Great Lakes 15th Anniversary Ale

Formerly brewed at Great Lakes Brewing Company
Style: Abbey Tripel
Cleveland, Ohio USA

Bottle a while back. Pours a hazy golden amber color with a small white head that almost settles out. Aroma is yeast, citrus, wheat. Flavor is sweet, fruity, yeast, alcohol. Palate is medium bodied, mildly carbonated, warm, crisp finish. Pretty decent, but not an ideal example of a tripel.

Out of date 11/04. A brilliant amber color when decanted properly with a thin, white head that forms only a collar around the edge of the glass. Aroma is sweet, almost texturally sugar-like. The photo on the label may be suggesting to me that it smells like white icing on a birthday cake. There are also some succulent, juicy, herbal notes resembling coriander. Flavor IS the white icing on a cake. This is a forceful, desert of a beer.

This is a high alcohol ale that quickly lets you know its potency. Anniversary Ale Has a light copper colour and a hint of fruit and herbs in its aroma. Unlike all Belgian Trippels Anniversary ale has a fantastic combination of sugar and spice. Finishes moderately clean. Overall a well constructed Ale

12 oz bottle, via MAP. Slightly hazy dark golden color, small white head that faded to a thin film quickly. Slightly tart aroma. Wondering about the quality of this one. Some yeast and alcohol as well. No signs of infection in the flavor but not what you might expect from a Triple. Rather sweet with little to no traces of hops. Sweet and alcoholic finish with some yeast and definate signs of oxidation. Medium to full bodied, slightly sticky and cloying mouthfeel with moderate fizzy carbonation. This guy hasn’t fared too well for its age, despite the 9.5% ABV. Almost transitioning into a lighter bodied Barley Wine of sorts. Bottom line on this one: drink ’em if ya got ’em, they ain’t gonna get any better.

An aroma marked by the sour smell of citrus and wheat. A cloudy golden color with a good head and decent lacing. This beer offers a taste of citrus mingled with wheat that tingles the tongue. The taste lingers well.

Tannin-full, fruity aroma with a lightly acidic, vinegary undercurrent. Hazy orange-gold body with a low white head that recedes to partial cover with some sudsy lacing. Fruity, tannin-full flavour offers herbal, grassy hops and some alcohol. Medium body is dry and somewhat thin feeling in the mouth with fine bubbled effervescence and mild alcohol warming. Bottle sampled with MartinT, Olivier_MTL and Rastacouere.

The Lure:
Yeasty weirdness spitting vinegar-laden veggies onto the peachy fruitiness. How can a tripel not last that long?

The Festivities:
An astringent acid finish wounds the slight alcohol burn. Tons of yeast float around, farting away obscenities. Carbonation and body are fine though, signs that these perceived problems are maybe at an early stage.

Transcendence:
The night after a Chinese buffet.

Pale gold hue covered by a light white head. Weird off notes have gained the aromas of this beer. While it had a best before july 04’, you’d imagine a trippel wouldn’t degrade so quickly(BB date 9 months after release?), expecially at 9.5%. That said, vinegar eggs and olive are hinted at in the spicy, mildly honeyed malty nose where any trace of hops seem long gone. Dryish graininess, sweet and most fruity appear in mouth. It can’t hide its alcohol, but nevertheless manages to procure fun moments in its peachy, pineapple-like fruitiness. Very thinned out body, sulphuric, with still quite active carbonation. Well, quite sweet and definitely not one that will support any age at all, like any Great Lakes it seems.