Cortez
3 Floyds Brewing Co.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

cold from the tap at macniven's for ACBW a translucent straw gold to a 9oz pilsner with a superthin, short lasting,
white head and next to no lace.

aroma of citrus hops and more citrus hops.

citrus hops way in front, mangos, big sweet fruits, sweet hard candy.

light bodied, medium carbonation, sweet, minimal subtle bitter hops.

drinkable - yep.

overall - nice, smooth APA, sweet leaning to almost too much so.

Served in a shaker pint glass at Durty Nellie's.

Missed out on their share of Zombie Dust, but they had this to dry my tears a bit. It pours a clear golden straw topped by a finger of cream-white froth. The nose comprises peach, sour pineapple (not unlike the Pucker flavor), mandarin orange, grapefruit, honey, and a rather light trickle o' honey. Yeah, it's pretty unbalanced in favor of the hops, but, dammit, I enjoy this smell. The taste holds notes of grapefruit, mandarin orange, orange rind, light lemon zest, light caramel, light black pepper, and light grass. The citrus isn't as crisp and welcoming (so to speak) as in the smell, and the added effort toward balance doesn't really do the job. The body is a hefty light, with a light moderate carbonation and a crisp-ish finish. Overall, a pretty damn nice APA, one that makes me think I generally enjoy El Dorado hops.

Served in a pint glass. Minimal surface coating of white head. Some light lacing. Smell is of sweet citrus, orange, caramel, maybe even a little vanilla; kind of odd, but not necessarily bad. Taste is more of the same, but with a very odd out of place sweetness. Some caramel and citrus as well. It's almost as if the sweetness is coming from the hops instead of the malt. Mouthfeel is medium in body, but feels a bit slick.
Not sure about this beer. It's a different beast altogether, though I don't think I would want another

On Draft, Poured into a Pint, from notes

Appearance- pours a crystal clear very light amber color. A finger of white head, decent retention, a little lace.

Smell- Light citrus aromas, stronger floral notes, slight grass, slight caramel.

Taste- Citrus and floral notes start things off. A little fresh cut grass, plus a little bready. A slight mineral like quality as well. The taste follows the aroma very well, so that is great, there is just not a huge "taste" to this.

Mouthfeel- Medium body, lighter carbonation, feels "englishy". ABV's go undetected.

Overall- My first beer with El Dorado hops that I am aware of, it is fairly uninteresting overall, and doesn't call to be revisited. Probably the blandest beer I have had from FFF. But on the other hand, I am so excited they are sending out more kegs of their previously undistributed beers, and the fact they all seem to becoming to my place of employment!

Cortez is crisp: crisp and clean and quite sharp. Its got many characteristics of cream ale and is simple and clean like a good lager. Quarter inch head over a gold beer with red highlights. Very mild in the way of a British proper bitter ale. Similar mouthfeel to a real British bitter without honeysweet malts. An excellent beer from 3 Floyds that just doesn't quite hit my taste where I want.

El dorado hops on the Cortez are far milder than Zombie Dust, the other current one-hop beer on tap at the Three Floyds brewpub.

Three Floyds puts on an education of hops with this brand spankin' new variety in El Dorado. With the crisp malt character and neutral yeast contibutions, the true charm of this hop dominates the glass from nose to finish.

Pouring a mostly bright (slight hazy)copper color, steady streams of carbonation fuel a medium white head for a standard yet classy pale ale appearance.

Sharp hop aromas pierce the olfactory senses with citrusy grapefruit, orange peel, fresh-cut grass and a mild minty scent (though this could be in combination with alcohol). Background notes of caramel with graham cracker spice give solid support for hop aroma, but doesn't dare challenge them.

Where the aroma gives the impression of dryness and crispness, the flavor screams it. Highly attenuated hops give only a secondary caramel malt taste but low sweetness and just enough bread-malt character to keep the beer from one-dimensional hop dominance. About those hops- flavor steps up even from the bold presence in the nose and with a very consistent grapefruit, orange rind, and grassy flavor. Alcohol flavor seems to give a floral taste to the beer to accompany similar counterparts of the hops. Very fresh and vibrant taste.

As expected, the early maltiness dies off quickly, giving way to malty-dryness, hop bitterness/bite, and a minty alcoholic evaporation in the finish. An aftertaste of malt tempers the serious dryness.

