some of the ratings are definitely quite high for the beers that won awards. But this list will cater to breweries who produce a high volume of beers in a wide variety of styles. And will be dependent on the state you're in. Put any brewery in Massachusetts and you're likely not making the top ten list due to Tree House alone.
I just stopped by the liquor store and bought a y pack of 90 minute - which is still yummy. So, yes, they are relevant to me.
Send plain jane WWS to the Hampton Roads area vs flooding the zone with 120 Minute. It'd be an instabuy for me. Any of the "nuke bottle caps" I missed a few years ago would be an instabuy.
No doubt. When I said "So if one wants to use that as an indication of certain consumer attitudes..." I wasn't implying that I would personally use it for my own measurements of value/relevance/whatever. I start to get itchy when people start the "across all styles" thinking anyway. Kidding aside, the Untappd stuff does somewhat connect with what many people on BA seem to put importance on in these conversations (rather than sales data for example). (Don't get me wrong - I know you're adding that info for completeness sake rather than attempting to totally pull the rug out from it )
The 60 minute IPA when I can find it fresh is good from time to time. I use to be really into there stuff but over time I have not bought and DFH in quite awhile. The Punkin Ale is good too but I do not go out of my way for “flavored” beers anymore.
For what it's worth, I feel like "relevant" is one of the better conclusions to draw from the untappd awards.
60 minute is a good example of a daytime beer. I buy it by the 12 pack and will have with my lunch, one beer not the whole 12 pack. Haha. It's fresher <6 weeks in West PA since Boston Beer Company acquisition.
While it could be case of big fish small pond, it could be the other way of big fish overshadowed by highly limited, coveted other big fish. I would bet money if you broke down ratings by state the people living outside MA probably rate it more highly in part because of the legend and trouble to acquire. They get an advantage from the state they are in but they probably get penalized for the fact that I can go buy 90 minute any day I feel like despite being thousands of miles away. I remember people raving about fresh Sculpin on the East Coast 15 years and trading for it while rating it much higher than any local here would. none of that is a knock on treehouse, more a comment on what we know about human psychology
The top ten were the top ten with the most awards. You get awards if your beer is one of the top three highest rated nationally in a style, or for your own state. Gold, silver or bronze. For example, Tree House can’t win an award for Delaware because they’re not a Delaware brewery. Trillium is a much higher rated brewery overall at 4.25 overall on Untappd than Dogfish Head at 3.84. But Trillium has zero shot at being in the top ten due to competing against Tree House in state. Moreover, Untappd has a HUGE list of styles. So if you’re like Tree House who produces multiple beers in just about any style you can think of, that’s another advantage. Dogfish Head is another brewery that has a huge catalog of beers. Schilling is another one that has an advantage with a massive catalog of beers, and being in the less competitive state of New Hampshire. Notch wouldn’t be in the top ten because they produce less beers and again, compete against Tree House. This is my understanding of Untappd’s explanation of the awards anyhow.
Just to add one more thing. None of what I said indicates any of those breweries is necessarily better than the other (in my opinion). As @zid said it is likely indicative people still do enjoy Dogfish Head beers. I just personally do put too much stock in it. Cool to see them on the list regardless.
Not trying to disagree with the point you're trying to make, but I'm not sure this is the best example to use. I was living in Baltimore when Sculpin hit the East Coast, and at the time there was really nothing quite like it. WCIPAs just weren't all that common there in 2008/2009, and so it was really hard to make a comparative rating/review of Sculpin. If you liked it (I adored it), then you were likely going to give it a high score. Also... initially, it wasn't all that easy to come by, which likely also inflated some of the reviews. A lot of water has flowed over the damn since then, and the East Coast can now more than hold its own when it comes to world class ipas. IMHO, that really wasn't the case back in 2008/2009, which probably explains why ipas like sculpin recieved such high review scores from reviewers on the East Coast.
I just did the same. Not that I counted, but the Untappd style list might be at least 261 categories long based on the medals. Dogfish Head’s medal wins at the state level are impressive even though it’s a case of big fish / small pond. I’m assuming people on BA aren’t wondering if the top medal winner in any other state is still “relevant” as a company. Looking at the national medals presents a very different picture. They won a bronze in malt liquor and a bronze in graf (a style with some degree of origin belonging to Stephen King )… and one gold medal for Burton ale. The thing is, their Burton Baton beer is misclassified (IMO and Dogfish Head’s) on Untappd as a Burton ale. (There is easy confusion between Burton ale and brewers using the word Burton due to the association with IPA.) So if using that logic, their one gold national medal was erroneously awarded to them. Not much to celebrate there. Doesn’t make Untappd awards look good either. I agree with your earlier point of course, and I’m not one to personally put much stock in awards - but it’s still interesting to explore. I feel like the Untappd awards do somewhat speak to the company “relevance” (I’m not a fan of the word) with consumers at the state level… while sales volume and retail placement (rather than Untappd awards) somewhat speak to their considerable and continued (although probably shrinking) relevance with consumers at the national level compared to other craft brands.
I only encounter their IPAs, which I burned out on many years ago. I'd like to see them bring back the Raison D'Etra or the chicory stout. Oh -- I did like that DH IPA with the red wine in it.
