Thursday, June 3, 2010

Three Floyds tasting

This was the first event leading up to SAVOR. I missed a big party at ChurchKey the previous night due to work but this will be the first of five days of beer events. And very special events they are.

I didn't know much about Three Floyds but I was starting to notice and hear about their big beers and tattoo-like labels. Being a small brewery in Indiana, nine employees to be exact, they don't distribute here in the DC area. A few dedicated local beer bars have sought out their beer and most beer geeks have heard of Dark Lord Day.

Dark Lord Day is their annual release of their famous Dark Lord Russian Imperial Stout. It is a special small batch beer bottled in 22oz bombers with the top capped and waxed dipped. They sell it one day a year at their brewery. Barnaby, who is one of the nine employees, was representing the brewery at the Brickskeller and said that the second year 50 people showed up and a few years later thousands were showing up. They have a lottery for tickets to actually get a bottle of Dark Lord after people got upset standing in line for five hours and coming up short. It is a very sought after and hyped up beer. I was hoping it would be at this tasting or the Three Floyds beer dinner I am going to tomorrow.

The Brickskeller actually got the beer order correct on the tasting menu which is probably the only time in their decades of existence that has happened. And some good beer it was:

BeerStylePercentage
Gumball Head '09American wheat ale5.6%
Robert the Bruce '09Scottish ale7.2-7.5%
Topless WytchBaltic porter~14-15%
Alpha KingPale ale6.5%
BlackheartEnglish Double IPA9%
DreadnaughtImperial IPA9.5%
BehemothBarleywine12.5%
Whiskey Barrel Aged Dark Lord '09Russian imperial stout13?%

Gumball Head is named after some violent cat somewhere in Three Floyds history. It looks like a filtered beer but Three Floyds does not use any filters or pumps. They believe both take away from the beer. It is a pretty clear beer for no filters. It has a very aromic hop taste. I didn't taste any wheat in this american wheat. Barnaby said they wanted to do their own wheat beer as they do with all styles. The Gumball I tasted was from a 2009 bottle.

Robert the Bruce is their scottish ale. This is a malt bomb. It has a "whole bunch of different malts". 17.5 gravity to 4.2 degrees. This was also a year old bottle.

Topless Wytch comes from the naked Conan the Barbarian character. It is a baltic porter that is only served at the brewery and given to special local accounts. It was a little dry but well balanced beer. I liked it because there wasn't too much chocolate or coffee character. This was from a 2010 keg.

Alpha King is the flagship beer. This was pretty good and a balanced pale ale. It had a citrus aroma as well as a full malt body. Barnaby said the body came from having more residual sugar. It was about 60 IBUs and was another 2009 bottle.

The original name of Blackheart was a Conan the Barbarian character by the name of
Thulsa Doom I think. The Feds didn't like the label so they redesigned it as Blackheart. It is their English Double IPA. It has a big floral nose with some oak flavor. They made a vinaigrette with it at the Craft Brewers Conference.

Their Imperial IPA is the Dreadnaught. This is a step up on hop flavor and has a big floral nose. It is not as dry; has some residual sugar. You can't taste the alcohol at 9%. It is not as malty as the Blackheart or the hops take over more. The malt balance makes it very drinkable. This is supposed to be a fresh beer but this was from a year old bottle.

The Behemoth is of course their Barleywine. They brew it every January. Either I had a nice buzz or I didn't taste the alcohol in this 12.5% beer. Most likely the former. It won gold at the World Cup Beer Awards for Imperial Red.

Next up was what everyone has been waiting for... the legendary Dark Lord Russian Imperial Stout. Sold by lottery to a few lucky people once a year. But this was not just the "normal" Dark Lord. This is one of two special batches of the very special beer. They put away one oak whiskey barrel and another micro batch of vanilla bean aged Dark Lord from the 2009 vintage. I was drinking from that one oak barrel. One barrel is about three kegs. Three kegs of this beer is all that exists (existed) and it was mighty fine. It had that aged syrup aroma but tasted more mellow than I expected (its not aged that long). The whiskey taste was well balanced and might of helped in cutting through the robust stout and aged flavors. We were all happy to get such a sample. It was one of the best whiskey barrel aged beers I've had.

I'm going to a Three Floyds tasting tomorrow (in collaboration with The Bruery) so we'll see what additional (or same) surprises await.

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