Alpha Klaus Christmas (Xmas) Porter - Three Floyds Brewing Co. & Brewpub

Higravity

Michigan

3.15/5  rDev -24.6%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

I got this from Cretemixer and I read some reviews before I tried it. First let me say I like the idea of a hopped-up sweet porter but the hop combo in this beer is a turn-off. My nose knows and while it poured a great dark color and creamy tan head that had staying power and left lace, this beer smelled off. I am sure I have a good bottle everything was intake and it doesn't tasted oxidized. It reminds me of a fasting beer that has a lot of extra sugar to help tide the monks over. There are plenty of roasty flavor in there but they are beaten to death by the sugar. It is definately drinkable and a rare enjoyment that I thank my fellow BA for this. I could see having one of these in the yuldetide mood, but not anytime soon.

Serving type: bottle

12-10-2004 22:26:37 | More by Higravity

Tinfoilrcr

New Jersey

3.15/5  rDev -24.6%
look: 3 | smell: 4 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 2.5

Received as an extra from Hayesez - thanks. Poured from a bombed into a pint glass.

A- Dark blackish brown with hint of ruby on the outer edge of the brown/tan head. Head dissipates quickly leaving some nice lacing.

N- Chocolate and coffee, mixed with with bright bitterness along with citrus and floral hops.

T- Big coffee flavor up-front. Almost stout-esque. FInish of citrus and flavor hops. Some nice chocolate malt tones.

M- Heavy.

D- Could not drink very many of these, given its heaviness. Also seems a little flat. Could use some more carbonation to improve the drinkability.

Serving type: bottle

03-14-2010 23:20:45 | More by Tinfoilrcr

Phatz

Pennsylvania

3.13/5  rDev -25.1%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 3 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2.5

This beer pours a dark red/Black; meaning it is opaque and looks black but does contain some red highlights. It has a nice 2-3 finger head and significant lacing.

Smell: From the moment I cracked open the bottle before I even got to start pouring it I got a FULL nose of a bold sweet, malty beer. Nice. After pouring it, I got subtle hints of hops and pine, chocolate and barely a bit of espresso hiding in the back of the aroma.

Taste: I lift the glass of this beautiful, nice smelling beer to my mouth for a sip and SMACK!!! ‘Holy green hoppy pine batman’, that was unexpected. ewe. Wow, what an intense overwhelming flavor of eating tree. I think there is some sweet caramel under there but I don't know if I can make it through the forest to find it on every sip; I just can’t get past the pine. If dragon breath was made of pine, the aftertaste would be a pine/fire breath across my tongue. If you like pine, go for it. This beer is for you. For me it is simply a flavor I don't care for. I was sitting beside my artificial Christmas tree and I thought it turned real and jumped into my glass. It was mostly the aftertaste that made me pucker so drastically.
I did pull out some Danish Havarti, cheese after a bit and things did begin to improve. As the beer reached room temperature and the bottle neared the end, I did find myself wincing less, and maybe even enjoying it. With a nibble of cheese after each sip, the aftertaste no longer bothered me so much. I thought about moving my rating up to 3.5 pushing 4; but that is the beer cheese combo not the beer alone. So I'll stand by my rating with the note that the cheese salvaged it and made it a good experience.

Mouthfeel: The mouthfeel is initially light and thin; crisp and a bit bitey. A little swishing brought out the malty creamy feel, but I had to look for it.

Drinkability: This beer started off being even hard to stomach because of the extreme flavors. As my palate warmed up to it, the pine mellowed into a less extreme taste of coffee and became increasingly drinkable. The 'Loudness' of this beer makes it one to work on; not one that goes down very easily.

My review does seem to be a different experience than many other people had; but that is just my opinion.

---
EDIT
I originally gave this beer a 2.5 for the taste. I am leaving my original review because it was my honest impression with that experience. This time round I found it to be a bit less cloying than I did last time so I increased the taste to a 3.0 rating for this experience. I stand by the opinion that if you like the pine flavor you’ll like this, if you don’t, beware.
---

Hope this is helpful.
Cheers!

Serving type: bottle

12-14-2005 01:48:04 | More by Phatz

Franz4

Ohio

3.13/5  rDev -25.1%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3

Friend brought back a growler, we broke this open 2 days later.

