Three Floyds Brewing
Three Floyds Brewing is a brewery[2][3][4][5] founded in 1996 by brothers Nick and Simon and their father Mike Floyd in Hammond, Indiana. Since 2000, the brewery has been located in Munster, Indiana. Three Floyds opened a brewpub adjacent to the brewery in 2005.[6] They closed the brewpub in 2020.[7]
Industry | Alcoholic beverage |
---|---|
Founded | 1996 |
Headquarters | 9750 Indiana Parkway Munster, Indiana 41°32′08.1″N 87°31′00.0″W |
Key people | Nick Floyd (president) Chris Boggess (head brewer) Pat Niebling (chef) Cole Ersel (chef) |
Products | Beer |
Production output | 20,000 (in 2011)[1] |
Website | www.3floyds.com |
In 2011, an article in The Washington Post said that Three Floyds "has won over the beer geek elite", and "has been making the best beers on the planet for four of the past five years—at least according to the more than 1 million beer reviews logged each year on RateBeer.com. (In 2008, it slipped to second place.)"[8]
In 2018, Three Floyds cracked the top 50 list of Brewing companies by sales volume reaching the #39 spot in craft brewery sales and #49 spot in overall brewery sales. [9]
Beers
Three Floyds produces more than a dozen year-round beers as well as numerous seasonal beers. [10]
Beers | Style | ABV | IBU |
---|---|---|---|
Alpha King | American Pale Ale | 6.66% | 68 |
Arctic Panzer Wolf | India Pale Ale | 9% | 100 |
Backmasking | Oatmeal Stout | 8% | 32 |
Dreadnaught IPA | Imperial India Pale Ale | 9.5% | 100 |
Gumballhead | Wheat Beer | 5.6% | 35 |
Jinx Proof | Lager | 5.7% | 35 |
Lazersnake | Pale Ale | 7% | 55 |
Necron 99 | India Pale Ale | 7.3% | 61 |
Permanent Funeral | India Pale Ale | 10.5% | 100 |
Robert The Bruce | Scottish Ale | 6.5% | 24 |
Space Station Middle Finger | American Pale Ale | 6% | 50 |
Yum Yum | American Session Ale | 5.5% | 63 |
Zombie Dust | Pale Ale | 6.2% | 50 |
Dark Lord and Dark Lord Day
3 Floyd's Dark Lord is the brewery's premier barrel-aged beer. Dubbed a "demonic Russian-Style Imperial Stout" brewed with coffee, Mexican vanilla and Indian sugar. [11] Purchasing a bottle of Dark Lord requires attendance to the brewery's annual "Dark Lord Day" festival which regularly features beer exchanges, heavy metal music and food trucks. A ticket nets attendees four bottles of Dark Lord and a fifth variant flavor of Dark Lord. [12] Attendance at this event is now limited to 6,000 via pre-sold tickets, after crowd control problems in the past.[13][14][15] As of 2018, Dark Lord sits as one of the top 100 beers in the world according to RateBeer.com. [16]
Distillery and brewery expansion
In 2014 it was announced that plans for a distillery were in the works across the street from the brewery. The distillery will produce gin, rum, vodka and other spirits for sale and tasting. The distillery opened on June 21st, 2019. [17][18]
In 2018 plans were unveiled for the expansion of Three Floyds 57,000 sq. ft. facility to a larger, campus-like setting with a bigger brewpub, retail area, office space and parking, as well as a larger brewing facility.[19] Construction is set to begin after Dark Lord Day 2019 with no set timetable for completion. [20]
Collaborations with heavy metal bands
In 2010, the brewers teamed up with heavy metal band Pelican to brew The Creeper, a doppelbock made in recognition of the band's 10th anniversary. Since then, the brewery has collaborated with several other heavy metal bands, including Mastodon, Skeletonwitch, Exodus, Cannibal Corpse, Amon Amarth, and Pig Destroyer. [21]
Other media
In 2018, comics writer Brian Azzarello teamed up with the brewery to produce a series of comics produced by Image Comics featuring characters based on Three Floyds beers including the Alpha King. [22]
Gumballhead the Cat – a punk, anthropomorphic cat – is the namesake of Three Floyds Gumballhead wheat ale. The fictional feline has his own webcomic, which is written and drawn by Rob Syers, who also created the artwork for the beer packaging.[23][24]
See also
- Beer in the United States
- Barrel-aged beer
- Beer portal
References
- "Three Floyds State of the Brewery Address 2011" Archived 2014-02-24 at the Wayback Machine, Three Floyds. Retrieved February 20, 2014.