From what I can tell, El Dorado hops gives this beer a similar impression that Cascades would, but perhaps with added potency in citrus and bitterness, an added grassy (fresh cut grass) taste and aroma, and is perhaps a bit sharper. Regarless, this is an amazing base beer from which to act as a springboard for showcasing single hop varieties. But with this lopsided balance toward hops and 7% abv., this beer is an IPA through and through.

On tap at Three Floyds last Saturday. Served in a pint glass.

Interested to see what El Dorado is like. Pours a slightly-hazed copper color with a moderately-sized white head and some good lacing as it goes down. The nose brings forward a bit of pale malt and some bread. Not all that much in the way of hop aroma. There is some very, very mild citrus and maybe a hint of floral character lingering in the background, though certainly not terribly prevalent. The taste falls along the same lines--there is some really generic malt up front followed by some bitterness and an alcohol bite. No real hop flavor to speak of.

Given the fact that Three Floyds generally makes phenomenal beers, I'm going to chalk this up to El Dorado being a dud. However, there is a bit of heavy booze that probably shouldn't be there; not sure if this would normally be overcome by hop flavor and bitterness. Not a big fan of this one; should have had a glass of Zombie Dust instead.

Reviewed from notes made at the brewpub on 2/18/11.

Cortez was served to me a clear gold color with a one-finger white head. Sparse carbonation bubbles meande slowly up the imperial pint glass. Lace left on the glass is sticky, streaky, and splotchy.

The smell is very mellow and quite light. Biscuit, light citrus (orange and lime), grass, and floral aromas come out when I really breathe Cortez in deeply. There is a little bit of caramel maltiness to balance out the hop smells, but really the aroma as a whole is very light.

A nice balance between caramel-like malt and floral hoppiness is struck in the taste. Biscuit flavors play a fairly large part in the flavor. There is not much citrus hop flavor; just a little bit of lime and orange come out.

The feel of Cortez is very mellow and light-bodied. Just a little bit of malt smoothness rounds out the middle of the feel. The finish is quite earthy and grassy.

This is a nice, drinkable beer, but certainly nowhere near great. It is very drinkable in a sessionable way, but is not something that I would seek out again. My buddy ordered Zombie Dust while I tried this, and I was jealous that he got the tastier end of the single hop pale ale stick. Oh well. Such is the way of the beer.

Thanks to Sean for picking this up at Three Floyds a few days ago. Served in a Portsmouth tulip.

A - Pours with a finger of white foam that settles to a thin cap and thicker collar, leaving behind spotty lace. Transparent golden body.

S - Very bready and yeast, some odd almond/marzipan notes, faint grass and hay hop character. Very odd - this is supposedly a single hop beer, so that means the El Dorado hop is to blame for this disappointing aroma. As it warms there's a faint alcohol note as well.

T - Taste again has that odd almond/marzipan aroma, some cake, bread, and yeast, and thankfully no obvious alcohol. There's a little bit of bitterness after a half glass.

M - Medium body, zesty carbonation, grainy, with a sticky yeasty finish.

D - This is not so good. Very little hop character. Not offputting, but just dull. Alcohol is reasonably well-hidden, but beyond that there just isn't much going for this one.

Just tried this on tap at the brewpub.

Aroma is reminds me of dish-water. I do not detect much hop on the nose. Mouthfeel has a pleasant creaminess to it. Flavor is mild and boring.

I appreciate that it is a single hop brew using only North American hops. Having said that, this beer was dull and uninteresting.

Afterward I had a Zombie Dust. Now that was a good beer. Still single hop, but of of a much better variety.

Thanks to Sean for this growler, drank from a snifter. This is very underwhelming, borderline not even worthy of a review. The ticker in me says proceed so I do... Pours a medium clear gold with not much of a head, ok lacing... A boring aroma that is to sweet for a pale ale, very generic corn and pilsner malt. Light floral notes try to help, but don't do enough. Borderline BMC bad... The taste is borderline horrible, in between a pilsner and a lager, sweet but light bitter floral hops. No redeemable quality here, not worth drinking.

This is slightly above garbage, universally ignored at our tasting. Don't bother trying this.