A- poured with a huge head that settled nicely with lots of lacing. Very dark, just a touch of translucence.

S- Very much a pine scent to it, a bit antiseptic. Nose really downgraded my hopes for this beer.

T- Tastes like a christmas tree, add in a touch of toasted brown sugar and some dark chocolate, but nothing really works it's way through the pine.

M- medium bodied with a hoppy pine aftertaste.

D- I was somewhat disappointed, this wasn't a bad beer, but it seemed to be a bit one-dimensional and the pine overpowered everything else.

Serving type: growler

12-08-2010 04:58:34 | More by Franz4

ZPB

Michigan

3.13/5  rDev -25.1%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

A shared bottle with father-in-law and brother-in-law, thanks George for finding this one!

Poured into three tall glasses with a tan head that lingered quite a while. A beautiful black opaque color.

Smells of roasty malty goodness. Not the typical scents of a porter - very little chocolate or coffee.

When the liquid hit my tongue I immediately knew why the smell was different. It tasted like a black ipa. The roasted malts were hidden behind the hops.

Dry finish like an ipa, not a porter.

I know why they call this a 'cousin' the ipa, because that's what it is. Good, not great. A Black IPA not a porter. I would not need to drink again.

Serving type: bottle

01-26-2012 18:48:33 | More by ZPB

leftmindedrighty

Pennsylvania

3.1/5  rDev -25.8%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3

(From Notes)
22oz bomber, split among two people.

Smell, very sweet coffee, semi-tart smell also present.

Taste, this one has a very interesting flavor, even for 3F. That semi-tart flavor hits a big chord, followed by a very, very strong fruity flavor, I was puzzled deeply drinking this beer. The usual coffee and chocolate flavors that you would find in most examples of the style must have gotten lost on their way to the brew kettle.

Overall, a very interesting beer to say the least. If you gave this beer to someone without telling them what it was, its a 10-1 shot they would say its a porter. I dug this beer only for it being unique, I wouldn't buy it again anytime soon and could never finish a whole bomber on my own.

Serving type: bottle

04-23-2007 14:36:38 | More by leftmindedrighty

dancinwillie

Wisconsin

3.1/5  rDev -25.8%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3

Dark brown, almost black, creamy coffee-hued topper is gone within minutes.

Mainly chocolate. Light traces of caramel and coffee.

Sweet up front, and all the flavor that the aroma had promised me, are here. I like the strong hop flavor, and there's a little roasted bitterness here too. I'd like to know if there's any brown malt in here, just for the sake of knowing. Bit of a maple syrupy flavor as the beer warms up.

On the thin side body-wise. Medium carbonation. Smooth.

I like it. Pretty good beer, I would probably get a couple more, and cellar them, if I see them anywhere. I would drink one every now and again, but nothing too regular. Just to see how they cellar. Cheers!

Serving type: bottle

04-20-2009 03:38:15 | More by dancinwillie

tayner

Arizona

3.08/5  rDev -26.3%
look: 3.5 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

poured from a 22 oz bottle

Poured a very dark brown, had minimal lacing and not alot of carbonation.

Smell was a very meaty, savory smell. Hard to explain but it was not at all sweet smelling.

Taste was more along the lines of a baltic porter. It had a savory meaty flavor, and almost a grape skin/grape koolaid flavor i tend to find in all baltic porters i try, and it is a flavor i cant seem to get past to say i like.

It was medium bodied and lacked adequate carbonation for me.

If you like baltic porters you will probably like this one, but i cannot drink them.

Serving type: bottle

04-15-2008 17:28:24 | More by tayner

aggiearcher13

Texas

3.05/5  rDev -27%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 4 | overall: 2.5

A: Pours pretty dark, almost black, light brown head that hung around for a couple of minutes before leaving a little lacing on the glass.

S: A little bit of malt and carmelized sugar, but mostly just overpowering citrus... grapefruit for sure. Amarillo hops?

T: Dark malts and coffee but mostly citrus. Too much for me, I really don't care for it because it overpowers the subtlety of the malts.

M: I do like the mouthfeel, it's nice and creamy and some good carbonation.

D: Pretty low on the drinkability. I had most of the bomber but just couldn't finish it. It would be interesting to have this beer with a slightly more normal hop schedule to it.

