Green Flash Le Freak

Brewed by Green Flash Brewing Co.
Style: Abbey Tripel
Vista, California USA

Deep amber body with a large, dense, lightly off white head. A little funky leather mixes with some grapefruit. There is also some floral character, like smelling daisies. The taste has some strong leather funk along with a dry grapefruit peel finish. There is black pepper and some dried grass character. A little dry for me, I am also a little put off by the dried grass notes. Overall, an interesting brew that is close to an IIPA than any tripel I have tried. I continue to be unimpressed with the over hopped Belgian style brews, certainly not for me. The characters of the dry tripel just don’t mix with massive citrus hops for my palate.

Pours lightly hazy amber with a large off white head. The aroma has banana esters, Belgian yeast, light toast and a hint of hops. Medium crisp body with quite a bit of carbonation and an overall roughness to the palate. Starts with tripel style malt as mentioned above with some dryness and earthy / spicy hops on the finish along with some dry caramel. I don’t know the age on the bottle, but I was expecting a punchier hop kick. Still pretty solid, but I was expecting more.

Beer pours deep golden color, slightly cloudy and a decent frothy white head. The aroma was mostly Belgian Trippelesque, with some banana and other fruits and a bit spicy. The underlying trippel was a pretty good US effort with a good blend of fruity flavors and peppery spices with a slamming US Pacific Northwest hop presence at the back end which worked well in this beer.

Tasted 3/1/09. 22oz bomber. Dulled golden hue. Layer of off-white head. Fruity aromas with a touch of pepper and orange. Grapefruit and a slight strawberry note. Full bodied with a substantial citrus effervescence. Grapefruit acidic bitterness in the finish. Spicy and zesty. Acidic and bitter. Faint bubblegum. But everything is totally overshadowed by the pine shot. Cringing at first, but it quickly grows on you. This was good.

Bottle (11/8/08): Slightly hazy orange bronze with a thick, frothy well-lacing off-white head. Aroma of big citrusy grapefruity hops and sweet caramel and biscuity Belgian malts and yeast. Body starts with good malty fullness and sweetness well balanced with bountiful citrus flavor and bittering hops before a crisp, slightly warming bittersweet finish.

Clear coppery orange with a large, off-white head that is partially diminishing, leaving a thin-walled layer of lacing around the edge of the glass. Aroma of apricots/peaches, banana and graham crackers with a bubblegum sweetness towards the end - a strange yet enticing amalgam. Juicy fruit flavor initially, turning moderataly bitter with some slightly biting pine notes. Sweet banana & clove floats in underneath the bitterness lending great balance. Finish is bubbly, dry and mildly bitter. Lively carbonation. Wow, what an interesting combination, IPA and tripel. The harder you look for the components of either style the more you find, yet overall can be enjoyed on its own merits.

Bottle. Creamy white excellent fully lasting head. Yellow-orange colour. Moderate malty and heavy hoppy aroma. Strong grapefruit/lime notes. Fantastic fruity-bitter flavor with graoefruit notes. Long complex great finish. Exellent creamy palate. Wonderfull beer.

Beer pours golden color with a nice, big fluffy egg white head that is retained. Aroma is mostly yeasty, with just a hint of the hops. Flavor is right on with the big Belgian Trippels. Lots of yeasty goodness with a significant bitter finish which is unusual for the style. This is imressive beer IMO in the sense that Green Flash, a West Coast brewer, is producing a Belgian style quite well. Yum.