Three Floyds Dreadnaught Imperial IPA

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

Sampled from cask at DL06: Pours a transparent copper bronze with a thin, airy, lightly lacing white head. Big, fresh, and clean green piney hoppy aroma has lots of sweet caramel malty balance. Body starts with lots of fresh piney hops and plenty of sweet, nicely-balanced caramel malt. Very enjoyable and the cask gives it a lot of smoothness not found in the bottled or regular tap versions.

4th Re-rate 1/18/05 (latest batch): Was told the recipe had been tweaked to add even more hops and slightly lessen some of the malt. I guess now it fits more into the style, but I miss the gritty sweetness it used to have which worked so well to balance the hops. All I can say is that it’s either too fresh right now, or definitely not worth the $10/bottle they’re charging.

3rd Re-rate 7/18/04 (bottle from original bottled batch aged over a year): The hop presence has certainly mellowed and more butterscotch is apparent. Still plenty sweet and bitter and well balanced. It has aged quite nicely, but now tastes more like an American strong ale than an imperial ipa.

2nd Re-rate 11/23/03 (bottle): The first version I’ve had from the bottle. This has conditioned for about 5 months and is excellent. Much more reminiscent of my first rating. Lots of caramely sweetness and plenty of hop power. A true classic!

Re-rate 4/26/03 (tap): Seems to be more bitter than I remember and lacks a lot of its malty sweetness. A drier finish and more piney notes are present.

11/24/02 (tap): Pours a thick golden brown with a generous lacy white head. The head even has a slighty greenish tint, due to the massive amount of hops used. The aroma is overflowing with hops. It doesn’t even smell like beer, it just smells like a bushel of fresh hops. The body has the mouthfeel of syrup with a plentiful amount of malty sugar. The finish is crisp and not overly bitter, rather a smooth transition to the floral hoppy aftertaste. It also has a warming effect due, obviously, to the higher alcohol content. This is a pale ale/IPA lover’s dream.

Pours as thick and heavy as Dark Lord (God of all stouts), but this one has the appearance and density of UNUSED motor oil. Sparkling clear light amber hue with a small, creamy head. Fully diminishing with excellent lacing. The nose is of grapefruit, alcohol and pine with lesser notes of black pepper. The flavor is very malty, and lightly pungent up front. Moderately bitter on the backside. Tastes like it smells... grapefruit and pine sap. Extremely full-bodied with a syrupy mouthfeel. Lively carbonation. I have no idea how these bubbles work their way up through this dense masterpiece of a brew. Long, mostly dry, woodsy finish. Grass or straw at the wee end. Excellent IPA. Another great, not just good, beer from Three Floyds.

Another American IPA beaten to death with hops. I reckon this would be great if they toned the hops down a bit. Massive grapefruit, lychee and pine-citrus (pine-o-clean) flavours. Malts are smooth lightly sweet, but quickly (too quickly) hidden by the fatty hops. Tasted like deepfried hops in the end, little balance. I understand that its not really meant to be elegant or anything, but it could have done with some restraint or something. I don't even think i liked as much as the score i gave it.

hazy amber-orange colour with a little fast disappearing foam; very strong hoppy nose with aroma of pine needle, perfumed flowers, exotic fruits and notes of alcohol in the background; soapy/oily mouthfeel, robust malt body; powerful and impressive (but not aggressive) bitterness, long bitter finish with lots of hoppy flavours and a warming alcohol touch - another great american hop juice - <!-- i -->big thank you to Per for this beer !<!-- /i -->

GABF-on tap-pours a light tan head with hazy amber color. Aroma is citrus. Taste is nice, not too overpowering.

Amber colour with a small off white head. Hoppy, apricot fruity aroma. Fruity and sweet flavor with a nice hoppyness. Bitter and dry finish.

Old gold-orange beer; orange-amber head. Nose is as plucking fresh hopcones from the vine. Pure hops - but what else? At least in the taste, there’s some backing, but only just enough so one gets a fleeting moment of malt sweetness, Armagnac-like, but it’s quickly gone. And nothing else but hops to keep lingering. Medium bodied, dry - even the MF is overwhelmed by the hops onslaught. For the second time I taste this American icon (first time was on cask), I get the same ideas about it: this is one of the most one-dimensional beers I know. I just don’t dig this. One bottle and one has enough.

Golden/orange/amber coloured. Very strange long and hairy sediment. I have never seen anything like that. Aroma of hops and exotic fruits. Hoppy and sweet flavour with notes of peaches, other fruits and tea. Bitter finish. Thanks Jeppe and Mads.