Review: Dogfish Head 75 Minute IPA

To paraphrase some famous fictional bears: Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA is too light. Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA is too heavy. Dogfish Head 75 Minute IPA is just right.

OK, I don't really believe that. I enjoy both the 60 and the 90 (the latter being a double IPA). But I'm also loving the new 75.

Dogfish Head 75 Minute IPA was first created four years ago, but it was hard to get. The brewery in Rehoboth Beach, Del., blended its 60 Minute and 90 Minute IPAs, conditioned it with maple syrup, and called the concoction Dogfish Head 75 Minute IPA. A limited number of firkins were shipped now and then to craft beer bars, but 75 Minute hasn't been widely available -- or bottled -- until now.

"There are some situations when 90 is too much," reads the label on the new 750-milliliter bottles. "There are other situations when 60 is too little. There are many sitations when 75 is juuust riiight. Bottle-conditioned with pure maple syrup for complexity and age-ability and dry-hopped out the bejeezum boards."

The beer is the best of both worlds, but it's also very different from either the 60 or the 90. For one thing, it's more carbonated than either of those. For another, it pours with a huge head of foam -- evidence of the extra carbonation.

Hazy light orange with a floral and citric aroma, it neither smells nor tastes like maple syrup -- thankfully. The beer has been dry-hopped so aggressively that it is almost gritty. Big, fat lemon comes mid-palate and lingers well beyond the swallow.

At 7.5 percent alcohol, the 75 is far easier to drink than the 90, and it's much more complex than the 60. If only it didn't cost $10 a bottle.

Steve Greenlee can be reached at greenlee@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @SteveGreenlee.