Dude. It's 10am here in America's Heartland, and as a stay-at-home parent, I don't start drinking until the afternoon nap. You coastal elites are out of control, you really are.

I recently had the Palo Santo Marron at the Rehoboth Beach Film Festival (sponsored every year in part by Dogfish Head) and it really is like no other beer I've tried. Very interesting taste, but a bit too strong for me. 12% abv will do that to ya.

I read this last week and then found Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA at the local purveyor--sold by the 12oz bottle, $10. And, yeah, strong to the taste, too.

Excellent article; interesting brew. The 120 Minute is definitely a sipping beer, though; not a "session beer," as the brewer categorizes the 60 Minute.

The whole thing read like an advertorial for what is really an average brewery (and rather IPA-specific at that) with above-average marketing sense. Remember, folks, +hops does not always equal +goodness.

Yes! Great stuff. By the way, it's Dogfish Head.

it's true that more hops doesn't necessarily make better beer. which is why the 60 minute's better (at least after a few sips) than the 90.

and while you might not like dogfish head (and i don't like all of their beers: mostly the 60, indian brown ale, punkin, and occasionally a 90), there's no way it's an average brewery. or if so, it's one w/ above average tastiness.

Fun reading! The craft beer surge makes life more interesting. Instead of oatmeal every AM for breakfast, you can choose french toast, pancakes, eggs, bagels, or 'danish'.

I see this as yet another indicator that the width of the American palate is getting much wider over the decades, a marvelous tendency.

The problem is almost too much choice. Many places in Portland offer 25-100 draft beers, and that's kind of like being trapped in the cereal aisle at the Safeway. Where to start?

I haven't had a Bud in years, and I'm sure now I wouldn't find it anything more than some intoxicating beverage (think Vodka).

Ugh. Speaking as a dedicated homebrewer, I'll say that article praises the worst in American craft brewing, namely the emphasis on coarse flashy flavors at the expense of actually good beer. Think of Detroit's idea of a sports car - the Mustang, and the like. They put a big engine in a cheap little car, producing something that made a loud noise and a big rush when you stepped on the gas. It gave you a thrill for the first few seconds, but never was a good vehicle for aggressive or agile driving. Dogfish Head and the like are the same thing - they're trying to blow you away on the first sip, getting you to say "Holly S**t, this ain't Budweiser." It's a sign that we are still provincials, impressed by only by more, more, more, bigger, bigger, bigger -- and unable to appreciate real balance and craft. I'll stick to my German lager recipes, thank you.

The problem is almost too much choice. Many places in Portland offer 25-100 draft beers, and that's kind of like being trapped in the cereal aisle at the Safeway. Where to start?

I'm always leery of bars with 20 or 30 beers on the rail. Even if they have a lot of customers, it's still going to be a long time between keg switches, and god only knows how often the lines get cleaned.

Also, @Jim-not-PortlandOR: to each their own. Take pride in what you brew, but not everyone likes a lager. I don't think it's worth getting self-righteous about the fact that some people like a porter or a stout more than you do.

Also, @Jim-not-PortlandOR: to each their own. In reply to Midwest Product: I'm certainly not objecting to porter or stout - I like them a lot. My objection is to the American craft brewing movements tendency to take one aspect of the flavor and drive it to extremes, for example by putting in 3 times as much hops as any traditional beer has ever used. That doesn't make a good porter or stout any more than it makes a good lager. There's a smart comment from one of Dogfish Head's few critics in the New Yorker article: It's as if a chef said 'this stew has 10 times as much salt as normal. Are you man enough to eat it?' That's not how you make good food or good beer.

yes, i had the same reaction that jim did. i'm not a homebrewer myself, but still hold enough regional biases to be sorely sceptical that the cutting edge of *quality* beer brewing is happening in delaware.

but crossing the mississippi river is such a *hassle* for journalists, you know?

Jim has a point about the "extreme" cock-strutting in American craft brewing. Still, that's not an argument against the article itself, which has Garrett Oliver positioned as the anti-DFH, and also quotes the brewer at Orval saying he likes Budweiser.

I think the food analogy is not salt, but, say, garlic. I've got enough of a palate to recognize balance and restraint, and most of the time I exercise the sensible caution with my garlic use that serious chefs would do. However, I really, really like garlic, and enjoy to occasionally go really overboard, and put 10 cloves in whatever I'm making for dinner. That's how I view the super-hoppy beers; not a truly great beer, really, but a fun change of pace for people, like me, who really, really, really like hops.