- Noel, Josh (April 26, 2012). "Three Floyds' Evil Genius", Chicago Tribune. Retrieved February 21, 2014.
- Sudo, Chuck (August 6, 2012). "Three Floyds Details Growing Pains" Archived 2013-03-04 at the Wayback Machine, Chicagoist. Retrieved February 21, 2014.
- Konkol, Mark (April 26, 2013). "Three Floyds Founder Doesn't Hate Your Favorite Bar" Archived 2014-03-02 at the Wayback Machine, DNAinfo. Retrieved February 21, 2014.
- Bendersky, Ari (June 25, 2009). "Chicago's New Wave of Microbrews", The New York Times. Retrieved February 20, 2014.
- Thiel, Julia. "Three Floyds Brewpub", Chicago Reader. Retrieved February 21, 2014.
- Pete, Joseph S. (December 16, 2020). "3 Floyds Permanently Closing Munster Brewpub". The Times of Northwest Indiana. Retrieved December 16, 2020.
- Fromson, Daniel (November 1, 2011). "Beer: The Secret Behind the Cult of Three Floyds", The Washington Post. Retrieved February 20, 2014.
- "BREWERS ASSOCIATION RELEASES 2018 TOP 50 BREWING COMPANIES BY SALES VOLUME". www.brewersassociation.org. March 12, 2019.
- "Beers". www.3floyds.com. Retrieved March 25, 2019.
- "Dark Lord". www.3floyds.com. Retrieved March 25, 2019.
- Pete, Joseph (March 20, 2019). "Dark Lord Day Tickets Go On Sale Saturday".
- Stambor, Zak (March 17, 2011). "Brewery Aims to Lighten the Stress of Dark Lord Release", Chicago Tribune. Retrieved February 20, 2014.
- Lazerus, Christin Nance (April 27, 2013). "For Beer Lovers, 'Dark Lord Day' Offers a Rare Taste" Archived 2014-05-25 at the Wayback Machine, Post-Tribune. Retrieved February 21, 2014.
- Montoro, Philip (April 29, 2013). "Dark Lord Day Spreads Out and Levels Up for 2013", Chicago Reader. Retrieved February 22, 2014.
- "The Best Beers in the World". www.ratebeer.com. Retrieved March 25, 2019.
- Pete, Joseph (March 5, 2019). "3 Floyds Starts Hiring for its Long-Awaited Distillery Tasting Room". nwitimes.com.
- Selvam, Ashok (June 19, 2019). "Iconic Brewery Three Floyds to Celebrate Opening of New Distillery on Friday". eater.com.
- Noel, Josh. "Craft beer icon Three Floyds' brewery to triple in size". chicagotribune.com. Retrieved 2019-03-26.
- Pete, Joseph (March 6, 2018). "3 Floyds Gets Approval from Munster for 'World-Class Facility"". www.nwitimes.com.
- Epstein, Dan (November 5, 2017). "How 3 Floyds Brewing Co. Became a Mecca for Heavy Metal Craft Beer". Revolver. Retrieved November 25, 2020.
- Peters, Mark (April 17, 2018). "A Comics Legend Teams Up With Three Floyds to Brew Some Beer-Fueled Superhero Mayhem". www.chicagoreader.com.
- Hess, Joseph (October 2, 2014). "Skin Graft Artist Rob Syers Talks About His Art Show This Week". Riverfront Times. Retrieved November 25, 2020.
- Syers, Rob. "Gumballhead the Cat – A Comic About a Cat". Gumballheadthecat.com. Retrieved November 25, 2020.