Three Floyds Behemoth Barleywine

Thanks to sprinkle for this one. I’m eternally in debt with you, sir!
Pours a slightly hazy bold amber color. Head is medium to small, off-white and diminishes rather slowly, leaving a film and a thicker lace around. Aroma is initially very hoppy, intense and powerful with a perfumey character. Notes of rhubarb, cedar, maple wood, straw. Big flowery notes come afterwards accompanied by piney, resinous touches, cherries and a huge backbone of caramel malt. Enticing. This can’t be bad. Intense, strong flavor, surprisingly well balanced between malty and hoppy profiles. It feels initially bitter with quite a lot of IBU’s, but each sip reveals new things. Oh, it’s so complex! Cognac, unblended scotch Whisky, fruity liquors and digestivs. In the back, huge amounts of cereals, caramel, peanuts, nougat and even some tropical fruit salads. Mango, Guayabas... I feel like in Easter Island again. The finish is so intense it overwhelms your entire body. The body of the beer is huge, feeling like a dense syrup. Full mouthfeel with low to mid carbonation. Good alcoholic presence with a punch that warms you. You could drink this naked in Alaska and you wouln’t feel the cold. The aftertaste is godly and lingers forever. I drank this yesterday and I still feel it. My God, it’s over already! My first extreme American Micro. Unbelievable.

2008 Bottle release - Purple Wax

[2008 Bottle] Fruity, malt sweet aroma- loads of esters. Dark amber, brown appearance. Flavors are very malty, with a massive dose of citrus hop bitterness. Though its a really huge beer, it remains very smooth, and easily drinkable. Dense, mouth coating feel. Finishes with a bit of warmth, but nothing too harsh or overwhelming.

Thanks to Haslinger for this brew. Pour is dark golden with barely any head. Aroma is very malty with slight notes of caramel and bitterness. Very bitter beginning to the taste that ends with a strong malt character and an alcoholic kick going down. There was no taste of the alcohol in the flavor which was nice. Pretty good. Might buy again.

Bottle (yellow wax) from STFUN! Color was a nice amber. One finger head, with a good lacing. Smells delicious! Sweet fruits and floral hop notes. Taste is even better. Sweet malt, raisons, hops and sugary. More hops then I expected, which is a good thing. Medium texture but smooth and easy to drink. I think barleywines are becoming one of my favorite brews. They are really complex but simply good! Thanks Josh!

I gotta agree with Bartzilla on one point - Its a palate crusher. I disagree on all other points. This medium red-amber has a lovely floral nose and this belies the enormous bite that registers on all levels! There is more malt flavor with all the candy and caramel that goes with it than could possible be covered by any but the most outrageous amt of hops - and this has it in the back middle and front. And lovely alcohol. This is what FFF does thae best and this is the best. I don’t think I could dring more than two of these, but, not bad....

2005 and 2007 22oz bombers shared with the Fight Night drinking crew, big thanks to Pineypower and dickinsonbeer for checking my wants list and bringing these bad boys. First off the 05 blew the doors off the 07 in every single catagory. I expected 2 years to make a difference with things like aroma and flavor but appearance?? The 07 was so much duller and lighter then the 05, they didn’t even look like the same beer. Aroma was tons of caramel, toffee, grains and sweetness. Flavor was great with lots of caramel, toffee, biscuit, slight alcohol. Palate was syrupy and thick just the way I like my big beers. I need to get some now and hold onto it for a minimum of two years to see if it’s age or batch difference with this one.

22 oz bottle 2007 release, courtesy of Acknud. Pours a cloudy reddish, amber color with a thick off white head. Nice ring of sticky lace rings my snifter. Very attractive beer. Mouthfeel is thick & chewy. Almost like you could take a bite of the stuff and savor it. Complex nose. Dark fruits, caramel, floral hops. All in there. Taste is as intense as the nose. A lot of up front hop bite. Resiny and piney and first, then the caramel and dark fruit flavors come out. At 12 % abv theres some alcohol bite too!. This was a wonderful drinking experience.

Reddish with a low light head that dissipates quite quickly. Minimal lacing. Nice carbonation, well balanced flavors. A bit hoppy nose and notes on your palate but never overwhelms. This is a serious barley wine that no doubt ages beautifully. On tap at FFF Dark Lord day 2008.