Quaanto
3 Floyds Brewing Co.

 

Copper to amber in color. There’s a fingernail of off white around the rim and covering nearly all of the top. Heavy, soapy lacing is on the glass. There’s aroma is of intense citrus. I’m tasting bitter grapefruit and light, crackery malt. The mouth is dry and lightly sticky.

An out of this world IPA. Hoppiness and bitterness is enhanced with pineapple, apricot, orange, and honey.

 

Some say that less is more. But that's not the brewers of 3 Floyds. If they were to write for the fortune cookie companies they would say that more isn't enough.

Quaanto is that statement in beer form, starting with a deep amber pour, a moderate haze and a frothy eggshell-stained cap. As the aromas roll from the rim, a spicy scent of stone fruit, dank grasses, citrus and botanicals taunt the nose. Emboldened sweetness brings a juicy caramel, honey and granola character onto the middle palate before the hops arrive. Red grapefruit and ripe orange soon drift more tropical into pineapple and mango before stopping at the stone fruits of apricot and dates. Finishing bitter and spicy, the hop resins wrap around the botanical alcohols for a gin and curacao liquor bitterness that grabs the gullet and is slow to let go.

Full bodied and warming on the throat, the "triple" IPA is a uniquely strong IPA that shows hints of paint thinner is it's spicy scent and its prickling finish.

Attractive orange-gold body, fully opaque, half-finger of off-white head that drops quickly and leaves a thin cap of film. Traces of lacing. Really love the coloring, and the type of opaqueness screams "triple IPA" (versus NE IPA).

Huge doses of sweet malts, candied fruit, dank greens, and pine resin. West Coast IPA on steroids, which I guess is the point. Sharp citrus, maybe a little wine grape, minimal stone or tropical fruit. Punchy but not overwhelming. Definitely smells sweet and boozy.

Unfortunately the sweetness is medicinal and denotes extremely overripe fruit, which I'm not a fan of. There's pithy citrus, tons of resin, white grape, soft peach, incredible grassy dankness, and plenty of biscuity malt, so there are absolutely things to like and ways to connect back to the aroma profile. But the medicinal / rotten fruit aspect has little appeal.

Feel is a little lighter than I expected given the look and size of the beer, but certainly silky and smooth. Very boozy and a little hot, though some of that may just be the sting of the medicinal notes on the tongue.

Fun to try, but not something I would ever seek out again. Prime example of a beer from a popular and respected brewery that garners monster ratings based on its huge ABV and boundary-pushing weirdness but is absolutely NOT deserving of those 4+ marks IMO. This simply ISN'T an "outstanding" Imperial American IPA.

 

 

Pours a nice dank copper color. Aroma of apricots. Flavor of.. wham... extreme bitterness that will not subside through the finish. I love FFF high ABV beers and heavy dry-hopping, but this is way too hop-forward for me.

 

22oz Bottle
$15
Three Floyd's Kiosk

Quaanto ain't too shabby looking. It's bright, glowing really, apricot orange that somehow manages to get even brighter where the glass widens... A dusty white, dish soap foam forms on the pour, irregular bubbled and crackling. The head slowly fades to a chunky halo with some whispy islands throughout. It looks ready to get thrown down the hatch.

Oh, man. That's a three Floyd's beer. A tremendous mix of tropical fruit and citrus make the hop profile of this beer incredibly complex along the lines of some of their best. A smattering of papaya and spicy guava kick it off but never hold still. Underripe pineapple and gobs of grapefruit in all its forms come next. All these aromas are fluid and ever moving, morphing. There's even an undercurrent of dank forest and old leather. A soft alcoholic note of turpentine actually becomes addictive. That guava grows over time. Mild caramel and biscuit maltiness make for a sturdy base., even some toffee flashes through.

The flavor profile of this beer has just about as much depth as the nose but the vibrancy falls a tad short of that high bar. You could take what I mentioned above, about the nose, and place it right here as the descriptor for the flavor. The only difference is that the flavor is coupled with gobs of dried apricots as well which helps make up for that tiny loss of vibrancy in the transition.

This is a monster of a beverage but it drinks like slightly less of a monster of a beverage. The body actually weighs in a touch over moderate but there's an active effervescence at work that brings about a good frothiness helping push away any residual sweetness that may have considered sticking around. This beer is brash and bitter and those massive IBUs also help scourge any sugars with bad intentions, as a matter of fact, this beer finishes dry as a bone. Danger, danger.

Quaanto is bordering on absurd. By that I mean the unbelievable quality, depth, and cleanliness of a 12.5% triple IPA. This just doesn't happen. It's hugely vibrant, bitter, and dry. It's hugely drinkable, dangerous, and delicious. When this beer is around I will buy it from this point forward.