Anderson Valley Brother Davids Triple

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

Syrupy sweet aroma, candi sugar and candied citrus rinds. Vapory, estery with notes of banana and pear, rum. Vinuous sweet grape must. Farmhouse, Belgian yesties and a bit of funk. Golden amber clear with some orange tint. Creamy off-white lacing head. Heavy watery body, almost oily, with light medium carbonation. Starts very sweet with too much candi sugar. Almost get mouth cankers from this stuff. Good malt flavor and nice level of fruit esters. Sweetness is not overcome by hops, though, and that really detracts from this brew. Needs to be drier and unfiltered. A bit watery at the end with mild alcohol warming and sweet tongue to finish.

Actually orangey/brown in color with a head that shows properly then dissipates too quickly. It is not the prettiest or most convincing color I have ever seen. Honey, coriander, spicy, bready aroma with noticable green hop and lemon, a touch of caramel sweetness in one of the most intense aromas I have smelled in a long time. Flavor is intense as well. Many of the aroma components are there but the beer becomes sticky, syrupy (like a melted marshmallow) until the higher, warming alcohol and acidity balance the finish but compete endlessly on the palate. The malt hangs onto the front and top of the palate while the alcohol rests on the tongue, and the acidity bites the back of the palate and slowly moves forward to meet the complex alcohol. A triple? I would think not. But this is damn intense, though too sweet, and could be, if I may, call it an Imperial Triple. I do not like that idea either. It is too bad that the sweetness muddies the other flavor components so.

Dark Orange to Brown Coloring with White Head. Rich Sweet Bread Dough Aroma. Alcohol Warming...Dry, Yet Sweet Rich Mouthfeel, Dried Fruit. Dry Spice. Overall A Bit on the Dry Side, But Still an Enjoyable Tripel.

Nice golden color. Little to no head. Thin white ring of lace. So this is a tripel? Hmm. Strange dried banana chip aroma. Malty sweet. Fruity, very light hint of Belgian character. Certainly an American Tripel. Flavor is not bad at all, just not all that interesting. It is smooth, I can give it that. The Belgian yeast is so far in the background, and the fruity flavors are pleasant, just not all that distinct or enticing. Easier to drink than many brews at 10%, so it’s got to get points for that if not much else. It doesn’t really seem to style, but it still tastes decent if not very simple. This beer is like a nice enough, but very unexciting date. And as the evening progresses along, you start to realize how much you don’t want a second date.

Medium orange gold, quite clear, fast fade head. Aromas were faint, mostly cotton candy and random fruitiness. Flavors were centered on apricots, a hint of banana, more cotton candy. Not a bad triple, but nothing particularly exciting either. The apricot flavor was enjoyable overall.

Notes from 15Nov05 Pours a clear golden color with a 1/4 inch head that quickly fades away, leaving almost no lacing. Smell; you get the bananas and cloves, with a litlle citrusy orange thrown in, some vanilla, along with the Yeasty smell Belgian styles have. Taste; bananas, cloves, a touch of vanllia and oranges. There’s a definite presence of alsohol in the finish, and it gets way to sweet as it warms. Mouthfeel is a little thin and oily, and there’s not much in the way of carbonation. This is a decent beer, but not something I would ever seek out again.

This bottled brew poured a medium sized head of foamy off-white colored finely sized mostly diminishing bubbles that left behind a carbonated transparent caramel brown colored body and a good lacing. The aroma was malty hoppy and mildly vinous. The mouth feel was nice and smooth initially with a mild tingly caramel finish. The flavor was also malty with caramel notes.