Three Floyds Dreadnaught Imperial IPA

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

Bottle courtesy of CaptainCougar. Thanks! Aged bottle... 01/05 handwritten on the bottle. Hazy orange-red pour with a small quickly disappearing head. Citrus and floral hop aroma with a big malt background. Big citrus hop taste w/ caramel, grain and grassy notes. 7/4/8/3/15

Fresh bottle courtesy Alraomon, Thanks! Clear apple juice color with a small head and decent lacing. Big citrus hop aroma with a sweet caramel malt background, Very sweet taste with a resiny background. Very nice. 8/4/8/5/16

Ok, I have to admit, all those people who have been trumpeting the praises of Three Floyds were right. This is an awesome beer. The aroma is very hoppy. It's what you'd get if you could crossbreed tangerines with a pine or a juniper plant. I'm also getting whiffs of balloon rubber, but that doesn't make any sense. The flavor is surprisingly well balanced. I was expecting some major hops bitterly unbalancing the beer, but the hops are nicely balanced by the thick almost chewy malt flavors. The perceived bitterness is surprisingly low with the actual flavors of the hops coming through. The malt is toasted buttered biscuits with a bit of caramel sauce and maybe a little maple syrup. The beer is sweet, but not cloying. The body is a dark amber topped by a nice too-dark-to-be-off-white head that isn't a permanent fixture, but not wimpy either. Damn this is good.

This time, Joe, my thanks is sincere, I'm glad to have had the chance to try this fine brew. It pours with a crystal clear amber body topped by a thick off-white lasting head with good lacing. Sweet and grapefruity hop aroma with strong piney notes and a subtle maltiness. Slightly sweet but bitter and very hoppy flavor with grapefruit and pine notes and a touch of maltiness. A big hoppy beer for the hop head. The finish is bitter and piney. Full bodied and smooth with a warmth deep down.

An exciting beer to finally behold, but it didn’t knock my socks off and isn’t my favorite DIPA to-date. The aroma was all grapefruits, resinous hops, and oranges. The flavor was similar, but was lacking in the malty category, which is a nice feature of other fine DIPAs. I’m not an IPA fan, but I love typical DIPAs. This beer, for hopheads, is how a DIPA should theoretically taste: even more hops than an IPA without the richer maltiness (IPA to the extreme). However, I tend to like the extra maltiness of the other nice DIPAs out there, that helps balance out the hop increase. Mouthfeel wasn’t as thick and syrup-like as other DIPAs. I may go buy another bottle and have at it in a year or two. Second rating, 7/3/06: A stellar experience, perhaps an extra four months of aging or my buds becoming more and more hop-preferred. Aroma was comparable as before. Flavor most notably now including more malt (along w/ full and pleasant mouthfeel), alongside a strong hop presence. How FFF packs the higher abv and malt without losing a very strong hop presence, I don’t know, surely unique within the style and a fine accomlishment. Flavor this time included some honeydew melons behind the grapefruit, light pine, and other citrus notes. Mouthfeel was dead on for the style, full, and not overly sticky until it warmed and picked up some stickiness. Pretty nice stuff. It must go head to head with DFH 90 and Hercules one day.

Bottle (Thanks to Rockinout): Poured a clear medium brown color ale with a huge off-white foamy head with pretty good retention. Aroma is totally dominated by floral hops of the kinds I wish we would see more of. Taste is very particular and not what I expected or what I had taste before in other Imperial IPA. Delicate floral sweet hops on top of well balance malt. Body is full and alcohol is well hidden. Not the malt and hops overpowered monster I was expecting but more of well balance and extremely enjoyable beer.

22oz Bomber - Trade - Pumpkinheart
Aroma – Huge Hops aroma, so much on the hops nothing else gets through.
Appearance – Dark golden in color, Nice head and slightly hazy with hops floating in my beer.
Flavor – A huge IPA flavor. This was perfect for dinner but it over took all senses. It was HUGE.
Palate – Nice Mouthfeel, great texture with a good Hopped Up dry finish.
Overall – One of the biggest IPA’s I have ever had. Huge flavor. It was teeth kicking time but also had flavors where it was actually drinkable. This was not for the timid pale ale drinkers of the world.

650 ml bottle from archer liquors. Hazy orange brown with a fizzy white head. Sweet fruity aroma. Sweet caramel and citrus taste with a lingering bitterness and crisp finish with a distinct orange flavor.

Pours a crystal clear, medium orange-gold amber color. A foamy, dense, cream colored head shows good retention, leaving sticky cobweb lacing all the way down the glass. The lovely aroma shows massive notes of seemingly every hop variety, from bittersweet grapefruit to fresh cut grass and resinous pine. Buttery toffee and sweet, rich caramel provide the massive malt base that it needs to stand up to the hop onslaught. Fresh peaches and mangos add complimentary fruitiness and depth. The flavor follows these same lines. The richness of the buttery toffee stands up very well to the bitterness of the grapefruit and pine. Tropical notes emerge from the thick liquid and spread out across the mouth, adding a soothing effect. Soon after, however, the long, bitter finish attacks the roof of the mouth and reminds you who is boss. This is a truly excellent IIPA that is bested by only a few rare specimens that I have tried.