Three Floyds Alpha Klaus Christmas Porter

My 1st Three Floyd’s!!! Dark black, tan head. Very inviting appearance. Very big taste for a porter. Maybe I’ve been deprived to date. Pine (hoppy) aroma along with nuts, toasted notes. Oily palate, italian coffee roast feel, dry, lots of hops. I’ve had weaker Imperial Stouts.

bomber. Aroma: chocolate, citrus, toffee, and a delicious roasty aroma. Also got some hints of nutmeg or cinnamon. Appearance: Voluminous, creamy, light tan head. Beer is black in color with almost no highlights when held to the light. A fantastic looking beer. Flavor: coffee, chocolate, and some malt sweetness at first, and then an intense roasty flavor which almost crosses into a smoky flavor. Bitterness seems to be a combination of hops and the natural bitterness of heavily roasted malt. Detected notes of citrus in the hop finish. Palate: Medium-full bodied. Carbonation seemed a bit high. Slight astringency in the finish. Overall: An excellent porter and another success from 3F.

Bottle. Amazing head that consumes 60% of the glass. Smells of toffee, coffee and alcohol. Deep chocolate flavor. A bit sweet. Likely this would be better on the Winter soltice and not the summer one.

Dark black pour with an initially huge and fizzy brown head. Predominately chocolate with some citrus hops evident. Initially, this beer is a mix of coffee, expresso and, of course, chocolate. Midway you get the tingly hops pretty strong and the finish is more hops with coffee and a bit of alcohol on the back end. Very bitter finish. Perhaps a bit too carbonated, bordering on distracting. I do appreciate the rather nice hopping in this porter... just wish it was a bit smoother. Oddly enough, there is some pine in the aftertaste which seems appropriate. Not so sure it deserves such a high rating.

Poured from a 22 oz. Bomber. Is that the grinch on the label. Nevertheless, an interesting label. Poured into a snifter and it was filled with a large, almost obnoxious head. Typical porter aroma, but you can tell there’s also some hoppiness to this brew. An absolute joy to smell, oh wow! It’s extremely inviting. Having to wait to taste as each pour contributes a massive head, which slowly disappates. As it warms, I just can’t wait to start sipping this. Excellent porter, maybe the best I’ve tried to date.

Growler. One half of one gallon. Poured and consumed the same evening. Pours as blank and black as the time before you were born. Excellent head. You couldn’t see through this if you held it up to the sun. Smells like grapefruit death hops mixed with raw porter chocolate. Wow. Nearly as hoppy as the Alpha King only with a wonderful malt balancing it out. Tastes; mix a perfect IPA with a perfect porter and somehow have them both retain their perfect complexity and not bash into each other and this what you get. The stages are so distinct it’s like you’re taking a sip of one beer and then a sip of another. Big bread, yeast, and grapefruit hops in stage one, hitting you all in a rush. Followed up by earthy roasted chocolate, raw like potting soil or summertime sex, growing into a more processed, candied chocolate, and ending on a big hit of hops.

I couldn’t distinguish this one from several other very good stout / porters (it wasn’t unique, but it was very good). Poured a dark brown to black with a very thin head that didn’t lace much at all. The aroma was of chocolate and light hops. The flavor was much of the same (roasted malts included) and the hops (somewhat piney) were light enough to be enjoyable in a style I don’t like them exagerated in. Mouthfeel was fairly heavy and somewhat creamy.

Thanks to px2grafx. Black body, ridiculously large pillowy head that refused to die. Like saisonesque. Excellent lacing. Aroma is roast, coffee, chocolate and caramel. Flavor is very bitter roast. While I can’t really pick out any flaws here, I still think there are better examples out there. This is one of the most bitter ones I’ve had from roast alone. There’s still a hop presence, but nothing crazy. I couldn’t get any notes of sugar like the description said.