2005 bottle provided by Muzzlehatch and sampled on 11/6/2005. Pours a foamy off-white to light beige head atop a filtered ruby-amber body (not opaque, Martin). Head shows moderate to low retention with no lacing. Aroma of intense amarillo hops fruitiness. Juicy tropical fruits abound, with a thick caramel sweetness, plenty of ruby red grapefruit and moderately resinous hops bitterness. Being fresh and full of hops, the aroma strength is through the roof. I don’t get complex caramel sweetness at all, out of the nose. Rather, I get huge caramel sweetness with a touch of drying yeast. No one mentions more than sweet or caramelly or candyish/sugary malts in the nose description, yet everyone seems to love it. Guess most people don’t care for malt complexity in the nose. Flavor bludgeons you with a massive dose of pine resin, bitter grapefruit and other citrus notes, while the sweet candyish-to-caramel malt attempts to balance. In the end, it dosent even remotely succeed, the hops being too acidic, bitter and sticky. The fair amount of alcohol apparency does not help matters either. Notes of yeast bi-product fruitiness are obviously apparent as well. Body is full, mouthfeel has low to moderate carbonation and a syrupy, sticky-sweet texture, but still missing that smooth silky texture that only non-filtration can bring. No attempt at balance, and that’s fine, I realize and appreciate that 3 Floyds doesnt value balance in most of their higher gravity brews. Don’t really think it will improve with age either. The hops will die off, somewhat, sure, but the complete filtration, just like in this year’s darklord, will not allow it to hold up to oxidation, nor do I think the alcohol will be able to integrate as well. And ending on a positive note, it’s not cloyingly sweet. 2005 bottle consumed on 1/18/07 Well with some 14 or so months of age on it, I’ve got to say I like it even less, or was being generous in my initial rating. I poured myself about 6 ounces and had to dump about 3 of them in to SuIIy’s glass. Too much bitterness, sweetness and no real class. I don’t even find it that complex, the hops, even having faded somewhat, just steal away the show. Bitter and now soggy with too much acid and alcohol warmth. The body still is comfortable, with lots of sweet, round sugars, but it dosent seem to have improved. Guess I’ll have to wait another 2 or 3 years until the hops have completely faded to see how the malts work. The wax is great though, no oxidation whatsoever. 2005 bottle consumed 7/28/23. Wow this is....good? Not oxidized? Holy fuck. All that booze and sugar and hop they pumped in to it paid off 18 years later...Previous score was a 2.9. I guess I'll up it a bit.