We recently celebrated the return of one of our favorite beers. Dogfish Head’s 60 Minute IPA is back after a hiatus of several years! I believe this is the first time that we’ve had the 60 Minute, 75 Minute, 90 Minute and 120 Minute IPA’s from Dogfish Head all in stock at the same time. So let’s find out a little bit more about them.

The Dogfish Head brewery was established in 1995 by Sam Calagione in Milton, Delaware. It is named after Dogfish Head, Maine, where Sam spent a lot of time as a child. The brewery and its lineup of beers are generally on the leading edge when it comes to technique and beer flavors. One project that sets Dogfish Head apart from other breweries is its Ancient Ales series, which attempts to recreate ales made in ancient times by analyzing residue remaining on pieces of pottery and drinking vessels from archaeological sites and copying their chemical makeup.

Another is its line of IPA’s, each of which is continuously hopped, and named after the length of time the wort is boiled. The idea of continuously hopping a boiling wort was revolutionary when Sam created the 90 minute IPA in 2001. Most beers are created by adding hops at various points during the boil. The hops added toward the beginning are said to be the bittering hops, those that add bitterness to the beer. Hops that are added toward the end of the boil contribute to the aroma and flavor of the beer, and thus are the flavoring hops. They are added later so that the oils that create the taste and aroma of the hop aren’t boiled away over time. Continuously hopping a wort provides the best of both worlds, as both the bitterness and aroma and flavor of the hop are increased dramatically through the process. Dogfish Head uses a machine that they invented, and nicknamed Sir Hops-A-Lot to continuously hop the wort during the boil. Instead of adding hops at certain times during the boil, Sir Hops-A-Lot continuously adds a measured amount of hops throughout the boil. This process is used to make their 60 minute, 90 minute, and 120 minute ales.

The recipe is very similar for each the 60, 90 and 120 minute IPA’s, and only differs in the amount of malt and hops used. The majority of the malt is 2 row pale, with a small amount of Thomas Fawcett amber malt added to deepen the color. The amount of malt is increased proportionally for the 90 minute IPA, and even more so for the 120 minute, resulting in higher alcohol content and a bit more sweetness for each respective beer.

Now for the hops! Warrior, Simcoe and Amarillo hops are used to make each of these beers. Each beer is continuously hopped throughout the boil and also dry hopped. So the 90 minute sees half again as many hops as the 60 minute, and the 120 sees twice as many. Each beer is dry hopped, but the 120 minute is dry hopped daily in the fermenter for over a month, and then aged another month on whole leaf hops. Now that’s a lot of hops!

The 75 minute IPA is a blend of the 60 and 90 minute beers. This beer is then dry hopped with whole cone Cascade hops, and undergoes a separate cask conditioning in which maple syrup is added.

Here are the International Bitterness Unit measurements for each beer, along with the percent of Alcohol by Volume, and shelf price at West Vail Liquor:

60 Minute IPA: 60 IBU’s. 6% ABV. $11.99/6pk bottles.

90 Minute IPA: 90 IBU’s, 9% ABV. $12.99/4pk bottles.

120 Minute IPA: 120 IBU’s. 15-19% ABV. $12.49/12oz bottle.

75 Minute IPA: 75 IBU’s. 7.5% ABV. $11.99/750ml bottle.

It’s pretty fun to grab a friend and try each beer successively to compare them. Stop on in and give them a try!

Chip Bartsch

Beer Buyer