Three Floyds Behemoth Barleywine

Brewed by Three Floyds Brewing Company
Style: Barley Wine
Munster, Indiana USA

This was an 05 vintage. Pours out a nice reddish copper with a nice finger thick head to it. Aroma is sweet malts and toffee then some hops but not as much as expected. Upon the first sip this becomes a truly great beer, a rush of sticky sweetness hits the tip of the tounge but soon switches to green, piney, and pungent hops that leave and excellent bittering as the sip finishes. HUGE beer and if only sampled a few times are year worth its price tag in my opinion.

Deep red tinted copper, light tan head. Sweet malty and fruity nose, some figs and plums. Silky smooth mouthfeel, lively carbonation. Little or no hop character in the flavor, very sweet candied fruit, alcohol is covered well.

Bottle. Pours an extra cloudy dark orange with just a whispy white head. The nose is nice, but not as powerful as I had expected given FFF’s reputation. Still, plenty of piny hops highlight the dense caramel/toffee sweetness. Also scent of bark, berries, and earth are present. Upon taking a sip, I’m much more impressed. The flavor is so well balanced and rich. Perfect toffee sweetness with a bit of residual drying wood character and delightful pine make up the predominant flavor notes. Also noted: a bit of dried fruit and vanilla. This was less intense than I was expecting, I’d say Bigfoot ’06 was more aggressive than this one, but it is still a very, very big beer. The balance and interaction of the whole package really makes this one a winner. Thoroughly enjoyable.

Looks like a smooth bourbon drink. Aromas of piney hops. Taste is big sugar sweet. Thanks to brewblackhole again for hooking me up with a 3 floyds brew. The big bodied, sugary flavor are surprising after the hoppey aromas. Sugary sweetness on the finish but smooth full bodied flavor and taste. Mmmmm. drunk. Oh yeah, it was the yellow waxed 2007 bottle.

Yellow wax, Thanks to drewbeerme... Very nice dark amber with minimal head. Very lightly carbonated. Strong aroma of honey, caramel, hops, vanilla and wood. Flavor is more mellow but palatable. A bit more hops in the flavor with some bisquity and toffee flavors. The finish includes dark fruits, vanilla and oak. The alcohol is completly hidden and brings out the aromas very nicely. i would definatly like to try this again.

2007 Yellow Wax. I decided to open this one up after having the BA version at FFF. The hop profile on the BA one was very toned down and I kind of wanted to try the young hoppy version of the brew. So here goes...pours a nice ruby red amber with a smaller bubbly off white head that left some sticky lacing. Aroma of pine, grapefruit, dark fruits, caramel, alcohol and some vanilla. Flavors of pine, orange, grapefruit, dark fruits, toffee, toasted malts a bit sticky. Really liked how the strong hop flavor and bitterness is balanced nicely by the smooth sweet malts. Glad I enjoyed this fresh...wishing I also had one to lay down. 2007 Bottle (Yellow Wax) over a year old. Eric shared a year plus old bottle of this one. Pours a translucent ruby amber with a medium creamy/bubbly off white head that left lacing. Aroma of caramel, toffee, dark dried fruits, vanilla, leathery, tobacco...hops are very toned down. Flavor of toffee, caramel, still has a lot of hop bitterness, hop flavor still there as well. Pine, vanilla, sweet maltiness. Still holding up very nicely.

Deep amber with a dark crystal sweet aroma with big skunky pnw hoppiness. Taste is big toffee and dark fruit sweetness and big grapefruit hoppiness. FInishes nice and bittersweet. Pretty damn tasty.

Happily enjoyed with the J-Niz. Yum yum! Only knock on the appearance is a minimal head - but the aroma was oh so nice - lots of sweet caramel. I loved the mouthfeel - thick and chewy, dominated by caramel malts and bittering hops...delicious. The finish was not quite as good, as the alcohol seemed to show through a bit, with a moderate hop blast, especially for a b-wine. Awesome beer - and thankfully I shared it, b/c I was feelin its effects. Would do great with some more age.