Ale Asylum Tripel Nova

Bottle. Hazy golden-orange color. No real head..hmmm maybe a touch past it’s prime, not one to be aged assumably. I expected much more from AA. This pretty much tasted like a sugar bomb to me. No real subtleties or interesting facets. Candi-sugar dominated, sweet sugary aftertaste. Not much vibrance. Hardly comparable to a good Belgian example. Mellow sweet aroma. Got better as it warmed to room temperature.

9/05/2009: Tripel Nova... Aroma: Sweet, nice fruity maltiness. Appearance: Bright yellow with a nice white head. Flavor: Very solid, well-balanced, and well-blended flavors, but nothing necessarily jumps out; good alcohol presence. Palate: Medium-bodied and fairly smooth. Overall: Pretty solid Tripel.

Draught at Ale Asylum in Madison, Wisconsin. Rating #40 for this beer.

Hazy, very light gold. Initially thick but quickly dissipating white head. No lace. Essentially aromaless, aside from a whiff of seltzer-water like carbonation. Alcohol is the principal flavorant, with not much in the way of supporting cast to hold in up, some banana, a bit of a wort oatmeal nature to it. Medium to full body, potently warming. Overall disappointing.

Bottle and served in my Duvel snifter: Slightly hazed golden hue with a small fading head and minimal lace. The aroma has notes of candi sugar and honey, pepper, corriander and ginger, , banana and mango. biscuity malts, touch of leather and attacking alcohol phenols. The taste matches the nose with sweet malts, fruits and spice. Very tasty but little complexity. The hops are either overpowered or faded. The mouth feel is slick and soft, a very warming brew where the alcohol is not in your face but not hidden either. More and more I am disliking this style for there are more average to bad examples than good to great ones. This one from Ale Asylum is quite average.

(Draught) Pours a hazy body with a small white head. Aroma of grass, orange peel, apricot, banana, and light pepper. Flavor of pepper, orange peel, candi sugar, floral, and herbs.

On tap at the GTMW. Coludy golden yellow with a thin white head. Aroma of toasted malt, fruit, mild Belgian sugar and doughy malt. Taste of coriander, light fruit, yeast, mild candy sugar and a touch of grains. Alcohol mildly evident. Another fine offering from Wisconsin’s best brewpub!

I’ve had pretty positive experiences with other Ale Asylum beers, but this one didn’t really impress. Seems like this is not the first time that a brewer who makes solid hoppy and roasty beers has disappointed me with their Belgian offering. This is advertised on the neck label as a tripel, but I didn’t necessarily find it to have the likeable lightness and spice I’ve come to enjoy from this style. There is some spice here, but not a ton of the light, candy-sugar, secondary fermentation effervescence I love about this style. It is sort of a straw color with a limited amount of head. Aroma is a little papery and reminiscent of cut-grass. Flavor is moderately malty, a little spicey, a bit boozy for the style, and again a touch grassy and papery. Mouthfeel was more of a typical beer, and not one of a beer undergoing secondary fermentation (which seems typical for this style). Not bad; in fact I enjoyed this beer, but I found it to be (and I don’t mean this in a negative way), pretty average. I bought this bottle at Riley’s in Madison.

Pours a hazey golden colour with a full white head. Sticky lacing, Aromas of pears, bananna and wheat. Taste is sweet and easily disguises the high ABV. Great beer all around.