Head to Head: Three Floyds Dreadnaught Imperial IPA vs. Southern Tier Gemini
Welcome to another Head to Head challenge. Today we have two Imperial India Pale Ales. The first is from Indiana and is the Three Floyds Dreadnaught Imperial IPA. The second is from New York and is the Southern Tier Gemini.
As usual the tasting was done blind and to style.
Price: Winner – Unsure
Floyd – ?? (22oz Bottle) This was brought down from Ohio by a good friend.
Gemini - $8.99 (22oz Bottle)
Appearance: Winner – Gemini
Floyd – Pours a Yellow amber with a decent sized off-white head. The head diminishes but leaves some lace.
Gemini – Pours a Yellow amber with a large off-white head. The head lasts for a long while and leaves some good lace on the glass
Aroma: Winner – Gemini
Floyd – Big hop bouquet with this one. Some pine/resin is also in there but the overwhelming aroma is of lots of hops.
Gemini – Not a lot of hops compared to the Floyd but this has some good sweetness and presents a more balanced aroma.
Taste: Winner – Gemini
Floyds – This starts out with some moderate bitterness but them this just builds.
Gemini – Starts out moderately sweet but then the hops build to create an nice bitter-sweet balance.
Body/Finish: Winner – Floyd
Floyds – As with the other areas the finish is about bitterness and here it is really nice. The body is dry and lasts a long while.
Gemini – There is some good bitterness in the finish.
Overall: Winner – Gemini
These were both fun if quiet different. If you love hops go for the Dreadnaught. It is really good. However going back and forth between the two it was the Gemini I enjoyed more. It had a great balance between hops and sweetness. In fact it reminded me of two of my favorite IIPA’s, the 90 Minute and Hoplsam. Luckily I had a Hopslam lying around so decided to try it against these two beers to see how it did. Check back to see the results.
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