Wednesday, June 06, 2007

DOGFISH HEAD’S QUOTE-UNQUOTE “APRIHOP”

Delaware’s DOGFISH HEAD BREWING have earned some pretty serious cache in beer-drinking circles for their huge lineup of experimental and day-to-day beers. A quick check of their website shows no less than 24 bottled beers available from the brewery, with a handful more available on tap at the brewery’s two locations. You know that with a brewing spirit that adventurous you’re going to make a few knockouts (like the 90-MINUTE IPA) and a few clunkers as well. I’ll put this APRIHOP that a friend sent me closer to the latter than the former. My beef with it isn’t too complicated: I didn’t really like the taste of it. As an India Pale Ale with a whole bunch of apricots thrown in the hopper, it could go either way. This one didn’t have a balance that brought the fruit bursting to my lips, nor the intense hop flavor we all dig so much. Men manlier than I would probably call this a “girl beer”, but I’d counter that it’s not girly enough – and sometimes a raspberry or a pumpkin beer is just the ticket in my book. This one just sorta sits there and takes up space in the glass. I’ll move down the line and try to taste the other two dozen Dogfish Heads I’ve yet to try. 5.5/10.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

But they loved it at Beeradvocate ;)

uhh, I think I would have given it a bit higher mark, but not a whole lot. Didn't really make me want to get it again, like many of the other DFH's have. Will be interested to hear the take on Barton Baton...

Barleyvine said...

Jay,
I couldn't agree with you more. I was hoping for more, something to jazz the beer up but it just ended up being a run of the mill Pale Ale. I just didn't get the burst of fruit I was hoping for.

Anonymous said...

dang it,
this is the second time I've been on the opposite side of the taste spectrum from ya. I thought the Aprihop was pretty good. A while back I read up your hype on Red Hook's ESB. Well, I finally got around to buying a 6ixer of it, and thought it tasted like crap.

other than that, Hedonist has been spot on...keep it up.

Boris

Jay H. said...

Hey Boris, I wrote about my first experience with Red Hook ESB that I had in 1989, and never actually reviewed the beer as it tastes in 2007. I have no idea - I haven't bought a 6-pack myself in at least four years on more. Sorry it didn't work out for you; it was pretty damn special in 1989 (!)