Feb

15

Three Floyds for Valentine’s Day

By Marc & Aimee

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While Cupid was busy making love connections on Valentine’s Day, the Alpha King at Three Floyds Brewery was making our frothy fortunes come true. My Valentine and I hearkened back to our Honeymoon’s delight by visiting a unique craft brewery. During our post wedding wonderment, Stone Brewing Co. inspired love with its tranquil landscape and teeth-tingling IPAs in California. This weekend we sought a similar sensation, but something within closer reach. The 30 minute Zipcar jaunt from Chicago’s Loop to Munster, Indiana – a nook of a town tucked in the pocket of Midwestern crossroads – proved a perfect sampling experience of the bubbly love potion we most enjoy.

She Said:

Faux-graffiti and hot colored portraits of Gumball Head and Alpha King greeted us at the door of Three Floyds Brewing Company. In a corporate park off a busy highway, I welcomed the retreat from prim, slate swank sensations of our common corner pub in Chicago’s Loop. I missed the pungent scent of honest beer – the moist mixture of hops, wheat, malt, and grains that keeps you keenly aware of where you are and inspires moments of marveling at the magic of the craft beer you’re sipping.

To my teeth-tingling delight and no real surprise, the sampler was saturated with Hops. I reconfirmed Alpha King, defined as a “Big American Pale” at 6% ABV as my favorite with its deep orange hue and balance of bitter and sweet but I give a special nod to Robert the Bruce for being the best Valentine’s Day beer. Robert the Bruce provides a tender, malty sweetness and not-so-subtle hints of chocolate. As a Scottish, Dark Brown 7.2 ABV, Robert the Bruce is lot like the kind of guy you’d want to be your Valentine – strong but with a pleasantly surprising sensibility for sweetness. I imagine Robert a burly bloke holding a bouquet of flowers for his love.

I may not be able to wait until next Valentine’s day to visit Three Floyds Brewing again. They were out of the Red Tendon Porter, which is the Three Floyds version of a Baltic Porter. I was eager to see how a brewery with an almost Warrior Hops quality would execute a porter. Overall, my enthusiasm for Three Floyds continues and I “Dreadnaught” my next trip to imbibe in the brews still yet to be enjoyed.

He Said:

Perusing the Three Floyds beer list, I was immediately struck by what must be the brewery’s mantra — variety is the spice of life — which provided a bit of irony for our Valentines’ Day tasting. Regardless of Floyd ale delectability, the pub shamelessly flaunted a range of amazing beers by the pint and by the bottle from other locales, tempting us to stray from the namesake brews. Tired of Robert the Bruce’s Scottish-inspired sweetness? Then tuck into an exotic Japanese espresso stout. Dreadnaught IPA a little too bitter? Reach for the neck of an aged Vertical Epic from California’s Stone Brewing. It made my romantic side twinge with pain. Just as I was about to storm out in accusatory fashion, an epiphany hit.

Now, I’ve been a fan of Three Floyds for almost as long as I’ve known Aimee (nine years and counting!), so I wasn’t expecting anything out of the ordinary from our visit. But, as I worked through a sampler of Floyd’s four mainstays, I was struck by the underlying harmony between each beer and the next. Though all were very unique, you could actually tell that they were made by the same loving hand without it being painfully obvious. I had honestly never felt that way about a brewery’s line-up before. Man, it’s no wonder Three Floyds is ranked as one of the best breweries in the Midwest. It just goes to show that no matter how well you think you know someone . . . err brewery . . . the good ones always have a way of surprising you in ways that make you love them all over again.

And isn’t that what Valentine’s Day is all about?

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Categories : He Said She Said