Anderson Valley Brother Davids Triple

Brewed by Anderson Valley Brewing Company
Style: Abbey Tripel
Boonville, California USA

Bottle from Lee’s Discount Liquor, Las Vegas
Clean amber color with a fine perlage. Not much aroma. It has a strong body, sweet flavor, too strong alcohol kick. Sweet booze, not a Triple anyway, more like a variation of Malt Liquor, completely missing any Belgian quality factor, any interest; and the big bottle suddenly appears as an ambitious task…

Sour funk aroma: apples, peaches, and red grapes, and some maple syrup. Pours a transparent dark amber red with no head. Flavor: Sour apple up front, hard candy follows, with a nice mellow fruit flavor finish, like apricot and blackberry jam. Palate is a bit thick and syrup like, but the flavor doesn’t linger.

A pretty average brew that pours 14 karat gold with a tight yet diminutive white head. Very sweet with caramel, toffee, and noticeable alcohol burn. Not complex...not unique...but not bad. I’d drink it again in a pinch.

Poured from bottle a chestnut brown with small off-white head. Aroma is belgian-like, slight bubble gum with a big alcohol whiff. Flavor has a slightly metallic beginning but follows with sticky sweet with some bubblegum, honey, caramel, burnt orange peel, and a huge alcohol kick. Overall, the flavor is not bad but has some harsh notes due to the alcohol vapor pouring out. The lack of strong carbonation leaves the beer feeling overly sweet and sticky. I’d drink it again, but I wouldn’t buy it.

Not at all what I was expecting. I must say that I was disappointed with the metallic aroma, like a roll of old nickels. The rest of the beer however turned me around and thus salvaged a respectable outing overall. This has a lot of elements of a barleywine, particularly a sweet finish and alcoholic esophageal burn, as well as other intangible barleywine persona. Overall, it’s good and satisfying, though not world-class.

Draught. Cherry and caramel nose with lighter grain notes. Somewhat strange sweetness and lightly fuselly. Deep brown-amber with no head. Very boozy throughout with caramel and cherry undertones. Chewy, encompassing mouthfeel.

Bottle. Oil slick look in the glass with a small soapy head and no visible carbonation. The head quickly disappeared, leaving a greasy looking flat liquid. Despite the miserable presentation, this is a solid beer. Nice caramel flavors mix in a bit of dough, some lemons, and a lovely boozy finish. Pretty easy drinking, though a bit alcohol-flavored.

2006 bottle (gold wax) sampled Sept ’08.

Pours caramel yellow, small head. Peaches, honey, alcohol on the nose, a flavor driven by mellow sweet honey, not a lot of hop character at this age, hints of stone-fruit, surprisingly good considering my expectations for the beer and, for that matter, the individual components of the beer. Nearly flat mouthfeel, yet it’s nice to drink, the ABV present more in flavor and particularly aroma than in the heat on the tongue or thickness; there is seems more in the 8% range.

Not an absolute standout, but better than many Anderson Valley products and pretty enjoyable at two years of age.