Three Floyds Dreadnaught Imperial IPA

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

220 Oz bomber courtesy of Sam's in Chicago. Ruby copper with the sort of head you need to coax out of it. Intensely strong and beautiful hop aroma. Malt is substantial, and given the nature of this beer, surprisingly balanced hop/malt quality. Hop characteris obviously stron, but not otherworldly in character. Nice carbonation. Given the heft if this beer and its balance, I'm surprisingly less than glowing in my overall enjoyment. The parts are there, but lacking the synergy of a world class beer. Its not bad by any definition of the word, and I would probably drink it often to satisfy a hop craving if it were readily available locally, but for me it is not one of the top 50 beers in the world.

Medium amber orange clear with a medium lasting pale orange-beige head. Super perfumed fruity peach and floral hops aroma. Clean beautifully balanced stone fruit sweetness and hoppy dry flavours with hints of marizipan and rosewater. The citrus floral character becomes a tad overwhelming in the long finish and aftertaste. Otherwise outstanding.

Rerate- Just had my first bottle from the factory, what a beer. Easily my new favorite IPA. Well hopped. On tap this was excellent, I hope when its bottled it comes out as well.

Lots of pine and orange in the nose. Beautiful crystal clear copper body with a small vanishing head. Taste of orange and pine, with a slam of bitterness. Good bitterness, interesting sweet toffee, not enough malt and too much alcohol for my taste. Too thin in the mouth to be other than ok. Good bitter finish. A good IPA. Too expensive for what it delivers. I prefer the grapefruit taste of a Stone Ruination, the menthol of a Hop Wallop, or even the old standby of a Hop Devil or a Dogfish 90 Minute. Surprising, since IPA is my favorite style. This one just was not remarkable. // Tried it again and the small amount of extra time seems to have helped. It still seems very orange, very hoppy, very bitter ... but it’s making a better impression on me this time.

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!

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

Bottle. Dark golden with a stable head. The hop blast was instantaneous once the crown was removed from the bottle. There’s no shadow of doubt this is the hoppiest beer I’ve ever had. The nose is superb. It’s in your face, brash and makes no excuses for it. Massive tropical fruit basket of goodness. Grapefruit, citrus, mango, pineapple and even slightly herbal (minty) as well. Tastes great - plenty of caramel malt to support the hop bomb. The flavour is very toffeeish when it all comes together. As expected the mouthfeel is sticky but no sign of the abv. Huge bitterness right through to the finish. As I mentioned this is one hoppy mofo with palate destroying bitterness. Awesome stuff! A good bottle to share - too much and you’d suffer palate fatigue early on - this one reaches the threshold! Massive props to Jase (volcanicbeat) for sharing!

2008 Bottle - Thanks motortoddhead! - Pours a hazy orange with a large crere colored head...cascading bubbles in the glass put on a great show...aroma is a sweet bitterness, pine resin, pineapple malt...flavour does not disappoint, biting bitterness that is tempered with a tropical fruit malt balance...the malt dissipated in the mouth and you are left with a residual bitterness...I know I should have drank this fresh, but a year in the bottle and this is still fantastic...