Three Floyd's Visit

one day, two taxis, three floyds, far too many beers

2 weekends ago I was able to visit one of my favourite breweries in the world. I was in Chicago for the Craft Brewers Conference and had some spare time on Saturday and was determined to go and visit Three Floyds. A cross state taxi ride ensued where we got lost repeatedly and were only saved by the satellite navigation on my mobile (or should I say cell) phone. All the hassle of getting there was quickly forgotten when the unassuming ‘FFF’ sign above the brewpub door greeted me.

I managed to hook up with a brewery tour that had only just started and really loved the passion and enthusiasm with which Dan Tompkins explained the process and Three Floyd’s brewing philosophy. Dan is the manager of the excellent Brewpub which is joined to the brewery.

There was amazing draft list and I was able to taste many of my favourite beers on tap in the brewery while chatting to Dan. Alpha King was utterly brilliant, bold and encapsulating with an avalanche of feel good hoppiness and a mouth feel and weight which completely belies its modest ABV. Dark Lord on draft was an experience I fall asleep thinking about most nights, if ever a beer lives up to the hype then it is this one. It is always great to visit cutting edge American craft breweries such as Stone, Three Floyd’s, Alesmith and Port/Lost Abbey. These guys are setting the standard for craft beer and making some of the most amazing and exciting beers in the world, it is inspiring to be able to meet the people behind the beers and taste them at the brewery.

A bottle of Dark Lord was smuggled back in my suitcase and shared with the BrewDog brewing team last Friday. It was a very cool way to end a busy week at BrewDog.

Maybe I will even make it to Dark Lord Day one of these years. Along with diving with great white sharks and having our Punk IPA served on airplanes, going to Dark Lord Day is one of my big life ambitions. Maybe we should have a Tactical Nuclear Penguin day to mark the opening of the new BrewDog Bar in Aberdeen where only people dressed as penguins (or indeed actual penguins) are permitted admittance.