Three Floyds Dreadnaught Imperial IPA

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

Bomber--thanks, BeachBum25! Pours an almost neon orange; easily the most remarkable color I’ve seen in a beer. Towering off white head, decent lace. Enormous sweet sticky citric fruity nose. The attack and the mid-palate are almost roastily bitter with resinous hop. This seems to have every conceivable hop category mized into one: citric, piney, resinous, even bits and pieces of herb and spice. No earth, so I guess you can’t say it’s the esperanto of hopping, but it’s pretty close. Malt’s there, kind of the silent partner. Great stuff, but that first wallop of flavor’s a doozy. Impossible to prepare yourself for.

#500 rating. 22 oz bomber courtesy of Degarth. Thanks Joe, this is one of the brews I’ve been looking forward to trying for some time now. Cracked it open during the 8:30pm replay of The Colbert Report with guest Papa Bear Bill O’Reilly. The beer poured copper with quickly dissipating white head. The aroma has lots of pine, sweet malts creating biscuit and bread notes, some melony-ness, bubble gum, and maybe a hint of citrus. The taste has the nice full mouthfeel reminding you you’re drinking something with assertiveness here. Pine hops hit up front with bitterness slowly giving way to a bit of pine hop flavor sweetness. About midway some maltiness surfaces for added sweetness and slight roastiness. Then the pine hop bitterness begins to build into the finish and aftertaste. No sense of the ABV. Delicious beer.

GABF 2008. a beer worthy of my 2000th rating! Deep red-orange, powerful hop aromas of perfumey conifer, grapefruit, and tropical fruits. Big chewy sweet malts, oily bitter complex hop character that you can drown in! This is such a big beer, but it is very drinkable and surprisingly does not overwhelm. Worthy of the hype in my opinion (unlike my opinion of their Gumball Head).

There really is a mango/peach aroma but I had to search for it behind the intense pine. Pours red/orange with no real head to speak of. Flavor is intense pine followed by the sweet afformentioned fruit. Super unique. I get pine, not citrus. This shit is good. Pretty balanced too. Very dry. Resin coats your mouth after every sip. Damn good beer.

Cloudy orange, big sloppy white head. Citrusy sweet aroma - grapefruit and pine intermixed. Nice thick, almost viscous mouthfeel. Sharp grapefruit and pine hops are paired with woodsy, thick malt flavors to balance and support the bitterness. As the beer warms, sweeter flavor slowly emerge - honeydew, perhaps - but never over power the hops. Really intense, but really easy to drink. Thanks to Aracauna for this one!

My last half-pint of a business trip to Chicago...save the best for last? It keeps a nice creamy head on a standard amber body. What is notable here is the balance that is achieved, floral and hoppy but not sharply bitter or overwhelmingly fragrant. Still, a little too sticky and the alcohol is too noticeable. When I drink this kind of stuff, I can be appreciative but I still wonder what the fascinating of American beer drinkers is with the IPA. For my money, not as good as the Bells Two Hearted. (on tap, Piece Pizzeria, Chicago, IL)

Hoppy, citrusy, flowery aroma;amber with a small off-whitehead; flavor is of sweet hops with only a small amount of bitterness in the finish. My second favorite Imp IPA (Moylands Hopsicle is #1)

Bottle shared by Daknole. Thank you! Pours hazy deep apricot-orange color. Smells slightly oxidized. Thick and hot with wafting pineapple. Lots of earthy and pine hop notes. Pretty chewy and high gravity feel. Herbal, with fir and basil. Quite a masculine IPA.