Beertopia: Dogfish Head Brewery’s 90 Minute IPA

I wish I was drinking this right now. (Little Utopia)

This column reviews a beer based on aroma, appearance, taste, and palate (mouthfeel). At the end of each review, we score the beer based on a five-star system (one star meaning you will likely regret ever drinking such a horrible concoction, five stars meaning it’s your new favorite beer, with two, three, and four stars falling somewhere in between). If any of you wonderful brewers would like to send me beer to review, I would happily accept your offer.

For whatever reason, I’ve been drinking a lot of Dogfish Head lately. I’m not sure why I ignored this brewery for so long (actually, if I’m being honest, I know. I was put off by the boring packaging, which is clearly an indefensible and dumb reason. But, hey, score a win for the designers and advertisers out there.), but, ever since 60 Minute IPA drew me in, I’ve been sampling everything I can.

So far I’ve had Burton Baton, American Beauty, Namaste, and 75 Minute IPA, and I have Hellhound On My Ale and 120 Minute IPA *cue the angels singing in the background* stashed away to be enjoyed shortly. Before I get to 90 Minute though, I should mention that I no longer view 60 Minute as highly as I did before. Compared to other IPAs, it’s actually kind of thin and just not that flavorful. You can do better.

But 90 Minute is another story. It starts off with an aroma that is both fresh and sweet, with notes of citrus, grass, and pine. As you can see above, it pours an orange/amber color with a foamy head. The taste follows the nose, with citrus and pine flavors, but it is really given a complex, somewhat sweet, and balanced flavor from the malt presence. To go with a medium body, 90 Minute has a crisp mouthfeel.

Overall, 90 Minute is an all-around solid beer. Unlike a lot of imperial/double IPAs, it’s not going to crush you with bitterness, which might be your thing. Before you go in search of the rarer imperial IPAs like Hopslam and Pliny the Elder though, make sure to drink a 90 Minute or two. As an exemplar of the style, it will provide an ideal benchmark to compare other brews with.

Little Utopia Rating: Four out of Five

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Charlie Crespo (@Little_Utopia) is the editor-in-chief of Little Utopia.