Three Floyds Dreadnaught Imperial IPA

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

22oz bottle thanks to my man Chris (Styles): Pours to a mostly clear medium amber that really glows warmly. There’s a slight chill haze in the body with an almost nonexistent head retaining well atop the beer. I can smell this one at arms lenght just pouring it. At first scent it’s almost all pine-like hops, almost like having fresh hop cones in your glass. As the beer warms and I spend more time with my nose over the glass hints of grapefruit, orange, pale malt, tangerine, and just the barest scent of alcohol come through. First sip: wow, this is increadibly bitter. The IBU’s must be through the roof here (even though I know we can’t taste much over 100). My mouth almost recoils from the assault. I should state here that normally I’m not a big fan of hop-dominated beers, but this one really works. Why? After that first bitter attack, my taste buds give it a second go and multiple flavors emerge in my mouth: dusty light malt, ripe grapefruit, bitter orange rind, tangerine, strong pine hops, a brief hint of chamomile, flowers, and then back to grapefruit/pine hops finishing very bitter. The finish is identical to that of biting into a grapefruit rind and having brewed a beer with grapefruit rind, I have to wonder if they’re not using some here. The hops usage here is masterfully executed, and the reason I’m able to enjoy this one is the fact that they’ve used just enough malt to provide a minimal & mostly hidden sweet backbone that works in combination with subtle hints of alcohol to allow all the hop flavors to appear and re-appear to the taste buds. Licking the lips after a few sips tastes indentical to that time you licked your finger after cleaning hop pellet gunk out of your funnel filter while transfering to the carboy. Come on, we know you did it. Medium-full body, mild-medium carbonation, would be sweet and syrupy without the insane amount of hops here, finishes sweet though your palate is fooled into believing it’s dry due to the bitterness. Very nice.

Huge thanks to kmeves for this bottle. This is something I should probably share with my local RBeerians...but damn, it is just too nice outside while I’m smoking ribs to not have it. Pours a KAggie97 "cheddar orange" with very small head. Absolutely incredible nose of sticky hops, grapefruit, baked bread and fresh malt. Flavor is has an initially strong malt taste, then it turns quickly into those hops that were on the nose. Very meaty and full bodied, but not too thick or cloying. This is a beer I could drink a lot of if I could get it. Might be best that I can’t....thanks Kevin, awesome beer!

ok, a tough one to put numbers on. this is for me an ambitious failure, or a failed masterpiece, the apocalypse now of beer. the amazing thing is how it gets so close to actually pulling off a balanced flavour with the sheer quantity of ingredients in there. it's almost like a conventional pilsener malt/hops balance, to the power of ªº•¶™£¥ˆ†. the malt is clean, and smooth, slightly grainy and fresh, the hops are enormous, but i couldn't really notice the 1813746 IBU's cause the impurities of the hops all stack up, accumulate and form a giant citric/acetic/compost monster that swallows up everything in its path. nobody else seemed bothered by it, so maybe this is a beer that takes getting used to. but i still haven't really got into the whole american super-citrus high alpha stuff i guess.

Rerate: Fresh bomber.

Well, drewbeerme heard me bitching about this beer being overrated in some drunken forum post of mine, and he took it upon himself to set me straight. Try it fresh, he said, and a few weeks later - after the most recent release - a bottle arrived on my doorstep. I opened it the next day (had to give it one day to sit after its long journal) and dang if he wasn’t right. I’m not saying this is the best IIPA I’ve ever had and I’m not even saying it deserves its >4.2 rating, but it’s certainly a world-class IIPA that belongs right up there near the top at >4.0. Huge leafy aroma, peppermint, herb, resin - the right amount of malt to balance, maybe a slight vegetal off-taste detracting a notch, not too sweet, alcohol hidden away masterfully, light grapefruit and pineapple and just more of that leafy deliciousness. Very nice. I’ll let this new rating supersede the old one rather than averaging, as this is clearly the state in which the beer is intended to be sampled. Now I really want to try this one fresh on tap!

Original rating 3/5/08. Bottle courtesy of sprinkle -- thanks!

I’m actually a bit disappointed by this one, and some of that is my fault. I should have opened it the moment it arrived on my doorstep, and instead I waited a couple of months. I’d like to try fresh on tap some day. In the meantime, the following is all I can say:

Pours a clear orange with very little head. Perfumy hops on the nose, striking malt presence in the aroma is well. Powerful flavor dominated by soap-and-perfume hops, backed by substantive malts as well. The soap comes on pretty strong, maybe peach/mango flavored soap, but soap nonetheless. And unfortunately this one already showing some oxidization as well. That mars the flavor somewhat, and I’m left with a beer that is definitely burly and enjoyable in that it’s not a too-sweet IIPA -- but it’s a beer that I’m not blown away by. Mouthfeel, at least, is very good with the alcohol not at all apparent. 7% would be entirely believable.

Gotta try it fresh, I guess. 7/4/6/4/15=3.6

This is a good beer! It is a lot like DFH 90 minute, but the finish is a bit harsher. This one starts off with an infinitesimal head (I thought it was flat), and it was bursting with hop flavor. Very piny with hints of red grapefruit and tangy citrus. I like it very much, but the finish was too much. I would LOVE to try this fresh at 3 Floyds.

Pours a hazy orangish amber with a small head that dissipates fairly quickly leaving a nice lacing and a few odd bubbles floating around the top. Big citrus hop blast up front with a nice sweet malty aroma to balance it out. Definitely getting major whiffs of orange and grapefruit with some background floral aroma as well. Initial sweet caramel, malty flavor makes way for the aforementioned citric hop blast. Final taste is of piny hops that I didn’t get as much in the aroma. Great balance between sweetness and bitterness. Very creamy mouthfeel with little carbonation. A very unique and terrific DIPA. It teeters on the brink of being over the top without quite tipping over. I’m not sure I could drink this all night, but I’d definitely seek it out.

Nice large head with medium bubbles--laces even before the first sip. Light brown color with tiny bit of haze. Very hoppy nose of grapefruit. Very drinkable. This beer cannot be as strong in ABV as it claims--I demand to see the specific gravity readings! Hop in the flavor everywhere, and it is well blended. Maltiness hits you in the middle and slides off the tongue with ease into a bitter finish of citrous and pine. Full palate that is delicious and complex. Slight alcohol in the aftertaste. This beer opens clogged sinuses. It feeds the poor. One day it could perhaps save the world!

No doubt an imperial IPA - lots of hops that leap from the glass to the nose — fresh grapefruit and pine. But then there is all the rest that sits on top an undercurrent of sweet malts. The flavor is filled with citrus, both the fruit and the bitter peel. Grapefruit, orange, lemon. The bitterness fills the mouth, but unlike an imperial IPA like Ruination, the malt balance reins in the hops. Great balance. One of my favorite beers to date.