Three Floyds Alpha King

Brewed by Three Floyds Brewing Company
Style: American Pale Ale
Munster, Indiana USA

I am not surprised to see that this is by a good amount the highest rated APA on earth - it deserves to be. Wacky drawing of a king on the label that appears to symbolize something, but it is unclear what. Brown pour and light head. Very full honey malt and floral hop aroma, with not a whiff of skank. A robust, hoppy APA - solidly bittered with touches of freshly picked basil and mint. There was clearly no skimping on the high quality hops. Alpha King is not at all nasty tho, not like some hop bombs can become. I don’t taste much malt (what with all the hops) but it does not seem unbalanced. This is as full and fine a pale ale as I can think of, and It goes to the top of my APA charts. It is generously priced too, for the quality of the product. Thanks, Three Floyds!

12 oz bottle. Pours slightly red amber with a small off-white head. Lots of hop aromas, with spice and grapefruit, backed up by biscuit and caramel aromas. Flavors include a lot of spicy, grapefruit, and grassy hops, and a solid hoppy bitterness on top of a toasty biscuit malt profile and a touch of caramel. Very dry. Really very nice and hop-forward.

12oz bottle, thanks to Allstar for this one. Pours cloudy amber in color with white head. Aorma citrus hops with a malty backbone. Taste citrus hops and roasted malt with bitter finish.

On draft at FFF. Pours a hazy dark orange colour with a medium sized white head that laces the glass. Pleasant aroma of floral hops, citrus, lemon, grapefruit, caramel and malts. Bitter, dry flavour that is similar to the aroma.

Bottle @ Ölbutikken. Pours golden amber color with white head. Hoppy citrus aroma sweet apricots peaches citrus. Taste hops hops more hops citrus sweet peaches apricots. Perfect balance. Perfect Pale Ale

Draft. Rich amber beer with a whitish head. Light grapefruit aroma. Grapefruit and caramel flavor with light pine. Medium bodied. Grapefruit and light malt lingers with a light woodsiness.

I drank this from the bottle into a chalice. The beer poured amber in color with a weak small white head and poor lacing. It smells hoppy with citrus and spice, but the hops are a sweer smelling hops. This is an IPA at its core but incedibly drinkable. Its sweet but hoppy and bitter.

In short: A sharp and intensely bitter IPA with a sugary malt backbone. Excellent.
How: Bottle 12oz. Consumed very fresh a few days after I received it from shawnm213. Thanks a lot Shawn.
The look: Clear golden-copper body topped by a medium beige head
In long: The very aromatic nose blends pine-tree and citrus fruits. A solid malt base with sugary caramel. Sweetness is not bothersome but I found it a little sugary instead of being round and rich. Hops are the main attraction. The line between an APA and an american IPA is often a big gray zone but this one is definitely bigger, more intense and more bitter than 80% of the American IPAs. APA… ok if you say so. A sharp and very bitter dry finish that contrasts with the sweet sugary malt backbone. This is not a refreshing highly drinkable APA. This is an intense, sweet and very bitter IPA calling itself an APA. This is truly an excellent beer. The Alpha King of beer, this Dreadnaught’s for you. Wasssssup?