3 Floyds / Surly / Real Ale Blakkr | 3 Floyds Brewing Co.
Brewed by:
3 Floyds Brewing Co.
Indiana, United States
3floyds.com
Style: American Black Ale
Alcohol by volume (ABV): 9.99%
Availability: Limited (brewed once)
Notes / Commercial Description:
This double black as night IPA is too massive for just one brewery’s efforts. BLAKKR took the trinity of Real Ale Brewing Co., Surly Brewing Co. & Three Floyds Brewing Co. to actualize this crushing ale. Cheers.
This is the 22oz bottled 3 Floyds version, brewed in collaboration with Three Floyds / Surly / Real Ale.
Added by AMG55 on 03-24-2014
This beer is retired; no longer brewed.
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Ratings: 511 | Reviews: 40
3.98/5 rDev -3.9%
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4
For this purposes of this review, I'm including my side-by-side notes for both the Three Floyds and Surly Blakkr iterations: half a twenty-two-ounce bomber in a Junkyard sixteen-ounce tulip, and half a sixteen-ounce can in a twelve-ounce Florida Beer IPA tulip.
Immediately, the Three Floyds smells a lot maltier, more chocolatey and burnt-toffee, and pours with a much more robust, bubbling, khaki-colored head. The Surly, meanwhile, boasts some authentically-detectable hop elements on the nose—a pleasant olfactory pulse for a beer as black as this (or, these two, more appropriately). Indeed, the more you snuff, the more the Surly measures: pine notes, some pretty intense citrus, surrounded with merely a hint of dark sugars and earthy petrichor.
The Surly is surprisingly dry, too, with light hop-candy notes and a pleasant hop-fused tartness that floats along the mellow, rich, smoldering-malt smoothness. In a lot of ways, the Surly is what I might have expected from the Three Floyds.
The Three Floyds, on the other hand, is much stouter: where the Surly is sort of a Black IPA suprême, the iteration from Munster, IN, leans much more heavily towards the “hoppy stout” spectrum. It's thicker; it expresses its abv much more strongly in the nose, especially, as well the flavor-profile; it billows with much more head, and lingers with much more substantial lacing; and its more deeply rich in its malt assertion. Cacao-forward, toffee'd, slightly smokey (almost ashy, in fact), and more bitter-hoppy than anything else, this is still a very good beer—clean for its heft, well-bodied and -balanced, and hoppy, if more narrowly so than the Surly—it nevertheless just feels less successful than the version of this collaboration brewed up in Minnesota.
Even though I do like Surly a lot, the results of this comparison were a definite shock to me—and it really forces one to consider more than just local elements (equipment; water), but the very substantial effect the bottling-vessel has on a beer, particularly as it ages. Indeed, I had Surley's effort on draught in Rochester, MN, but I think it's honestly better from its sixteen-ounce can. Moreover, the particular importance of pairings also further crystallize for me through this direct comparison, since I remember feeling more more positively about the Three Floyds version when I was drinking it off the tap at Owen & Engine, expertly poured alongside elk loin seared in brioche-ash and grains-of-paradise to bring out the strengths of 3F's offering.
So, it's certainly a good reminder: when a brew is delicate, and full of very deliberate effort, the smallest perturbations can truly create very different end-products.
2,707 characters
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4
For this purposes of this review, I'm including my side-by-side notes for both the Three Floyds and Surly Blakkr iterations: half a twenty-two-ounce bomber in a Junkyard sixteen-ounce tulip, and half a sixteen-ounce can in a twelve-ounce Florida Beer IPA tulip.
Immediately, the Three Floyds smells a lot maltier, more chocolatey and burnt-toffee, and pours with a much more robust, bubbling, khaki-colored head. The Surly, meanwhile, boasts some authentically-detectable hop elements on the nose—a pleasant olfactory pulse for a beer as black as this (or, these two, more appropriately). Indeed, the more you snuff, the more the Surly measures: pine notes, some pretty intense citrus, surrounded with merely a hint of dark sugars and earthy petrichor.
The Surly is surprisingly dry, too, with light hop-candy notes and a pleasant hop-fused tartness that floats along the mellow, rich, smoldering-malt smoothness. In a lot of ways, the Surly is what I might have expected from the Three Floyds.
