Octopi has been dueled a number of times on the site, and so far I’ve really enjoyed their beer. Because of that, I wanted to get them into another duel ASAP to see if their strong showing was due to a superior offering or inferior competition. I suspect it’s a little of each, but time will tell. To this end, I have Octopi’s HopRocket on tap against Dogfish Head’s The Perfect Disguise.
This will be my first time trying a Perfect Disguise, but most would recognize Dogfish Head as a craft beer industry leader. A quick stop at their website reveals the name reflects this IPA’s flavor disguising itself as a Kölsch, credited to a German chit malt used in the brewing process. Kudos to Dogfish Head for also recognizing the artist who created the label on the beer’s page. I can tell artist Michael Hacker has a twisted mind, and I kind of love it! So let’s see how this one went.
HopDuel Survey
| Better label | Dogfish Head The Perfect Disguise |
| Better aroma | Dogfish Head The Perfect Disguise |
| Better taste | Dogfish Head The Perfect Disguise |
| Better finish | Octopi HopRocket |
| Winner | Dogfish Head The Perfect Disguise |
Tell us about it
This was a really solid pairing. The flavor profile of these beers felt similar to me, and at times I had difficulty separating them. The aroma was clearly more powerful with The Perfect Disguise, with it’s bright citrus notes popping out. They also took the taste category because the flavor blend worked so well with the IPA bitterness I’ve come to expect from the category. The Octopi HopRocket ended up taking the finish because there’s a tropical, creamy goodness about the way that beer closes things out. As a testament to how close this duel was, I asked my girlfriend to try them and rank for herself, and she chose almost the exact opposite result in each category. So either the competition between these beers lines up well, or we have very different tastes.
I enjoyed both of these beers very much, and anxiously anticipate getting them into more duels. On a side note, this clip helps explain the brewing process for Dogfish Head’s The Perfect Disguise, check it out:
HopDuel 