Alpha Klaus

I admit that I am totally biased towards beers brewed here in the great state of Indiana. I am also super biased to Three Floyd's, since it was the first brewery that I made an effort to visit. I consider their Christmas beer, Alpha Klaus, to be a gift given directly to me from them.

Alpha Klaus pours out a dark red almost black oily color with a light tan head. The head sits atop the beer like dirty snow covering a dark mud puddle... sorry not my best analogy. It left lacing up to the top of the glass like frost on the window... better. It had a abv of 6% and 38 IBUs.

The beer smells like chocolate and grapefruit hops with a bit of piney-ness. It smelled hoppier than most of the Christmas beers I've had this season. It was also a bit thinner and more effervescent than I expect from a Christmas porter.

The flavor has a citrus hop flavor up front, which when mixed with the aroma this can be pretty intense. It moves into a chocolatey malt flavor with some nice winter spices. In a lot of holiday beers the brewers go a bit overboard with the spice. I get it, spice is what makes it a holiday beer, but make sure it tastes like a beer first. This one did a good job with that. From that spicy note it moved back to the citrus and pine hop flavor. It closes with a subtle dryness that reminds me of bitter sweet chocolate. It leaves a bit of a bitter flavor on your tongue that just seems to make me thirsty for another sip.

This is a fun and unique holiday beer. I don't know that I would be excited to drink it all the time, but it will always make me smile during the holiday season.







Hoppier than I like but I give it a 3.5