120 Minute IPA

Review Date 4/15/2026 By John Staradumsky

  Style:  Imperial IPA   Brewery: Dogfish Head   Country: USA   State: Delaware   $ Per OZ: $.90 (B)   ABV: 15.3%

Well, it happened again. I was out on my patio enjoying a can of Dogfish Head 30 Minute IPA on a fine April evening. A few days later, I went to write a review from the tasting notes I had taken, and when referencing Dogfish’s wonderful 60 Minute IPA, 90 Minute IPA, and 120 Minute IPA, I realized I had never posted a review on the latter. So here I am to rectify that intolerable inequity.

I don’t see 120 Minute IPA often, it is indeed a beer only sporadically available. I bought a bottle from Craft Shack in September of 2020, and I drank it on May 7^th of 2023. I took notes as I always do, as you see below. This is a sipping beer for a special occasion, although really, any time you drink a bottle of Dogfish head 120 Minute IPA could be said to be a special occasion.

Dogfish says:

Clocking in at 15-20% ABV, 120 Minute IPA is continually hopped with a copious amount of high-alpha American hops throughout the boil and whirlpool, and then dry-hopped with boatload of hops. Unfiltered and abundantly hoppy, it's the Holy Grail for hopheads! We brew 120 Minute IPA only once a year and it goes fast. If you find some, grab a few bottles - some to enjoy and some to age. This one only gets better with time.

Additionally, the label on my bottle said:

The imperial India Pale Ale

AGES WELL

What you have here is the holy grail for hopheads. This beer is continuously hopped over a 120 minute boil and then dry hopped for over a month. Enjoy know or age for a decade or so.

I aged my bottle for a few years before drinking, about 2 1/2 years to be precise. The label gave it an alcohol content of 15.3% by volume and the beer has an amazing 120 IBUs. Dogfish changes up the strength of this brew from batch to batch. I paid $11.15 for my bottle from Craft Shack. As I type, Total Wine sells it for $42.99 a 4-pack in Greeneville, South Carolina.

Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA pours to a muddy russet color with a medium creamy head formation and a rich malty, resiny piney hop nose. Taking a sip, the beer is thick and full in mouthfeel and luxuriant across the tongue. It’s rich with notes of spice cake and caramel malt, wood, dark fruit, and fragrant piney resiny hops. Grassy, earthy herbal hops poke through too, especially in the warming alcohol finish.

With age, the beer is a little sweet at the last, but they do say this ages well after all. And it does, as the malt is really magnificent here. The beer is exceedingly complex, and most of all, infused with earthy piney hop aroma. I will definitely be buying it again the next time that I see it.