Dark Horse Sapient Trip Ale

Brewed by Dark Horse Brewing Company
Style: Abbey Tripel
Marshall, Michigan USA

Pours a pale golden color with a white head. Aroma is malt, honey, clove, and peppery hops. Flavor is grainy, bitter, clove, some honey, and a bitter peppery finish.

Appearance: Pours a lightly hazy, bright yellow body topped by a medium-sized, white head. Smell: Somewhat mild aroma altogether, with notes of toasted wheat, freshly harvested hay, banana, spice, used gum, and a sugar candi. Taste: Sugary tasting toasted wheat flavor. Handful of crushed crackers. There’s a sourish quality to the overall taste of the beer. Pinch of spice, a bit of banana. Mild hint of gum, like a stick that’s been chewed nearly to the point of being rendered tasteless. A bit of alcohol showing on the lightly sour finish. Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied. Medium carbonation. Drinkability: Has some potential, sure, but as it stands it’s not the tripel for me.

Tap at Kuma’s. Cloudy pale yellow, white fluffy head, minimal lacing. Nose is candy corn and bananas. Taste is fruity and sweet, not really very dry on the palate. Decent, but far from great.

12OZ bottle. Pours clear, deep golden color. Aroma of bread and sweet malt. A nice Abbey Tripel. Flavor is very sweet. Dry finish. Big alcohol burn. A very nice tripel.

Pours cloudy orange with a slight head which dissipates rather quickly. Light malt in the aroma with some esters and a ton of alcohol. Flavor is nice, however finish is much too sweet for the style. Again, the alcohol seems a bit unbalanced in the flavor. This beer does pack a punch, but it’s not my favorite from Dark Horse.

Draft @ Brewpub: The lady sitting next to me had had one of these and was practically falling off her chair. That being said, this beer packs a well-hidden punch. Smells like clove and banana, maybe some nutmeg. Flavor adds a little citrus to the mix. Bready. Finishes sweet and spicy. As she said, "It’s a trip ale".

Poured from a 12oz bottle and served in a tulip. This beer poured a bright orange with a slight haze and a thin head of off-white foam. Not much lace. The aroma of the beer was made up of oranges, spicy yeast, and some bread. The flavor was much the same with a more pronounced hoppy citrus note. The mouthfeel was medium to full-bodied with mild carbonation. A pretty decent tripel.

(Bottle, thanks hopscotch) Pours hazy orange to light amber with a small creamy white head. The aroma is medium malty, light noble hoppy, light to medium yeasty, quite fruity ester-ish and spicy with tones of white bread, dough, grass, light vegetables, light flowers, light herbs, candi sugar, almond paste/marzipan, apples, pears, apricots, oranges, ripe bananas, more subtle tropical fruits like overripe pineapple, mild coriander, mild white pepper and mild clove. The flavour is quite yeasty/malty with tones of dough/bread, some banana and orange-ish fruity notes alongside undertones of apples, pears and a tiny touch of vegetables. Mild hoppy taste with hints of grass, herbs, and flowers. Light bitter and medium to heavily candi-cloying sweet. The mouthfeel is doughy, light sticky and sugary sweet. Sugar, vegetable and hops in the aftertaste. Medium to full bodied. The aroma is interesting but the flavour is a simplistic mess of yeast and sugar.