Three Floyds Behemoth Barleywine

Brewed by Three Floyds Brewing Company
Style: Barley Wine
Munster, Indiana USA

Dark red-brown color with a light haze - expectedly small head and light carbonation (appropriate to style). Rich malt aroma with caramel and fruit (pear and fig), but mainly caramel, with peppery hops. Full round sweetness and lip smacking lingering toffee like flavors. Resiny and peppery hop flavors with a lingering mild bitterness. Alcoholic strength is definitely apparent with a chest warming buzz, but generally speaking its well masked for an 11+% beer. Beer becomes sticky and sweet, almost syrupy, towards the end - a bit unattractive in a barleywine, and indicative IMO of under-attenuation, perhaps the yeast pooped out in all that alcohol.

Finally got ahold of one of these fatties. The beer glowed with a nice rosy-redness in the light. Sweet-smelling nose was very inviting. Great texture ... thick (especially as it warmed), weighty and smooth, but not necessarily cloying (alcohol warmth seemed to cleave that right off). Hops were electric on the tongue right from the beginning. Surprisingly, I found the malt sweetness (mostly caramel notes) to be rather subdued (for some reason I was thinking it would be sweeter). Hop flavors/aromas were plant-like and grapefruity. A healthy amount of bitterness -- laden with a woody saltiness -- followed through into the finish, and lingered in the aftertaste. Halfway down the bottle, and on occasion, some really nice notes surfaced (hard to define, kind of "woodsy," but not "woody," if that makes any sense ... perfect pairing for a cigar, if that makes it any clearer). Fantastic brew, at any rate.

Beautiful red/gold, nice white foam, big and surprisingly balanced, 3 floyds is not a one-trick pony -- this is a very unique brew, very nice, very powerful. bright but not acidic. Big props to hopsrus.

Now this is a fantastic brew! Dark copper body with only a little head fighting its way through the thickness.Big malty body with a very nice hop presence. Aromas of cherry and alcohol greet you when you raise your glass. Another perfectly balanced brew. How do they do this. Either the floyds are master brewers with tremendous patience to go through all the hits and misses or they are the luckiest bastards in the world to have found the perfect balance in everything they brew. Either way anyone who has the pleasure of sampling one of their brews is the recipient of some masterful craftmanship.

Tap, FFF, Ratebeer Summer Party 2k3. Big northwestern hop aroma. Big caramel malt flavor. Dryish finish. Excellent.

Draft at Clark’s Ale House in Syracuse...WHAT A FIND! Fruity, malty aroma with hints of spice and citrus. Moderately hazy amber color with a small light tan head. Mmmm creamy maltiness hits the tongue to start...bam. Fruity citrus ethanol burn follows with a nice little hop kick in the ass as this one goes down. Gorgeous lacing too, I might add.

22 oz. bomber thanks to magicbill: Cherry amber color with a small off white head. Honey sweet, fruity aroma (orange and cherry). Flavor starts rich and sweet followed by some cherry flavor and ending with a soft orange rind bitterness. Full body with a creamy texture and soft carbonation. 10.5% ABV well hidden.

copper/brown color, minimal head, beige. aroma is loaded with piney hops and caramel maltiness, brown sugar, and butter. I know the description reads citrus hops, but they are overpowered by piney hops to me. aroma of alcohol is quite faint. flavor is light to moderate alcohol, piney hops with the citrus hops more noticeable in the flavor, brown sugar, caramel and an underlying earthiness. This is indeed a behemoth of a beer. However, at $15/bottle, I’ll never have another. Value-wise, there are many better barleywines out there.