Three Floyds Behemoth Barleywine

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

22 oz, waxed dipped bottle (first bottle release, fresh): resiny grapefruit aroma, sharp alcohol and thick pine. Bubble gummy hop flavours with sticky chlorophyll and caramel hop juice. Pine needles shape the finish and tasty hop-belches ensure quickly. Not quite as good as I remember from the growlers I sampled, but perhaps 6-8 months in the bottle will solve that…7/4/8/4/16
Growler, November 2002: Deep cedar red. Hoppy alcohol nose. A deep warming eases the body and the mind, blissful thoughts fill my head as the caramel and fruit swirl in my mouth. 3 Floyds: please don’t ever stop. 8/5/8/4/17

Pink Wax - Dark hazy coppery crimson, thin creamy white head. Complex aromas of orange marmalade and floral pine ride undercurrents of sherry, burnt brown sugar, and swirls of black cherry. Big sticky bitter pine and orange flavors weave through notes of musty caramel and cherry molasses. 12% warms throughout. Massive full bodied, soft carbonation, bittersweet finish. An awesome barley wine that has aged gracefully...

Perturbingly smooth drinking from my first three floyds brew. This one pours a cloudy reddish brown color with a tiny off white head, little if any. The aroma hints at sweetness, fruity esters, caramel malts, definite hops presence, and citrus. The taste is a beautiful amalgamation of smooth caramel malts..just perfectly sweet with a tiny bittering alcohol presence. Fruity orange and citrus undertones caress the palate. Little carbonation level, just perfect in almost every respect. Total aftertaste explosion in the mouth. An extremely nice barleywine!!!

Hops stand out in the aroma - resiny, piney, and peach-grapefruit citrusy; alcohol is next - peppery and fruity with a slight burn; and lastly there is some caramel malt to provide some balance. Clear ruby-amber color, thin wisps of off-white head linger, but very little head formation or retention overall. Caramel-fruity sweetness overpowered by resiny hop bitterness in the flavor - big flavors all around, with bitterness winning out in the end. Full body, some hop-derived astringency and mild alcohol burn, moderate carbonation - not really easy-drinking, but less harsh than some other barleywines. Overall, this is a big, in-your-face barleywine. Imagine a souped-up car stereo - everything is cranked to the max, the whole car is shaking, but it is high quality system - loud but little distortion. Is it too loud? That’s a matter of personal taste - but this is definietly barleywine cranked to the max.

A dark amber to brown appearance. The aroma is pine, mint, tobacco, and some alcohol. The flavor is quite sweet but the hop presence is definitley there. Some pine shows in the flavor along with strawberries, brandy, pine, and caramel. The aftertaste is syrupy and warming. This one is quite complex and BIG like most of the 3Floyds beers. I liked it. Thanks CaptCougar for bringing this one.

Wow...what an incredible Barley wine. Great flavor that improves markedly as the beer warms. Beautiful coloration, a nice subtle hoppiness...excellent!

Rerate 2009 just didn’t match up compared to 2008. A little less hops in the aroma and flavor. Still a wonderful brew, but a little something is missing.

May 28, 2008 2008 Bottle. Dark red in color with a warm sweet taste that is well accented by strong hop character. I really enjoyed the balance in this beer. More hoppy and bitter than most barely wines out there, but the really impressive thing is how wonderfully smooth this beer is. At 12%, it’s smoother than almost any other barely wine I’ve ever had. Complex, flavorful, and a complete joy to drink. [8.5.8.5.18]

2007 Bottle: The beer was dark amber to brown in color and poured a 1/4" head with tight bubbles that dissipated leaving some random lacing. The nose was filled with candied orange rinds, caramel, pine, grapefruit and malt balls. In the mouth it was of medium density, rich and mouth-coating. The beer built into the midpalate and showed the sweet malt from the nose. The finish was lingering and turned dry though kept some sweetness. Overall, an enjoyable beer now that seems like it will age well over the next 3 - 5 years especially if it loses a touch of sweetness.