Three Floyds Dreadnaught Imperial IPA

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

100th rating. On tap at the brewery. One big whiff, kicked in the face with big time malt and big time hops. Hard to tell on the appearance since 3F serves in crappy plastic cups. Notes of caramel, bread, bisuits, citrus. Bitter all day. Sticky as hell. I will rerate. This beer probably deserves a 5, but I just can’t give it the 5 for apperance if I cant see it.

On tap at the brewery. This is one great beer. Full of citrus, hardly any alcohol taste up front. Smooth and full mouthfeel. Damn good beer!

I get this as a gift. But not’s my style, or bad bottle? Orange pour with a fluffy white head. You can smell this brew from the second you open it. Pungent centenial hops hit your nose with great force. Massive bitterness with enough malt. -

66 cl bottle. Amber color, medium off-white head. Very hoppy, fruity and sweet. Balanced beer that I liked a lot. (RBNAG’07 in Grimstad Nov. 3th.)

Tasted 9/30/07. 22oz bomber. Tasted this after the Boulevard Double wide IPA. So much of this is a comparison. Slightly darker hue than the previous. Less initial head. Smoother aromas. Milder nose. Full bodied with higher gravity. More rounded, smoother and bigger. Better melding and more of a hop profile. Hugely bigger alcohol burn. Less dry, but so much bigger. Citrus piney perfumy peppery long trail of hop flavors. More so tart. Hits the sides of the tongue and moves south. More of a candy sweetness. I’m so glad I didn’t share this! This is such a huge beer! Super big comparitively, but this in itself has few rivals!

I was thinking this was just overhyped, but I was wrong. Turned out great much like the DFH 90 IPA, and for the same reasons. Even a stout and barleywine lover as myself can appreciate the deep complexity of this beer, evolved mainly in the generous but not overbearing hop profile. Few other IPA's leave you with such a great aftertaste that does not sting of hops. Great beer, great IPA, wish I had another bottle!

Bottle from Jamvin23. Pours golden orange with an off white head. Sweet hoppy aroma, with fruity citrus, grapefruit, and fresh flowers. The flavor is actually relatively well balanced. Loads of citric and floral hops, but enough malt to make it not overpowering. Fruity flourishes add a nice sweet complexity. The finish was hoppy but not palate destroyingly bitter. I actually found this very easy to drink, quite enjoyable. Not the palate destoyer that I expected, but a very drinkable and accessible IIPA.

Clear amber body with a generous foamy off-white head. Leaves soapy, drippy lacing. Grapefruit with a touch of pine and mint in the aroma. The aroma is huge! I’m drinking this stuff pretty warm (68F), but I still don’t recall many other beers that exude as many volatile odors as this one. The flavor focuses on the bitter aspects of grapefruit, pine, caramel, and some baseline bread. Awesome finish, has a nice malt sweetness replete with bitter hops. Very creamy mouthfeel. What gets me excited about this beer is the mixture of hop flavors (not just Cascade) along with malt to back it all up. The thick mouthfeel forces you to sip and savor rather than quaff. Points scored for having very appetizing hop burps.

Why didn’t I give the flavor a perfect score? I think my bottle isn’t terribly fresh, it seems like the fruity hops could have been punchier. I found that the bitter hops dominated a bit too much, I would have liked a bit more oily fruit taste.

Thoughts on �bottling:
1/11/05 - Definitely a green IIPA. The hops are as huge as ever but alcohol is noticable alongside the malt, it detracts from the sweetness. Palate changed from 5-> and Flavor from 9->8. 7//705 - choked down a bottle of the �stuff. I’m in a hop-laden buzzing euphoric haze right (Led Zeppelin on the stereo, SQL in front of me); what a great beer. I’ll bump it to 4.6. 3/6/05 - Bottle from the new batch. Two-part flavor - strong appley pale malt with rich grapefruit rind hops.