7 Days of Christmas Beers – Three Floyds ‘Alpha Klaus’

On the third day of Christmas, my cooler brought to me…a bomber of Alpha Klaus. Like most of Chicago, I’ve been on a major IPA kick, but Three Floyd’s Christmas might just bring me back to porters.

Alpha Klaus is Alpha King’s festive cousin. A big American Christmas Porter brewed with English chocolate malt, Mexican sugar and of course, tons of strange American hops. Cheers! November release.

While some breweries’ descriptions of their beers are cryptic in the hopes that you’ll just give it a shot since you can’t tell beforehand if you’d like it or not, this one is pretty much spot on. There isn’t an absurd tale woven around actually describing the taste; instead they hit on the main ingredients and flavors.

From the jump you immediately notice the chocolate malt and Mexican sugars. They make for a very interesting combination, and if you’ve ever had Mexican hot chocolate, you know what I mean. If you haven’t…well, you’re missing out. The roasted malts give it a thick creamy feel but the abundance hops keep it light and easy to drink.

Again, much like advertised, the hops are more prevalent than in many porters. Their citrus and pine smell does somewhat dominate the aroma, but the flavors blend perfectly into the beer, making for a great balance. It also helps keep a big, yet strange, flavor profile for which Three Floyds is so well known. Carbonation is spot on, adding to the feel but not altering the taste.

Vital Stats: 6.0% ABV 38 IBUs. BeerAdvocate has it at A- and it’s 100 on RateBeer. Today’s quote is actually about the 2005 version, but it was too good not to share. Plus, after reading it I think you will agree that it would have been entirely useless to you even if it was for a 2011 bottle.

Nose is a little weird but no off flavors: sort of mustic attic (very strong), wet cedar, old pine cone/woodland potpourri, spicy meat, spicy lemon/lemon tea. But then it quickly devolves to classic black olives and brine that plague heavy stouts/porters. This is thankfully balanced by heavy raisins and Raisinettes. Taste is not too heavy with nice spicy potpourri, cinnamon, leaves, spicy orange peel and dried lemon. Palate feels thinner, light lemon with a slight tang but lots of cocoa butter and thick chocolate in the finish.

Day 1: Great Lake Brewing – Christmas Ale

Day 2: Anchor Brewing – Our Special Ale 2011

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