3xB: Dogfish Head Hellhound On My Ale

This week’s Big Bottle: Dogfish Head Hellhound On My Ale

The Dogfish Hellhound On My Ale is a commemorative beer recognizing the 100th birthday of blues artist Robert Johnson.  This is in the same vein as the Bitches Brew for Miles Davis.

When I bought this I assumed that it was going to be big, dark, and heavy.  Well, I got 2 out of 3 right.

The Hellhound poured a nice deep copper color.  After taking a look at it, I started thinking this was a double IPA (the similarities didn’t end at the color).  The aroma was quite sweet and floral, with a very light spiciness.  The flavor seemed like it was somewhere between a 90 and 120 minute with a little lemon tossed in.  It was malty sweet and kinda syrupy.  There was a light citrus flavor with a bit of that hoppy bitterness.  The mouthfeel was quite soft, almost velvety, and the finish lingered a bit before fading off.

Overall, it’s not a bad beer.  I’ve had better DIPAs.  This seemed like it was meant to be a basic DIPA with some added features (lemon).  The lemon didn’t show through as much as I thought it would, but it was still quite tasty.

This likely won’t be around long, so I’d say go out and get one.

-Tonzi