The Three Floyds, on the other hand, is much stouter: where the Surly is sort of a Black IPA suprême, the iteration from Munster, IN, leans much more heavily towards the “hoppy stout” spectrum. It's thicker; it expresses its abv much more strongly in the nose, especially, as well the flavor-profile; it billows with much more head, and lingers with much more substantial lacing; and its more deeply rich in its malt assertion. Cacao-forward, toffee'd, slightly smokey (almost ashy, in fact), and more bitter-hoppy than anything else, this is still a very good beer—clean for its heft, well-bodied and -balanced, and hoppy, if more narrowly so than the Surly—it nevertheless just feels less successful than the version of this collaboration brewed up in Minnesota.
Even though I do like Surly a lot, the results of this comparison were a definite shock to me—and it really forces one to consider more than just local elements (equipment; water), but the very substantial effect the bottling-vessel has on a beer, particularly as it ages. Indeed, I had Surley's effort on draught in Rochester, MN, but I think it's honestly better from its sixteen-ounce can. Moreover, the particular importance of pairings also further crystallize for me through this direct comparison, since I remember feeling more more positively about the Three Floyds version when I was drinking it off the tap at Owen & Engine, expertly poured alongside elk loin seared in brioche-ash and grains-of-paradise to bring out the strengths of 3F's offering.
So, it's certainly a good reminder: when a brew is delicate, and full of very deliberate effort, the smallest perturbations can truly create very different end-products.
2,707 characters
4.58/5 rDev +10.6%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
4.34/5 rDev +4.8%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
4.94/5 rDev +19.3%
look: 5 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 5 | feel: 5 | overall: 5
look: 5 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 5 | feel: 5 | overall: 5
4.48/5 rDev +8.2%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
Review from March 22, 2014, just moving it to the correct place as I previously had the review posted under the Surly brewed version listing.
22 ounce bottle, bottled on date of 02/14/14. Served in a Great Lakes goblet, the beer pours dark brown/black with about an inch and a half tan head. The head stays around a long time, and there's also a lot of lacing. Aroma is nice, the brew smells like pine and citrusy hops, roasted malt, and some bittersweet chocolate. It tastes like pine and citrusy (grapefruit, mango, light tropical fruit) hops, roasted malt, bittersweet chocolate, burnt/charred malt and some coffee. Great mix of hops and bitter roastiness! Mouthfeel/body is medium/full, it's creamy and a bit coating with moderate carbonation. I'd say this is one of the best Black Ales I've had, I'd like to buy another bottle or 2 of this. $11.99 a bomber.
863 characters
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
Review from March 22, 2014, just moving it to the correct place as I previously had the review posted under the Surly brewed version listing.
22 ounce bottle, bottled on date of 02/14/14. Served in a Great Lakes goblet, the beer pours dark brown/black with about an inch and a half tan head. The head stays around a long time, and there's also a lot of lacing. Aroma is nice, the brew smells like pine and citrusy hops, roasted malt, and some bittersweet chocolate. It tastes like pine and citrusy (grapefruit, mango, light tropical fruit) hops, roasted malt, bittersweet chocolate, burnt/charred malt and some coffee. Great mix of hops and bitter roastiness! Mouthfeel/body is medium/full, it's creamy and a bit coating with moderate carbonation. I'd say this is one of the best Black Ales I've had, I'd like to buy another bottle or 2 of this. $11.99 a bomber.
863 characters
4.21/5 rDev +1.7%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
4.55/5 rDev +9.9%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.75
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.75
4.44/5 rDev +7.2%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
4.25/5 rDev +2.7%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
3.98/5 rDev -3.9%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75
4.21/5 rDev +1.7%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
4.34/5 rDev +4.8%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
4.19/5 rDev +1.2%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
4/5 rDev -3.4%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
very good. but not close to worth the money they want for it.
62 characters
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
very good. but not close to worth the money they want for it.
62 characters
3 Floyds / Surly / Real Ale Blakkr from 3 Floyds Brewing Co.
4.14
out of 5
based on 511 ratings.
look: 2.75 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 4.25