Three Floyds Alpha Klaus Christmas Porter

I’m very impressed with this beer. It is slightly hoppy and extremely roast-y without a tremendous amount of chocolate or coffee. It reminds me a great deal of Founder’s Black Rye, which I tremendously enjoy. Color is a dark black, but is not the inky-black of imperial porters. As the beer went from bottle to glass, it appeared more of a light brown. Aroma is lightly of centennial hops, superceded by pleasing chocolate malt roastiness. Flavor is very dry and roasty, but not too cholate-y or coffee-ish. The dryness is great, and reminsicent of Founder’s Black Rye to me. Mouthfeel is almost "chalky," perhaps due to the dry character of this beer, but somehow matches the flavors I’m detecting. Quite drinkable. I’ve been saving this beer for the right occasion where I can properly enjoy this beer, and this afternoon in front of March Madness is it.

Bottle: Dark body, very nice head with good lacing. Aroma has cracker, heavy amounts of pine, mild chocolate, licorice, smoke. Very hoppy nose. In the mouth, starts very dry with some lite chocolate malts. As the dryness starts to disappear, the chocolate flavors become more pronounced, with coffee-like dryness, smokiness, spice, and licorice notes. After the swallow, I noted a nice coffee and spice flavor, with a wonderful sweet chocolate quality that hit me after a while. Alcohol became very present as the beer warmed. Worth all the excitement.

Bottle at Capones. pours dark with a decent size tan head. Aroma of hops, chocolate, and roasted malts. The flavor is slightly sweet upfront, chocolate, roast and finishes with a mild bitter kick.

Bottle from Paul. Thanks buddy. dark brown with small tan head, very carbonated and big bubbles. Aroma is very alive with chocolate and hops as is the flavor. Lots of grapefruit hops covered in chocolate. Alcohol noted, but not bad. I think this would be better suited as a Black and Tan.

Bottled. Pours black with a tan head. Very hoppy aroma with orange, chocolate and coffee notes. Bitter chocolate and coffee malt flavors. Bitter. Probably the hoppiest porter I’ve ever tried!

Really really really dark brown, almost black but not quite. The aroma is of light roasted malts with some coffee notes and bit of chocolate. The flavour has a bitterish roast flavour when cold, it gets more coffee like and chocolatey when it warms. It’s tastey and good, yet not very complex and full of flvours.

Pours a black color with a brown head. Aroma is of roasted malts, chocolate, coffee, caramel, and plenty of citrus hops. Flavor starts of with the roasted malts, chocolate and a hint of coffee but finishes bitter with the citrus hops. A decent blend of hops and roasted malts on this one. A decent porter but I still like the porters that have more of a roasted flavor to it.

NorCal tasting Feb 07 - Interesting brew to say the least. A really nice hop blast in the nose, with everything else taking a back seat. Appearance is a rich, dark chocolately brown color with a nice head. Mouthfeel was watery and thin though. Flavor was all floral hops, with a decent sweet malt backbone. This really had me confused. It was a nice IPA (albeit dark as hell) but a porter? Let’s just call it good and move on. Interesting stuff!