Three Floyds Alpha Kong

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

Bomber into some type of glass, once again provided by cquiroga, summer of 2005. Damn over-the-top beer; maybe some time in the bottle would mellow it out, turn all this wonderful potential into a balanced and integrated beauty. At this tasting, however, it remained bottled ambition. Transluscent amber with a tan fizzy head of medium size, mostly diminishing. Smells: buttery caramel malts and dry pruney tannins. Thick beer syrup nectar of overripe fruit with tannin tang and alcohol pummelling my tongue and wafting up my throat into my nostrils. The heaviness of it makes the malty flavors seem like fruity caramel taffy. Powdered milk right before the finish, which belies the amount of unfermented sugar in this; the alcohol makes it dry and chewy; cherry persists into the aftertaste, transitioning to licorice late. Wow. My main impression of this beer is simply that it’s really, really big. In my opinion, that shouldn’t be the most defining characteristic.

This draft brew from the brewery poured a small sized head of fine to medium sized fully diminished off-white colored bubbles that left behind an unnoted lacing. The body contained no visible carbonation, was thick semi-transparent and orange brown in color. Its aroma contained notes of mild malt and was almost non-existant . Its mouth feel is initially smooth with a lingering tingly palate that soon mellows into a vinuous aftertaste hoppy aftertaste. Its flavor contained vinuous malty hoppy doughy notes and was tasty. A very average brew from these people.

Eight-month old growler. Thick, clear amber with a huge, fluffy, cream-colored head. An sweet, estery aroma of passionfruit, cotton candy, sweet apples, toffee, alcohol, bubblegum, caramel, fresh melons and light grains. Thick, sweet body with huge coating effect on the tongue. Very low carbonation, despite the rather large head. The sweetness of the malt was rather expected from what I knew of the beer. Certainly the sweet malt and sugar dominate the profile. However, I was sort of expecting more of a Barley Wine and I was pleasantly surprised by the fairly robust Belgian character. The alcohol is noticable, but doesn’t dominate or burn, at least with this much age on it. The esters produced by the yeast make this much more interesting than I expected. All in all, it’s probably a little too big, but the Floyds, et. al. have shown once again that they make big beers very well.

From a growler that sat in my fridge for about 8 months: initial glass was clear auburn with a thick creamy off-tan head (glass from the bottom of the growler was muddy and translucent at best – a decent layer of residue was left in the growler…I can’t help but think it got stronger over that last 8 months). Anyway, malty aromatics with sweet caramel, banana mush, hints of cloves and certainly some fruity alcohol. Well textured palate with much for of a Belgian feel and flavour than I was expecting. Strong yeasty esters hold the alcohol firmly and don’t let it get out of control, which in itself is amazing, but the candi sugar sweetness is well balanced by the slightly astringent hops and the onslaught of fruity (red apples and dates) malt. The space that I (my wife) gave up in the fridge for 8 months was well worth it, because this has settled into a beautifully elegant (though still strong) Belgian ale.

Tap at 3F. Small off-white head that quickly dissipated, fine-small sized bubbles, sparse lacing, and a reddish brown hue. Aroma was sweet, malty and alcohol. Flavor was very sweet, syrupy, thick, hoppy, malty and vinuous. Mouthfeel was syrupy and thick. A sipping beer for sure!

Draft at brewpub. Pours a dark ruby color. Aroma is sweet with notes of alcohol. Great sweet taste with a strong alcohol finish. Very creamy and thick on the palate. My very favorite from my visit. A top notch beer they have here.

very dark reddish in color huge thick tan head good lace.. smells big alcohol malts lots of hop hints of grass.. rich thick palate nice cream. Rich syruppy malt flavor very sweet carmel and a big hop finish fresh citrus & gras to a lilghtly bitter finish.. almost a conflict of sweet vs bitter... very good.

To start this beer has a whopping 15% alcohol content! This beer has a nice mild aroma featuring a pleasant mixture of hops and dates. It basks in the glass with a nice medium sized maple colored head that rests upon a robust dark copper colored solution. This beer enters the mouth with a nice heavy consistency that proceeds to cover all the taste buds very nicely. The smooth bitter-sweet mixture of hops and caramel disguise that high alcohol content very well. On its departure down the throat a mild hint of cinnamon is left as a reminder.