Three Floyds Apocalypse Cow

Brewed by Three Floyds Brewing Company
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
Munster, Indiana USA

(22oz bottle) Rocky medium off-white head that leaves lovely lacing, atop crystal clear amber body. Aroma is moderately sweet, orange/grapefruit, some pine. Taste is moderately sweet, orange, lactose, some grapefruit, pine. Sticky medium-full body.

22oz bottle acquired in trade with shawnm213 (thanks!). Poured a medium and clear amber color with a smaller sized off white head. Aromas of floral hops, pine, citrus, and some caramel. Tastes of citrus, caramel, pineapple, fruity, and pine. There was something a little different about this too, was it the lactose milk sugar? Definitely a little on the sweet side. Lighter alcohol in the finish. Another cool lablel from Three Floyds...

Bottle… Pours clear and golden with a small, creamy, white head. Smells an awful lot like Dreadnaught, but with a whisper of lactic acid - not lactose. Full-bodied and a touch motor-oily with tingly carbonation. All the hop flavor of Dreadnaught is here, but not nearly the hop bitterness or bite. Lots of toffee sweetness, but not enough to balance this bad boy out, much less tilt it toward the sweet side. Basically, a dumbed down version of Dreadnaught, but not necessarily for the worse. Certainly, more acrid in the aroma, flavor and finish than its big brother. Winds up very dry. Ballsy brew! Many thanks to tjthresh for shipping this bottle to me!

Cask at 2009 PP Real Ale Fest: Pours a transparent orange amber with a thin airy off-white head. Aroma of sweet caramel candy and light fruitiness with a healthy amount of resiny grapefruity hops. Body starts with soft carbonation and lots of crystal malty sweetness with some fruit sugary sweetness and good assertive piny hop flavor before a slightly sticky bittersweet finish. Pretty well balanced and drinkable, but has a little too much sugary character to it.

Pours copper with a nice off white head. Smells metallic, citrussy, some earthy undertones. Tastes citrussy and caramelly with some resiny splashes on the finish.

My Bottom Line:
This portly Double IPA relies on a titillating citrusy and floral hop signature to enliven its almost thickset honeyed cereals.

Further Personal Perceptions:
-A slice of foam surfs the nearly clear amber.
-This is another wonderful IPA perfume from the guys at Three Floyd’s.
-The finishing resinous hop bitterness is quite pleasant.
-This is not as polished as their Dreadnaught, and perhaps less drinkable as well.
-The prickly carbonation is comfortable on the tongue, helping to alleviate some of the body’s heft.

Bottle.

Bottle @ Paradiso. Strange caustic hop nose, some husky corn, some milk for sure, comes across similar to rye. Burnt nuts, orange, etc. Flavor is excessively sweet, sugary/crystalline, strange throughout. Chalky, husky, toasted grains, astringent and rough. Too sweet, too syrupy. Messy.

I got the last bottle from the Binny’s in Orland Park, IL. It poured a clear, pale golden amber body with a eggshell head that left spotty lacing. It held a sweet aroma of toffee and sugar with some soft stone fruit and the usual FFF massive dosage of PNW hops, mainly resinous pine with grapefruit zest and some pungent earth. Very creamy moutfheel with all that lactose. The flavor was pretty straightforward (for a BIG DIPA), creamy toffee and a biting bitterness from the hops with just a touch of citrus and pine flavor. The finish was a prolonged dry bitterness. Nice, but no Dreadnaught.