Three Floyds Alpha Kong

Brewed by Three Floyds Brewing Company
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
Munster, Indiana USA

On tap at 3 Floyds, served in a snifter. Pours a striking fiery amber with an off-white head - just beautiful. The aroma is a blast of fresh flowers, orange and yeasty/fruity spiciness. Flavor has a massive mix of caramel/toffee, clove, spiciness, orange, flowers, banana, and light brown sugar; just huge. Very sweet but in a pleasant way with plenty of bittering hops to balance this out and then some (it IS 3 Floyds after all). Full, thick and lush on the palate with creamy, subtle carbonation. Great stuff.

On tap at 3F: Golden orange in color with a creamy halo of a head. There is very little aroma to this even as it warms up but what i am getting is sugar, a little pineapple and as it warms a little strawberry. First impression as i sip, this is heavy bodied. Syruppy, sweet, and thick. The flavor is some light fruits pears, apples, carmel, belgian sugars and the flavor gives almost no indication of 15% ABV. A very enjoyable Belgian Strong.

On tap at the Great Taste of the Midwest. Poured a murky toffee/amber with a tall, well-retained cap of beige head. Nose was of heavily darker malts(plums, lightly-smoked caramel, Port wine), dried floral and spicy hoppage, mild oak, sweet candy, and some yeasty funkiness... alcohol was present, but never explicit in the aroma. The flavor picked up sticky toffee, light-medium skinned fruits (pears come to mind), rum-soaked toasted caramel, woodsy hops, and a spicy twist on the latter half. Sticky and heavy on the palate... enthralling and never cloying... alcohol was subtle until a few minutes after the drink. Very well-done and a fun experiment.

Great Taste of the Midwest


The Three Floyds tent was pretty busy throughout the day. This was their first special pour (at 3:00 PM), roughly two hours into the festival. The lines weren’t too bad so within five minutes I had my sample. I am suprised to discover it is listed at 15% ABV because it felt more like 9 or possibly 10% when I sampled it. Maybe they just did a good job of balancing it.

Aroma / Appearance - A huge thick foamy cream head formed immediately then withered until all that was left was the transparent body, which was somewhere between copper and bronze in hue. Tons of nose came off the sample but the key players were fresh hay, wheat, a general barnyardy aroma and a sour funkiness or spiciness. I wasn’t able to tell which based off of my small sample - perhaps it is more obvious with a full 16-oz pour.

Flavor / Palate - Tons of fruitiness revealed itself in the small sample. Cherries, peaches, pears, cotton candy and honey accented what I was able to taste before running out. I think with a bigger pour I would have been able to pick up even more. The finish was tangy, leaving a trace of bitterness on my mouth that lasted until I got some water a few minutes later. An excellent interpretation of a Belgian strong ale with a sweet aftertaste, I hope they offer this at Dark Lord Day 2007 so I can try it again.

Draught during my Great Lakes region brew tour. haha, drank this after the wimpy DEESKO. Boy, did I need something of this magnitude. Ruby pour into appropriate glassware with a gigantic, frothy white head. The sweet aroma is bold and complex packing corriander, cloves, fig, caramel, and more for my feeble olfactory sense to tackle. The mouthfeel is thick and heavy without becoming overly sticky. There is a pleasing level of sweetness present which is not overdone. There are flavors of lemon, molasses, corriander, brownies, banana. The finish brings out smokey notes of twigs and tobacco. It’s mildly drying on the palate. The menu claims this beer is 16% abv. I seriously question that claim given the complete obfuscation of alcohol in the flavor.

On-tap @ Three Floyds Brewpub... Listed on the beer menu as a Sextuppel. Artwork on the tapper is very cool (as always from Three Floyds) Shiny reddish/orange color. Aroma is mostly spices, yeast, sweet malts, and mild fruits. I really did not get my hopes up for this one, as I didn’t think an American brewery focusing on hops and extreme American styles could pull this off with much success.. I couldn’t be more glad I was wrong. The taste has the Belgian flair that you can easily pin down, but with a great fresh spice taste and a big-time sweetness that I swear has a life of it’s own. Rumor has it this beer’s huge sweetness comes from rare imported sugar from East Indonesia..at least that’s what they told us at the brewpub...but whatever it is, I’ve never tasted it in a belgian. The alcohol is very well hidden, but can be sensed by the nearly instant intoxication after a few sips. Mouthfeel is full and carbonation is quite low. This baby slides down as easy as a 4% pilsner..absolutely no agressive/harsh tastes..just sweet, spicy, perfection. Truth be told, American brewers can (and have) beat many Belgians at their own game..this is one clear example. Don’t get me wrong..i love a good true Belgian (from there) just as much as the next guy, but I simply cannot think of a beer at 15.5% that can top this killer. Damn, I love when breweries have the balls to come out with insane beers like this, because when they pay off, they’re simply incredible...and this one is.

What can you say about Three Floyds. This high-alcohol beer is a certain winner. A sweet malty aroma, interspersed with the smell of alcohol.

this was a strong beer.sweet and sryupy not my style but never the less i give CHEERS to the guys for trying something different.had on draft and and took a while to drink but i got a buzz on one glass.CHEERS