1 - Dogfish Head 60 Minute vs. 4 - Victory Hop Devil
Two
great beers. Two extraordinary IPA's. Yet two vastly different tastes.
Boy, is it hard to choose a winner this round. This round was (bottle)
neck-to-(bottle) neck. (Yes, I know I use specific IPA glasses for the
taste test. Allow me to use beer bottle humor at my prerogative. Thank
you.) I remember first tasting Hop Devil years ago at the beginning of
the hop revolution in IPA's. It tasted hoppier and more bitter than
anything out there. It certainly seems the intervening years have really
produced beers where hoppiness is the main goal. Hop Devil, while hoppy
and bitter, possesses a sweet honey aroma and an overall consistent
smoothness that a lot of the subsequent IPA's do not. Dogfish Head 60
Minute is even smoother and lighter. The taste is not as powerful as Hop
Devil but your tastebuds will know what an excellent concoction it is.
Dogfish Head 60 Minute is a classy beer, perhaps in a class by itself.
It's the type of beer you can bring to a snooty dinner party where
everyone else brags about some vintage wines all night long.
The overriding judgement of this taste tournament is my enjoyment of drinking the beer. After this round the beer I would have wanted more of was Victory Hop Devil. As I tell my wife: "I like my beers like I like my women- bitter!" Hop Devil to the final round.
Updated Bracket:
