Three Floyds Dreadnaught Imperial IPA

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

Smells great, very cloudy appearance. This is one relaly nice IPA. Taste is good, very nice balance. Only thing that keeps this from being perfect is that the alcohol is just a little too present. Still, very nice. I like the Alesmith still the best.

Very handsome beer - tall spongy head that sticks to the sides of the glass and great shimmering copper color. Wow - what a nose! Fresh hops that still have a strong aroma through the glass. This is just an amazing nose. A little fruity malt character (grapefruit) is soon forgotten once the hops kick in. Bright hop resolution with a lingering bitterness that singes the sides of the mouth. I got hops out my nose on an unexpected repeat, too! Maybe too one dimensional? I don’t care - I really love this kind of brew. Cheers!

22oz bottle. Fresh citrus orange tree bloom aroma. Aroma from second glass was more malt and bread. Orange body with good off white head and godd lacing. From the some of the citrus vine aromas thought this flavor would be dry, but aroma was decieving. Flavor was a good malty thick orange juice and mild bitterness. Sweet malty orange syrupy aftertaste left on the palate. Good brew, thanks to the wife for sending this to me while on vacation.

Orange, Light amber in colour with a nice off-white head. Very piney and strong aroma, also hints of hops. The taste is very strong and powerful with definate full-body. A great combination of malt and hops with a good amount of flavour throughout. A great Imperial IPA.

Bottle shared with HogTownHarry - courtesy of him. Big thanks to Harry for sharing this one - although I don’t know if having it at the end of a tasting where we were already half in the bag was a great idea, as I paid for it in the morning. Ah well, it was worth it. Orange-amber colour with a small white head. Aroma is hoppy as hell, but holds some really interesting tropical fruit notes (pineapple, mango) and lots of citrus and tea. Mouthfeel is soft and smooth, just luscious. Flavour - oh my lord, this is just so good - citrus, spruce, tea, wood, mild caramel and malt - I can’t believe that flavours can be so big and so well balanced, and can hide the alcohol so damn well. This is a stunning beer. Thanks again, Harry!

Bottle 22oz bomber - I had the 3 kids tonight and after running around from 4:00 to 8:00 taking them here and there I knew I needed a good brew to relax... This one did not disappoint me! Pours deep amber with a nice half inch fluffy offwhite head that laces very well. An absolutely beautiful pour. Aroma is big pine and citrus hops that I could sniff for hours. Flavor is a beautiful blend of caramel malts and mindblowingly bitter hops that blend together in perfect harmony. On the palate this is very smooth yet full bodied. It has a good dose of both malts and hops. It starts out with some sweet caramel malts that soon get blasted off of the tongue by a great grapefruit hop flavor. I really think that this was hoppier than Ruination, but it is so well backed up by the malts that by the end of the bottle you hardly remember them. The alcohol is covered very well and this is a fantastic brew. I really enjoyed this!

RateBeer Summer 2003: Huge grapefruit attack. Smells like raw hop juice. Clear orange color with a decent head. Very bitter from start to finish. Leaves a thick coating on the tongue. This beer will make the inside of your mouth sweat.

Sampled February 2004
Pours a hazy copper-orange color and is topped by a beige head that is middle of the road in thickness & creaminess. Gawd-damn, intense aromas of citrus fruit waft from my glass. Lychee, grapefruit, orange, tropical fruit, hop nectar, a sweetness all are here in the nose of this beer. The aroma is just amazing on this beer, I really don't think that the smell could get much better than this. This beer is quite sweet in taste. The lychee taste from the hops is quite intense & very impressive. If there was such thing as honey made from hop nectar this beer is what that would taste like. This beer does not seem nearly as bitter as the Alpha King from 3-Floyds, though this is probably because this beer has the body & malt backbone to back up the intense onslaught of fresh hop flavor & bitterness.

This beer is certainly a sipping beer, the combination of the hop intensity and the body/ mouth feel of this beer require quite contemplation of each sip. The fruitiness in this beer is what really sets it apart. It is so intensely fruity & tropical that it makes me wonder if the fruitiness is not from the hops alone, and is in fact part of the yeast character. In the end I think that 3-Floyds has just packed this puppy with fruity-citrusy hops until it is ready to burst. This is just confirmation that my first opinion of this beer was just.

Sampled August, 2003
Smells strongly fruity, comes at you with a right hook of lychee and grapefruit aromas. Nice amber gold color (with golden highlights). This beer is a very well balanced attack of American hops that hangs on a modest malt backbone. There is lots of hop flavor in this one, with lots of fruity hoppy notes. The taste is lightly sweet as well with a good amount of body to it. Overall this is a very well put together beer with a wonderful balance.