Blue Mountain Mandolin Artisanal Ale

Brewed by Blue Mountain Brewery
Style: Abbey Tripel
Afton, Virginia USA

Pours a hazy orange bronze with a spotty white head. Aroma of toasty caramel malts with an authentic biscuity Belgian yeastiness. Body starts with a nice light Belgian malty sweetness and some honey flavors with a touch of orange peel and floral bitterness before a drier, finish. A pretty good Belgian tripel.

Bottle on 03/30/08. Crystal clear golden amber body with a medium creamy off-white head. Sweet belgian malts, hints of candi sugar and light spice. Sweet spice, light clove and hints of banana, light caramel and some belgian spice. Medium-full body with moderately low carbonation. This seems somewhat different from the tap version. Previous rating: 03/29/08 On tap at the brewpub. Very slightly hazy clear pale copper body. Sweet caramel, candi sugar and spice aroma. Sweet fruit flavor with spice, caramel and candi sugar. Slightly astringent. Medium-full body with moderately low carbonation and a somewhat syrupy finish. Probably would be a bit better with a bit less hops. 7/3/7/3/14

Thanks to pepsican and iowaherkeye for sharing this bottle. Not sure which one of you brought it. Poured a clear light orange color with an off white head. Spicy, fruity aroma of mango, apricot, and subdued clove. Apricot came out againin the flavor along with flaky pasty and astringent alcohol. Nice.

Pours deep gold with copper core and white head. The aroma has solid notes of lighter than dark fruity esters and decent amount of yeasty spice. The taste has plenty of fruitiness like raisins, prunes and a bit of apples followed by a floral hop note. Not too much else seems to be going on except a pretty solid alcohol presence. Still nice stuff.

gold pour with a nice sized soapy white head. Aroma has plenty of pear yeast qualities along with some cereal grain and bananas. Flavor has quite a bit of spice, belgian yeast, caramel, grain, and a bit of pear and apple. Light boozy finish with a nice snappy carbonation.

The bottle for this is a beauty. It’s come up in discussion at least 3 or 4 times now, and adds to the initial ’outward appearance’ before even seeing the brew. The beer itself is something of a golden clay colour, with a reasonably nice looking head of average retention. The scent of this is quite nice and promising... a clean fruity yeast aroma, a note of spiciness, and almost a honey-like sweetness. A little bit of a banana and clove like quality floating around in there. A nice little medley of aromas, and one of the better that comes to recent memory. Taste is big, without being TOO huge, the flavours swirl around quite harmoniously with a nice complexity. Many of the same flavours as noted in the aroma... a honey and spice over a banana/fruit flavour. It doesn’t go overboard on being sweet at all, and a little bit of alcohol warmth follows up to finish. A rich, sparkling mouthful with the flavours spreading over the tongue and slipping away gradually, leaving a pleasant, savouring post-finish. The alcohol kick is here, as with any other Tripel, so that can’t really take away from it a great deal. I am very pleased with the flavours and overall experience with this bottle. It might be a LITTLE hot, but this was also quite fresh, so a little time aside should smooth that out nicely for those who are feeling a little wary. Quite good, and a keeper of a bottle.

Clear Golden/ Golden Amber with slight white head. Some spicey belgian characteristics with sweet caramel malt notes and floral hop aromas. Clean caramel malt flavors and candy sugar with moderate hop bitterness and some clove/bannana yeast character. Full somewhat grainey mouthfeel with some lingering spicey bitterness and alchohol warming in the finish. Another nice beer from Blue Mountain.

Courtesy of cigarcitybrew. Pours blonde, white head. Aroma, spices, yeasty and sugary. Taste, sugary, good presence of alcohol, fruity (lemon/orange), very sweet with honey.