Higher Math
Dogfish Head Craft Brewery in Milton, Delaware, United States 🇺🇸
Strong Ale Rotating Out of Production|
Score
6.54
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Way back in the early ’90s, a 20-something waiter in New York City named Sam got a taste for small American “microbrews.” A do-er, Sam stopped by a homebrew store and embarked on the first batch of his very own beer. On the way home, he spotted a bag of cherries at his local bodega and thought they’d make his beer a little more interesting.
He was right, and the day after he and his friends enjoyed that first batch, he started researching what it would take to open a brewery.
The rest, as they say, is history. Higher Math is a tribute to that auspicious first beer and celebrates 20 off-centered years of Dogfish Head. It’s a golden strong ale fermented with sour cherry juice and cocoa nibs and clocks in at 17% ABV.
Higher Math has forward notes of cherries, pineapple and stewed fruit, with late notes of cocoa. It has a lingering sweetness and a notable warmth from the alcohol.
He was right, and the day after he and his friends enjoyed that first batch, he started researching what it would take to open a brewery.
The rest, as they say, is history. Higher Math is a tribute to that auspicious first beer and celebrates 20 off-centered years of Dogfish Head. It’s a golden strong ale fermented with sour cherry juice and cocoa nibs and clocks in at 17% ABV.
Higher Math has forward notes of cherries, pineapple and stewed fruit, with late notes of cocoa. It has a lingering sweetness and a notable warmth from the alcohol.
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8/10
Tried
on 20 Feb 2016
at 12:26
5.8/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 4
Texture 8
Overall 4
Bottle. Red cherry and chocolate malt aroma. Cloudy brown with minimal head. Very sweet cherry ,chocolate malt, and mildly bitter herbal flavor - cloying. Full body. Not a fan.
Tried
from Bottle
on 06 Feb 2016
at 21:31
7.5/10
—
Appearance 10
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 8
Overall 7
I notice that people beat this beer up for tasting boozy and strong. Umm. It’s 17% . I think the booze is gonna find a way to sneak it’s way in there. Bright copper pour with no head. Poured at Elliott Bay Pizza. Super sweet aria with red cherries. Flavor is sweet cherry fruit, thick body, and yes, the expected booze to it. Slight burn, but this wasn’t off putting for me. Don’t hate an advertised strong beer for being strong. Boozy or not, I enjoyed this.
Tried
on 03 Feb 2016
at 22:24
7.8/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 7
12 ounce bottle. Pours a translucent reddish brown color topped by a minimal beige head that disappears instantly. Aroma is funky cherry and chocolate with cosmic notes. Reminiscent of a Black Forest Cake that sat out on the counter for a week. First sip is a cascade of intense flavors, all pulling me in different directions. There is sweet cocoa, dark sweet cherries, over ripe bananas, big boozy notes and cough drops. The 17% ABV is front and center. This is a real sipping beer. The intense flavors and alcohol are best is small doses. Sticky sweet cherry in middle. Dark chocolate notes in finish. Certainly unique, as expected from Dogfish Head.
Tried
from Bottle
on 20 Jan 2016
at 21:24
8.1/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 10
Overall 8.5
12 oz bottle. Wow, look at the ratings on this one. Aroma is lightly astringent and consists of fermented cherries, booze, cake, lotion, nuts. That lotion off-note goes away after a couple minutes, for what it’s worth. Pours muddy amber with a thin beige head that reduces immediately. Taste is sweet, savory and sour with some light bitterness in the finish; it’s chocolatey, cherries, syrupy, full-bodied. Okay, I don’t get the hate. I think it tastes good. I won’t hop on the bandwagon here. Looking at the scores, I was expecting a boozy, sloppy mess and was prepared to give it a low score like everyone else. It’s maybe a tad harsh, but for 17% ABV, the alcohol is relatively well-hidden. It tastes like it could be 10%. I’ve had beers recently (thinking of Victory Moonglow, Stone Southern Charred) that taste significantly more boozy with substantial less alcohol. Underrated for sure.
Tried
from Bottle
on 16 Jan 2016
at 22:17
7.4/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 6
Flavor 7
Texture 8
Overall 8.5
Bottle from Total Wine in Sacramento, CA. Pours clear dark ruddy copper with a slight beige? head. Aroma is cheap chocolate candy. Full bodied. Flavor is chocolate, heat and cherry which is almost unnoticeable in the overly sweet chocolate mishmash. It’s sort of crappy, but I’ve never had anything like it so far as I can recall, so I should probably be ? Maybe be not me. Yeah, it’s so strange, it gets extra points, and it’s not like it’s undrinkable. Just a bit palate expanding in an undesired manner. Ok, it gets credit for envelope pushing. Which should be what craft beer is all about. Right? Of course. This rating may be ignored by beer cognoscenti.
Tried
from Bottle
on 10 Jan 2016
at 00:10
4.6/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 5
Flavor 4
Texture 4
Overall 4.5
12 oz. bottle, pours a hazy amber orange with a small white head. Aroma is quite alcoholic, with notes of cocoa, cherry juice, and alcohol. Flavour is very harsh but not a complete trainwreck, with loads of cocoa and alcohol upfront, followed by cherry juice. Super harsh, fusel-dominated and finishing on a burn. Not as terrible as expected, but not a beer of elegance.
Tried
from Bottle
on 08 Jan 2016
at 23:35
6.5/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 6
Texture 8
Overall 6
Initially, I didn’t pick this up because $11 for a 12oz bottle = nope. Then, my wife came home with a bottle of this one of her friends gave her because they knew I liked good beer, so here we go. Pours a nice deep red with minimal head. Chocolate cake batter, sour cherry, some fig and raisin in the aroma. Full, syrupy body. Flavor is full of sweet chocolate, a bit of tart cherry, cake batter, and some dark fruit notes. My first thought was "Oh, this is gonna get all types of complex." But after the chocolate and cherry faded I was left with a sticky sweet mess. The booze is well hidden under all that sweetness. After a few sips this gets real hard to drink. I’m glad this was a gift.
Tried
from Bottle
on 05 Jan 2016
at 23:42
5.6/10
—
Appearance 4
Aroma 7
Flavor 6
Texture 4
Overall 5.5
Warm dates, currants, and fruit cake nose. Cloudy rust, virtually headless. Extremely sweet maraschino cherries, fruit cake, walnut, clove. Chocolate is not really evident. Full body, easy carbonation, hot. Cloying and boozy.
Tried
on 30 Dec 2015
at 18:31
7.1/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 8
Overall 6.5
Bottle: Pours hazy, amber-brown with NO head. Booze-soaked cherry and chocolate aroma. Tastes like a cake, all right...but again, one awash in brandy. Ridiculously sweet......amazingly, the alcohol doesn’t have a harsh burn, just a big, steady warmth. Not as brutal as I feared... though small samples are advised.
Tried
from Bottle
on 30 Dec 2015
at 17:21