22oz bottle from Jim – cheers.
ST is a bit hit and miss to say the least with me, so it’s always an interesting experience to open up a beer of theirs that I’ve no had before.
Pour yields a clear golden body with a frothy head. The whole thing seems a touch over-carbonated to me and the mouthfeel (prickly) confirms this.
The nose reveals some sweet hops, and to be honest it seems like the hops a re manifesting themselves a little too much.
The hop presence (too great IMO) is carried through to the taste. Whilst they certainly ARE plenty of Tripel elements (the sweetness, the slight peppery note, the alcohol, and the yeast), overall the package comes together in a way that is not typical of the style for me. There’s too great a hop presence for my liking. That’s NOT to say that this beer is “hoppy” as such, it isn’t, but it seems to hop it’s way a little out of style.
A little too much bitterness where sweetness should be, and a little too many hops where malts should be for me. Not a “bad” beer by any stretch of the imagination, but for me a touch “off-style” and for that I don’t rate it highly.
Drinkable? Yes, but again not really a typical Tripel experience. Perhaps an example of the (fictious) “American Tripel”! ;-)