Three Floyds Barrel Aged Alpha Klaus

Brewed by Three Floyds Brewing Company
Style: Imperial/Strong Porter
Munster, Indiana USA

Serve in Shaker, Snifter

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Bottle: The aroma consists of pine, chocolate, vanilla/coconut, and light oak. It pours a dark brown with some orange highlights and a small beige head. The flavor starts with chocolate, caramel, and roasted malt. The finish has light-moderate vanilla, light bourbon, and a touch of oak. It?s medium bodied with mild carbonation.

Bottle 37 shared by someone at MrPickles last tasting - Pours dark brown with a thin tan ring of head. Nose is whiskey--really sharp--with some mellow roast. The barrel is strong with this one, and very off-putting. Taste is a whole ’nother story: real mellow, with the sharp boozy angles smoothed out. Buttery notes mingle with sweet malt and light roast. Yum. It’s pretty thin though--weird. Just a strange beer, and I couldn’t get over the smell--so harsh and detracted so much from the excellent taste.

750 ml bottle. Bottle 205/423. Dark brown pour with coffee colored head. Aroma of strong bourbon. Vanilla, wood, oak and mild booze. I also get notes of licorice, some cookie dough. Flavor of strong bourbon, rich chocolate. Nice, mild dryness. Very smooth and rich. Notes of chocolate, bourbon, vanilla, oak. The alpha Klaus base stands up well to the barrel. Quite a nice beer.

750 ml bottle 124/423, purchased at the second brewpub only DLD ticket sales session. Intermingled aromas of chocolate, nuts, resin, leather, alcohol, vanilla, and oak keep filling my nostrils. It’s color is dark brown, but translucent on the edges. The head is frothy and tan, disappearing completely within minutes. While the taste reflects the aroma, it is not nearly as enjoyable or complex. Some initial sweetness that gives way to light bitterness and an little sting from the bourbon barrel. Oddly reminiscent of Oak Aged Yeti, despite being different base styles. Its body is medium, with a sticky texture, surprisingly lively carbonation, and a long bittersweet finish. This ale really opened up as it warmed, and the lively carbonation enhanced its enjoy-ability. While I generally enjoy the BBA Russian Imperial Stouts most, this is the best 7.5% ABV BBA beer I’ve tasted.

black color, slight quickly disappearing tan head. lacy. nose of bourbon! and dried fruit. flavor begins with an alcohol hit, followed by a touch of vanilla and dried fruit, without a trace of hops. medium bodied, dry finish. excellent! except for the lack lack of hops (which i seriously missed), evidently killed by the barrel. my notes are inconclusive, but suggest that beerbunker may have provided this sample @ a flossmoor station mug club tapping.

Thanks to WeeHeavySD for sharing with me! Pours a deep dark brown with tan bubbles on top. Complex aroma, with oak, malt, and a hint of lemon. Taste of spices, wood, malt, and citrus. Lingering citrus juice, spices, and oak. Odd, but good.

On tap at Three Floyds. Pours black with a tan head. Aroma is of malt, bourbon, spice, chocolate, and wood. Taste is of bourbon, oak, malt, and chocolate. The bourbon and oak flavors overpower the base beer, and it barely comes through. Lingering taste of chocolate and wood. As it warms, more spice and malt start to come through. A slight hop character emerges as it continues to warm. The booze is well masked, but provides a nice warming effect. I was a tad dissapointed since the base beer wasn’t coming through all that well, but it wasn’t bad.

Draft: dark black, thin tan head, aroma of bourbon, taste is bourbon, sweet, some malt, a little bit carbonated

UPDATED: DEC 28, 2009 I had a hit from a fellow clubber’s growler (Thanks!) at the last Flossmoor Station mug club tapping. The body was pretty much black and it had a stunted brown head. The aroma was Bourbon and vanlla, chewy dark malt, and some oak. Very smooth. The taste was a repeat of the aroma, very nice, but I missed the hoppy bite that first drew me to the non-BA version.

Angriest beer trip...EVER! Nice joke. [A] Smell is largely bourbon. Wet oak. Pretty overwhelming until it warms up. Then releases some nice, but very subdued smells of spirity vanilla, chocolatey roast, burnt butterscotch, caramel, toffee. Okay in depth here. [A] Darkest of brown, black into snifter, tan head and ridges. Ruby edges to light. [F] Upfront barrel, booze. Hot. And bourbony. Again, more pleasant and complex at warmer temps, but I found it quite simple, drowned out, and one dimensional here. And I usually have a soft spot for barrel aged brews. [P] Thin mouth. Pretty hot. Slight notes of chocolate on finish. Maybe some remnants of a hop finish, though much of that is gone too. Some kind of bite. [O] This was okay. Price was not unreasonable. $6 snifter. Quite a sipper. Definitely couldn’t hurry this. Not at all an improvement on the base. Could have been a lot better. Thinking the blackberry aged version should deserve a separate listing. But that’s just me. Oak aged? Bourbon barrel aged? Really starting to dislike the terms there as far as ALL brewers go. Are they necessarily the same thing? I don’t know....