Three Floyds Behemoth Barleywine

Bottled poured in a tulip. Yellow wax. Murky and putrid looking. This is not a pleasant looking beer. It looks like something you’d drop your $1500 watch in and say, "Forget it." It smells sweet, like apricots. It has a distinct hop spice aroma to it as well. It smells interesting if a touch sweet for my taste. Oh wow! The first taste really took me by surprise. I wasn’t expecting the huge hop profile even though the liquor store guy told me this was a hop monster. It almost made my eyes water. I’m having an extremely hard time pinpointing this one. It has a sweet body that you have to concentrate to find. The peppery hops don’t just sit on the body but surround it like a casing and has tendrils shooting through the body like vines growing through a sidewalk. The alcohol makes my lips tingle a bit. The whole thing is complex and endlessly interesting. Each sip is another chance to pinpoint the balance. I hope the high alcohol and hop content don’t overwhelm my senses before the end of the beer. This is a beer that you can keep on stock in the "beer cave". Break it out for company that appreciates fine beer. This is a beer that begs to be shared and enjoyed and talked about. Oh yeah, did I mention it’s ugly?

Name: Barley Wine
Date: October 16, 1998
Mode: Firkin
Source: Brewfest, Real Ale Festival
Appearance: hazy amber
Aroma: big spicy malt aroma
Flavor: strong malt flavor, low bitter finish, quaffable, but not distinctive

Aroma: 7/10; Appearance: 5/10; Flavor: 5/10; Palate: 5/10; Overall: 10/20
Rating: 2.8/5.0
Score: *4

Name: Behemoth
Date: March 08, 2006
Mode: Bottle
Source: Trade
Vintage: 2005
Appearance: dark clear red, whispy tan head
Aroma: sweet carmel malt aroma with hints of fruit and earthy hops
Body: big sweet body
Overall: rich and malty, sweet and fruity, alcohol fumes, long bitter finish, some time will help the fruit ripen and the bitterness to blend and subside

Aroma: 7/10; Appearance: 6/10; Flavor: 7/10; Palate: 6/10; Overall: 14/20
Rating: 3.4/5.0
Drinkability: 6/10
Score: **+/4

Name: Behemoth
Date: July 07, 2007
Mode: Bottle
Source: Roadtrip
Vintage: 2007
Appearance: opaque burnt orange, creamy beige head that settles down into a fine head but is easily roused again, specks of dripy lace
Aroma: rich sweet hot dark caramel aroma with lots of fruity character balanced by earthy hops
Body: creamy velvet body that starts to get a bit sticky after a while
Flavor: rich dark caramel malt flavor, fruity sweetness is balanced by lots of earthy bitterness, warming
Overall: should age very well for many years

Name: Behemoth
Date: January 12, 2008
Mode: bottle
Source: tasting
Vintage: 2007<

Yellow wax. Was planning on saving this one for a while, but couldn’t help myself. Aroma a thick caramel with typical FFF grapefruit surging and pulsing along the undertow. Ruby body, clear with slow-rising carbonation and lacing, rocky, luscious tan head. Sweet floral notes with caramel and lots of pine, with sticky overripe fruit underpinning a dash of Schwarzbrot. Thick, full body, dripping with alcohol, really boozy. Tongue-numbing and hefty middle, big cherries and a scoop of hop resin finishing out the very dry end and toffee-leaning aftertaste. On the whole, this is the logical, predictable FFF take on the style, down to the last detail, very delicious. And though she’s a solid, worthy offering, this gal’s not worth the $16 (in-state).

Pours caramel / bronze with a modest dense tan head. The aroma is hoppy as all hell with lots of tropical simcoe-like traits, some pine and citrus, rich caramel malt backing, molasseses and biscuit - excellent. Thick body that is very smooth and used oil weight with a small amount of carbonation. This beer is massive in all the rich ways for a barleywine. The flavor starts with sweet tropical fruits (pineapple and passion fruit mainly), lush caramel malt, dark fruits, brown sugar, subdued abv warmth, rich toffee-like malts and some sharpness. The finish is highly resiny with all the hops, deep rich sweet malt and bitter complex hops leading to a puckering blend of the two. This is significantly better than I expected. I’ll try to get another as this would be interesting to compare the somewhat fresh to the aged version.

(Bottle, thanks JCapriotti) Pours beautiful clear deep red. Intense malt and hop aroma with fat tones of caramel, syrup, honey and fudge.English fruit cake and dried fruits like raisins, figs and apricots. Also some fennel, rose pepper, vanilla and hyacinth. Hops bring citrus - mostly grapefruit, but also some resin, apricot and tiny notes of pine, herbal tea and flowers. Hints of other more subtle tropical fruits underneath the massive hop blanket. Some alcohol warmth. Rather creamy nose. Fruity, caramelly and very hoppy flavour with notable alcohol warmth. Complex maltiness of syrup, fudge, dark bread and a sweet fruitiness. The finish is quite dry and floral/citric tart. Hints of vanilla. Thick, chewy, round, soft and a bit sticky mouthfeel. Light to medium sweet with late medium bitterness. Full body. Typical, massive FFF, full in every corner styley. Leaves your palate numb. Fantastic.

Bomber with yellow wax. Well, I guess it’s almost fall month or so away, so I think it’s time enough for this brew to mature. Quite a robust hoppy and malt nose at first. Caramel, oak, a bit of orange notes. with the malt overtones intermingling with a nice hop aroma. Appearance is a murky brownish/red with a medium sized tan head that diminshes into a soapy tan film. Taste is a nice caramel malt characteristic, a smokey oak flavor, and a predominant hop characteristics intertwind. Palate has a rather sticky and sweet aftertaste with a slight alcohol burn in the back of the throat. Overall, as a barley wine it’s really drinkable, but not the best ever that I’ve had.

In a word, hoppy drinkable barleywine. Nicely hopped up but there have been other hoppy barleywines I have had that are more complex. Good head and hoppy aroma.

2 0z bottle. Pours golden orange with no head. Aroma of caramel, toffee, and sweet malt. Flavors of caramel, toffee, malt and faint hops. The barley wine flavors were there, however, they seemed muted, almost like a watered down barley wine. Very average.