Pilgrimage: Three Floyds

Last Saturday we took a road trip from Indy up to Munster, Indiana to have lunch at Three Floyds (3Floyds, FFF). There are a few things to keep in mind if you decide to go. We didn't know these things ahead of time so I'm telling you in the hopes that you can learn from our experience.

1. There will be a line to get into the brew pub. The line is just a courtesy kind of thing and because I think people have a natural tendency to form lines while they wait. When you get there, be sure that someone in your group goes inside and puts your name on the list. We'd been there for about an hour when we realized this was how it was done. Oops. The nice thing is once you put your name in, you can get into the real line for the little shop area and buy some beers and other goodies to take home.

2. Go on a nice day. You'll be waiting outside and there's no cover. It would be bad in the rain. Also, pack sunscreen. The Professor had just shaved his head to raise money for children's cancer research. Pretty sure he got sunburned all over his head.

We planned the trip before we knew they were releasing I <3 Deesko that weekend, so our timing was unintentionally perfect. Everybody got some beer to take home, and a few t-shirts made their way back with us as well.

 

**If you look closely you may see Ghostbusters playing on the screen behind us

Once you're in the brew pub, prepare to be pleasantly surprised. The beer selection on tap is fantastic,both with the FFF selections and the guest brews. My favorites of the day were Sand Pebbles, Tonnere Neige, And Jinx Proof all by FFF. If you can make it through the first three pages of the menu, all beer, to the last page, you get to see the food selections. Pork rind nachos? Absolutely. Cheeseburger on a pretzel bun with a fried egg? Don't mind if I do. Think gourmet pub food that really pairs well with the beer. We came just for the beer and expected to have something to eat while we were there, but I'm just as likely to go back for the food.

Lots of heavy metal in the background and a movie playing on the wall add to the fun atmosphere. We didn't do the tour this time, but it's definitely on my list. All in, we had a great time, and I'm already looking forward to going back.

O-Dawg: The Big Guy and I did one of these a year back during the week.  A couple of stark differences between the two?  Lines... Lines... A coke addict's wet dream, LINES!  It may have had something to do with Crown Beer Fest...  or not?!  I tend to lean towards the ridiculous food and beers, but that is just me.

If you ever get a chance to stop in.  PLEASE DO IT!  You are missing out on this great combo of food/atmosphere/beer combo.  It is like a great brewery got into a bar fight with a foodie at a Death Metal concert held in a Drive In Theater...  Yeah!  Wrap your head around that one...!

 

Best FFF Taps:

Tonnere Neige (4)

Honey apple nose. Light with a sweet taste. Dry finish. Like a beery cider?(bottom left)

Battle of Charro (4)

That is the best amber I have had to date. Light honey nose. Not crazy malt. Light and chugable! (bottom right)

 

Best guest Taps
Spoontanfranfig by Mikkeller (4)

Sour vinigar fig sweet nose. Sour start. Fizzy to dry finish. Pucker and savor the afterglow of fig. (bottom left)
Good JuJu by Left Hand (4)

Ginger nose. Fizzy bitter sweet. Grassy notes. Dry finish. (bottom right)

 

The Big Guy: Damn it feels good to be a gangsta!!! We had a great time other than the line sitting. The brews were awesome. We ran into Jake, a friend of the blog and writer for Indiana Beer, who stopped in to grab some Deesko as well. Apparently it was where all the cool kids were. My favorite beers of the day were the Toxic Revolution and the Tonnere Neige. Tonnere Neige was not available in bottles but was damn good so check it out at the brewery if you can. Honorable mention for me was the Supa Rice Ronin of Death, an awesome Japanese rice lager. The food was awesome. We had nachos made out of pork rinds, and an awesome poutine dish (gravy and cheese covered french fries). All of us had some sort of burger and they were absolutely fantastic. Odog and The Little Lady had one with a egg on it (below left), Prof Beer had one that was ground up short ribs (below right) and I had one covered in more meat than you can shake a stick at (no picture). They were all done to perfection. I recommend staying for lunch or dinner.

 

I felt like one of the kids with the golden tickets in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I picked up two of everything and three or four of some other things. I got shirts and glasses and damn the food was good. If you haven't been up there yet, it is well worth the drive.

Prof. Beer:  It was a long drive up and we spent more time in the normal Saturday lines (which we hadn't know about in advance) than we had hoped (plus the car trouble on the way home), but the Three Floyds Brewpub was well worth the trip.  As has already been mentioned above, the food was excellent, much better than I expected from a brewpub.  The chicharrón nachos were excellent; replacing chips with pork rinds is much better than it sounds (even if you think it sounds good).  I also recommend the hesat slayer burger (though the other burgers looked great as well).

They had a large selection of Three Floyds beers on draft, as well as some good guest taps.  I tried Three Floyds' Toxic Revolution and Evil Power, and had a Good Juju by Left Hand Brewing.  Also, I got a taste of several other beers.  I ended up buying two of all the limited-availability beers, and four of the Deesko (as well as two Rabbid Rabbits and a shirt).  Three Floyds was a lot of fun, and I'm definitely looking forward to making another trip there.