Three Floyds Behemoth Barleywine

Brewed by Three Floyds Brewing Company
Style: Barley Wine
Munster, Indiana USA

Serve in Snifter

send corrections   |   shelftag   |   edit barcodes   |   update pic

Bottle thanks to Phaleslu!!! Shared with many appreciators. Deep, slightly hazed amber pour with a thin and creamy beige cap. This beer has the biggest nose I have ever experienced! It drips with fruitiness. From mango, to peaches, to apricot, to pear. Also in the nose, bready caramel malts some alcohol, and a massive amount of hops. But it is the tropical fruit note that makes this really special! Tastes as I expected. Loads of fresh tropical fruit like mango, melon, and other fruits, piney bitter hops balance perfectly, and lead to sweet caramel towards the finish, with the alcohol not all that detectable. Chewy, resiny finish with loads of tropical fruit and lingering bitterness. One of the best beers I have ever had. Thanks so much Peter!!!

UPDATED: MAY 15, 2007 Pours a wonderful brown/orange with aa nice orangy yellow head that is about as dense and solid looking as foam can be. Aroma makes you think this is gonna be a complete hop-bomb! Yikes. Tones of pine and grapefruit and if you don’t swirl the glass, you might catch some of that caramel and brown sugar. Thankfully the taste is balanced. Incredibly well-balanced too, to the point where am I asking how is that possible with a beer so not-yet-aged? There’s a lot of caramel flavor, toffee, nuts, a very very light roast, and a wonderful hop flavor. The hop flavor isn’t all that bitter either. Instead, it has more of a citrus and grassy taste. As I swallow there’s a little more roast, some cherry, and pine. The beer finishes woody, a bit dry, and the sweet, buttery, grassy taste of the hops lingers forever. Wonderful! That part reminds me of Great Divide’s Fresh Hop. Possibly other fresh hop ales as well, but that’s the only one I’ve had. The texture of this beer was very creamy, the carbonation was light, but there, and the flavors were so wonderfully blended, I don’t see why this beer would need to age, based on the flavor now. Perhaps aging would change the aroma and make it less IIPA-like, but I’m pretty stunned by how good this was. Worth the price of admission, despite being mostly unaffordable in the first place. Stunned....

Tried some ’05 Behemoth, thanks to Lumpy, I believe. This was a lot different than the fresh beer. Aroma of some molasses, old almost stale hoppiness, wood, and cheese. Some caramel, syrup, leaves, chocolate and toffee to the taste, but it didn’t feel as full-bodied as the fresh beer. There’s a nice earthy hop flavor to the finish, and some butter. Not bitter at all. Mouthfeel was not as creamy, and a bit too slick. Taste had weakened compared to the fresh beer. A good beer, but aging this one would appeal to someone else as I thought it was worlds better when fresh. 7/4/7/4/14

Degarth comes over the top to bust this bad boy out towards the finish of our tasting. I was drunk as fuck at this point, so my notes didn’t turn out too well. I do remember with 100% of my mind that it was one of the best beers I had ever had at the time I had this. Knowing that I was drunk I dialed a friend and tried to describe it to him, but my speech was impaired as well. Anyways here is what I got: Ruby red with a tan head. Aroma was citrus or citrus rinds. Beautiful citrus rinds. Ah good hops and shit. Drunk hops and shit. Flavor = 9 + 5. Thanks Degarth this one ruled!

UPDATED: JUN 13, 2008 07 bottle share with cmr1517. Pours a murky copperish color with small white head and little retention. Cane sugar and piney hops in the aroma along with some citrus I couldn’t pin down. Very smooth mouth feel. Nice calm beginning on the drink with some toffee and citrus followed by the BIG BANG of a finish consisting of hops and a relaxed cane sugar sweetness. Very warm going down and had almost a numbing sensation minutes after each sip. Amazing beer.

