Follow Sean Inman to the best in craft beer
There is a subculture that likes to mash up the horror of Halloween with Christmas, if that is your jam, then Three Floyds has the Santa for you…
“Alpha King’s festive cousin. A big American Xmas Porter brewed with English chocolate malt, Mexican sugar and, of course, tons of strange American hops.”
As threatened at the start of the month, I will be reviewing ALL 13 of the special Sierra Nevada Beer Camp collaborations in August. I had my non-drinking wife randomly select the order and we start here with 3 Floyds and the Chico King.
“Chico King is a mash-up of our mutual passion for hoppy pale ales and combines a uniquely robust malt body with intense citrusy and fruity new school hop varietals.”
The King pours a dark but still luminous orange color with quite a bit of foam and lacing to it. The aroma is split between a toasty malt note and grapefruit pith with the toast coming out more and more as you smell it.
The taste is bright and carbonated. Lot of bubbles rising in the glass as you watch it. Bitterness sticks everywhere and, for me, primarily on the front of the tongue. I keep coming back to toast but this is almost like having good bread with a tart marmalade on it. The peel note isn’t there but this has that type of flavor mix going on. The beer tastes heavier than the 6.5% noted on the label.
I have not had a pale quite like this though I would guess you could call this an IPA without anyone batting an eye. Good start to my randomized journey through Sierra Nevada’s Beer Camp.
Tomorrow, I will give the full rundown on my first time at the second Firestone-Walker Invitational, to whet your appetite, here are some photos from my day in Paso Robles….
From Firestone’s Pivo, New Belgium’s Peach Whiskey Barrel aged Prickly Passion Saison, Bell’s Raspberry Wild One and lastly barrel aged Dark Lord from Three Floyds.
Gigantic Brewing has come out of the gate strong with a who’s who roster of collaborators in their first few months.
Pelican, Oakshire, Anchorage, Laurelwood, Breakside and now Three Floyds. That is a breakneck pace of brewing but a smart way to hit the ground running. I think I will have to send my mom on a Gigantic beer buying binge for me.
Oh, and GO TIMBERS!
What do you get when you combine the crazy of Dogfish Head and the crazy of Three Floyds?
You get Poppaskull which the label describes as “a collaborative brew between Dogfish Head and Three Floyds. It’s a kinda-sorta Belgian-esque style golden ale fermented with a touch of green cardamom and 35% aged in oak brand barrels.”
These are the (4) breweries that I cannot get out here in Southern California but really want to try…..
Three Floyds
Magic Hat
Cigar City
and most of all…..NEW GLARUS!
What brewery do you wish distributed to you?