Kalifornia Uncommon
3 Floyds Brewing Co.

 

On-tap @ the brewpub..

Three Floyd's interpretation of a steam beer...knowing this brewery, did we think it was going to be anything but a hoppy interpretation? Of course not.
Light, hazy bronze color. Listed at 5% abv and 24 IBU's on the beer menu. This hybrid between an ale & a lager is an interesting twist on the style, with a slight yeast presence and enough sweet malt flavors to balance the big hoppy character. It goes down very smooth and was a nice break from the huge beers we'd been sampling up until this point. Another solid one from FFF.

Poured darker than other steams that I've had. Had a fuzzy head on top. Smelled like Pride and Joy, which is what this beer reminded me of, but much crisper. A friend of mine asked to try it and his reaction was, "Damn, that's good" He doesn't drink much beer. The hops were crisp and there was a slight apple taste that I enjoyed immensely. Lagered just right to be crisp, but still had just a little bit of fruitiness too. Definitely enjoyed this, and I would love to see it more often.

Kalifornia Uncommon was brewed as part of the Indiana (& possibly Illinois) brewers guild replicale program. All the brewers are given the style & basic recipe & give it their own twists. Nick applied his talents with premium grains and hops and produced a Steam beer that tasted as nice as Anchor but with Pride&Joy like hops. On tap at the Fall 05 Barleywine release party. I found it's drinkability excellent. The warm lagered yeast flavors were well blended with a medium bodied, clean tasting beer with enough extra hops to suggest "Three Floyds" . Aromas are hard to pick out on the brewery floor with competition from the fermentors and the full house drinking from the tap. So I finished this before being handed a second serving of Surly Klaus - Oak Aged Porter by the brewmaster.