Dogfish Head Rhizing Bines Imperial IPA

Brewery:  Dogfish Head
Location: Milton, DE
Style: Double IPA
ABV: 8%
Price: $10.99/750ML

I absolutely love when breweries collaborate and bestow their own styles and specialties to a particular brew. It's a creative way to bridge the regional gaps that exist among breweries from across the country.  In this variation of Life and Limb, Dogfish Head and Siera Nevada team up to create this sweet and pleasantly mild Imperial IPA. Here's the commercial description of the beer:

Rhizing Bines is a collaborative IPA using the best of both coasts: Carolina-grown red fife wheat and Dogfish Head’s continual-hopping from the East and Sierra Nevada’s estate-grown caramel malt and Torpedo dry-hopping from the west.

Now let's move on to the tasting notes...

Appearance: Clean and crisp look. Carbonation is easily seen rising to the top, where a one inch thick white head has formed. It's golden-amber hue is inviting.

Aroma: Sweet citrus and spicy hops. There's really not a lot going on here. Mild and subtle all the way around. Surprisingly nonchalant for a DIPA.

Taste: Sweet is the first thing that comes to mind. Again, surprising when compared to other beers in this style. To me, this performs more like a pale ale than a double IPA. Besides the immediate sweetness, there are mild citrus flavors (lemon, grapefruit, orange, and melon), mixed with a balanced hop and malt profile. The finish is slightly dry and overly sweet.

In general, I think this beer is mislabeled and will therefore let people down. Unfortunately, this just doesn't live up to the style and would be better suited as a pale ale or imperial amber. Rhizing Bines missing the mark for the style, but I still enjoyed the beer and would even buy it again. In fact, the overall subtle flavors make this beer very drinkable. I was able to finish back-to-back pints and I could have easily gone back for thirds. It's sweeter than your normal IPA, but it's not too sweet. Definitely not as sweet as a barley-wine or some ambers I've had. The mild hops also makes this a great beer to share with friends who are normally turned off to IPAs. I think this would be a wonderful gateway beer, even if it is a bit misleading in terms of the style.

Cheers!