Dogfish Head 120 min IPA is 18% of holy crap that's a lot of alcohol

I'm dragging David halfway across town after his long drive back from Carlsbad in an open air and doorless Jeep for good reason. At the Surly Goat, and several bars even further away from us, Dogfish Head has distributed an IPA that don't come around heeear very often.There is a single keg of Dogfish Head 120 min IPA on tap. We arrive to find Nick G already mixing it up with the owner of the Surly Goat, Alan.

David just saw the evil monkey from Family Guy behind the camera

 The bartender brings our pours out in Sherry glasses and I'm at first, a bit put off. Do you know who I am? A international, well known, vaguely familiar beer blogger and I deserve more...What's that? It's 18%?! Sweet Jesus Mary and Jebediah, I should've done my homework! I have only read about the mystery of this beer and for some reason didn't realize it's that strong. Touche bartender, touche.

I initially feel ridiculous holding a glass the size of a child's tea cup, but not after the first sip. If I hadn't known it was brewed by Dogfish Head, I would assume it's moonshine. David and I just had a discussion earlier this week about the perfect alcohol percent in beer, and we both agreed it was 8%. In our experience, anything over that and you begin tasting the alcohol. It's simply difficult to hide an element that intense. At 18%, how do you combat the sheer overwhelming power of alcohol? More hops of course.

A few sips in, I still feel like I'm drinking moonshine tea, but I'm extremely impressed with how well the signature Dogfish hops are hiding it. This is the strongest beer I've ever tasted (previous record, the 14.5% Bruery Cuir), but they have done an amazing job disguising it. Oh, be certain my face is turning red after a few sips, but wow, color me impressed. BAD BOYS rating.