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Officially, the “60 Minute” reference in the Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA refers to the length of time the wort boils while hops are continuously added. It doesn’t refer to the elapsed time required for drinking the beer — it goes down far too easily to last a full hour.
The Dogfish Head motto is, “Off-centered ales, for off-centered people,” and perhaps that pairing is how they got me. Dogfish Head made one of the first craft ales that really knocked me back and made me pay attention to my beer. (That story will be saved for tomorrow.)
Tonight’s beer was sponsored by my brother-in-law Mike, who in December grabbed the most interesting 
bottle of beer he could find and made it a Christmas present.
And the bottle of Wychwood’s Hobgoblin Dark English Ale certainly lives up to that description. The label features a drawing of a hobgoblin with a sword, bow and quiver. It’s a big bottle — nearly 17 ounces — which made it the perfect beer to nurse through the Super Bowl.
The beer is brewed in Oxfordshire, England, and there’s no freshness date on this imported beer. The pour was colloidal, with flakes of something (spent yeast?) floating through the dark, brown beer. The beer had a great head, which I may have ruined by stirring the beer, trying to break down those clumpy flakes. The Hobgoblin was trying to scare me away, but I’ve consumed older and scarier beer in my time.
And I’m glad I didn’t let those flakes turn me back.
By now, you’ve probably heard of the banned PETA Commercial supposedly intended to air during the Super Bowl.
That commercial’s tagline was “Vegetarians have better sex. Go Veg.”
For those of us who prefer our plant material to be brewed into beer, there’s a less restrictive alternative. Hats off to the folks at Beer Utopia for pointing out that — at least for men — alcohol might be all we need.
Vegetarian beer drinkers — let us know what you think. In the meantime, I finally understand the appeal of pumpkin beer.
I discovered Gritty McDuff’s a few years ago, not long after arriving in Boston. Portland, ME is a fair drive from Boston, but it’s a pretty port city filled with New England charm (that’s code for “chockablock with tourists”) and well worth the trip — especially if you stop in for a pint or three at Gritty’s Brew Pub.
Gritty McDuff’s holiday seasonal is called Christmas Ale. I bought a couple of Christmas Ale six packs back in December, and I kept a bottle on hand for the BeerADay.net challenge.
Harpoon Chocolate Stout is so awful I’m at a loss for words.
(That won’t last for long.)
Until today, I’ve never had a Harpoon beer that I genuinely disliked. The Winter Warmer isn’t my favorite — but I drink it, and I’ve generally appreciated everything Harpoon produces.
Until today. Which is why this Judas-of-a-beer completely took me by surprise.
Seriously, this beer is godawful. Look, I’m only drinking one beer a day. So to think this atrocity has taken the place of something more worthy just makes me want to pour the rest of the glass down the drain.
Reader corbinsa asked recently in the Forum if any beer could be so bad that you or I wouldn’t finish it.
I have a definitive answer. For me not to finish a beer, it would have to be Harpoon-Chocolate-Stout-Bad®.