Re-rate, ’08 Bottle: Poured at DLD 08, copper in color with a massive white/cream head and ridiculous lacing...Wow, this time around the hops are fresh and ready to pounce, immense floral and piney hop aroma with the aforementioned notes of candied sugar and some caramel malt. Thick mouth feel, very sticky...the flavor on this just comes out and kills it from the start...huge floral hop flavor melds into an amalgam of caramel malts and sweet candied sugar and still finishes with a piney hop kick that would kick Chuck Norris in his nuts and cease to be a Norris-ism in the process. Perfect. Rating reflects this bottle.

UPDATED: MAR 4, 2008 On tap (if I remember correctly) at Three Floyds brewpub. Quite a big barleywine-- loud and proud. Has that distinct 3F hop flavor-- helps hide the alcohol. I couldn’t drinkt his all night-- one glass was plenty. But it was extremely complex in flavor and well balanced for such a potent brew. 3-2-08 on tap at FFF: Better than I remembered. Did they tweak the recipe, or did the brewing gods just smile down on this batch? What a wonderful initial hop aroma and flavor. And then the complex barleywine flavors slowly take over the palate-- just sublime. Closest beer to a perfect rating that I’ve had in a long time.

2007 (yellow wax) bomber into sniffer. Pours a hazy, caramel copper color with red notes and a big creamy off-white head that allows for great lacing. The head is very dense with tiny bubbles - perfect. I can actually smell this brew from my glass across the counter. It has an amazing and potent aroma that includes doughy and biscuity malt, grapefruit hops, and cherries beneath Christmas cake. Stunning. The flavor has a lot going on, lacks any flaw characteristics, and does not include nearly as much alcohol flavor as the abv. would suggest. And, the alcohol flavor is like that of a complex whiskey or red wine and exhibits a perfect warming characteristic. Other flavors include caramel, dough, hop bitterness on the front and juicy grapefruit hops on the finish. Unbelievable. The brew gets sweeter as it warms, bit still does not prove to be overly sweet - literally a perfect balance. Also, again, as it gets warmer, a refreshing pine hop character begins protrude through the other flavors. Brews only gets 5 for palate from me if they are very thick, full bodied, coating, and smooth, as this brew is. Overall: the name Behemoth is perfectly fitting because this is a monster of a brew. To me it represents a perfect example of the Barley Wine style. I would have probably given this brew a 5 if I could bring myself to give a beer a 5 out of 5. The price might scare you (16 dollars per bomber at a the store I bought it at, 22 dollars at the pub I work at), but it is worth every penny of that price, and more. A perfect brew experience.

22oz bottle, yellow wax 2007. Had this from notes bottle shared at REM release. One of the best BW’s I’ve had. Pours a wonderful caramel hue, slight head. Aromas are filled with toffee, vanilla, caramel, and slight citrus from the hops still present in the nose. Palate is tremendously balanced and smooth with a slight bittering finish. Flavors and bold following the nose perfect, great weight too, nothing thin. Would I say this could go longer? Yes. Ages so good.

650 ML bottle, 2010 Blue Wax - Pours deep caramel, thin 1/2 finger tan head. Huge bouquet, more than words can describe. Huge beer, biggest beer I’ve ever had. Such complexity, such flavor!! Marvelous!

UPDATED: APR 21, 2011 22 oz. bottle, sent from Glouglouburp, pours a gorgeous dark mahogany with a small beige head. Marvelous aroma of dark dried fruits (raisins, cherries, figs, dates), some nuts, toffee, caramelized sugar, and a hint of molasses. Incredibly complex flavour - toffee and dried fruits begin initially, with burnt caramel, toasted nuts, a little smoke, pine, and a dark molasses finish, with only a tiny tingle of an alcohol burn (exceptionally well-worked in for 12%). This is a masterpiece of beer. Thanks so much for the opportunity to try this, Dany!

Pours a dark copper. Aroma of hops and a floral citrus. Rich smooth taste of caramel and malted barley. Hints of hops as well. A+ beer all around.