Overall, it's a little disappointing for me, I always stop by the brewery on my way to Michigan and I've had just about everything they offer. This is the first by them I didn't really dig.

Serving type: bottle

02-06-2009 03:45:56 | More by aggiearcher13

LilBeerDoctor

New York

3.03/5  rDev -27.5%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

Reviewed on 8/21/09. Bottle. Pours black with a thick light tan head. Aroma of sweet roasted malt, very sweet. Flavor of sweet malt, chocolate malt, some lactose notes. Pretty bland and boring really; I'm quite underwhelmed. Too sweet and not complex at all. Meh.

Serving type: bottle

12-19-2009 01:18:56 | More by LilBeerDoctor

biglite351

Pennsylvania

2.98/5  rDev -28.7%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 2 | overall: 2.5

A - a good bit of orange around the edges. Creamy off-white head.

S - roasted malts with minor dark chocolate in the mix. Hops are also present.

T - certain hop flavor throughout. Mild roasted malts, chocolate and nearly caramel.

M - mild coating, but thin. Tiny bit of tingle on sides of tongue.

D - maybe one, but most likely not.

Serving type: bottle

12-29-2010 02:18:51 | More by biglite351

kscaldef

Oregon

2.84/5  rDev -32.1%
look: 2.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 2.75 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 2.75

A: A dark brown ale, raises a small head with poor retention. Splotchy lacing.

S: roasty chocolate malts, mild hints of spices.

T: Starts with watery chocolate milk, developing nutmeg and cinnamon on the mid-palate. Initially finishes with an unpleasant rubbing alcohol aftertaste, but as the beer warms that off-flavor seems to subside.

M: Moderate-low carbonation. Finishes with dry, slightly astringent spices.

O: A fairly run-of-the-mill porter. I don't find the spices adding much, but at least they aren't overdone. I was rather worried about the initial off-flavors, but that seems to be remedied by letting the beer warm for 15 minutes.

Serving type: bottle

01-23-2013 02:48:04 | More by kscaldef

Ummagum

Illinois

2.65/5  rDev -36.6%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2.5

Poured this beer form a 22 oz bomber. Poured black with a brownish head. Left a good collar throughout the glass. To me, this beer had hints of coffee and pine at the same time. The taste was not one of my favorites. I did not enjoy drinking this beer. I am big fan of some of their other beers, but I did not enjoy this beer.

Serving type: bottle

02-01-2009 07:00:13 | More by Ummagum

MPLS

Minnesota

2.6/5  rDev -37.8%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 2 | feel: 3 | overall: 2

Thanks for this extra Chris.

I don't know how I feel about this Three Floyd's "guy" on my bottle...looks like a shady pot smokin' fella with poor design, but remember to never judge a beer by it's label?

A: Pours like a good dark-roasted coffee color with a nice cascading soapy head that can hold it's own for a bit. Lacing was agreeable, but not spectacular.

S: Chocolate malt, robust spice, and good amount of hops.

T: The hops are overbearing in this beer's taste, but didn't think they would be this unpleasant judging from the nose. I enjoyed the malt profile or what I could taste of it...sweet and chocolaty. The hop profile was not to my liking in this beer, pungently unpleasant and irritating to my buds for some reason. I certainly have enjoyed hopped up stouts before, but this wasn't registering well with me.

M: Where is the viscosity that I have come to expect from 3F? This beer has an average mouthfeel, tad thin 'n' slim.

D: Not a fan of this beer, perhaps my opinion would change with a more aged version of it as the hops exercise control over the beer.

Serving type: bottle

12-09-2009 19:09:10 | More by MPLS

Benjiehorn

Illinois

1.93/5  rDev -53.8%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 1.5 | feel: 1.5 | overall: 1.5

I was quite disappointed in this years batch (2008) of the Alpha Klaus. Three Floyds needs to expand out of it's hop profile, and try something new. This beer tasted similar to the Dreadnaught with a touch of coffee on the finish. Absolutely no mouth feel, thin and watery, the flavors were simply awful, and this beer made very little impression on me in a positive light. Hopefully next years will be a better outing.

Serving type: bottle

04-07-2009 21:02:32 | More by Benjiehorn