 ClarkVV (3547), Allston, Massachusetts, USA
Sep 9, 2006
2006 bottle, I guess, generously shared by Goldorak on 8/27/06. I was determined to drink at least half of this bottle (500mL) but it just wasnt going to happen.
Well this trippel starts out rather muddy despite my best efforts to leave the sediment behind; I get the feeling these guys don’t care too much about removing trub when transferring/bottling. An interesting dark copper-peach color looks like your basic amber ale. Beige head quickly runs to the edges, with no lacing. Liquid is quite still.
Fruitiness in the nose is extremely high, like using a low gravity yeast above intended fermentation temperatures. I will say the hops are pleasant, dry, herbal and slightly minty, but they are lost amongst the peaches, somewhat rotten, celery, squash, carrots and light bananas. Oh ya, and LOTS of old apples. This, of course, is after you get past the rather crude, heavily bland yeast presence. I guess the hops keep it close to being not OVERLY offensive, though.
The mouthfeel sticks out first for me, with a massively papery, extremely underextracted/malted texture that scratches at the mouth. Carbonation is very low, and the body very loose and full of water. Sulphur and eggshells harry the palate, as other minerals, old fruits and such go nowhere. Not much hop bitterness noted, barely any of the hops noted in the aroma, in the flavor. DMS deadens the finish and it just builds up to the point where I can’t drink more than a couple mouthfulls.
HogTownHarry (3286), Toronto (Harbourfront), Ontario, Canada
Apr 29, 2007 Bottle (500ml). Found at the back of my fridge, purchase Sep 06 at Le Gobelet west of Montréal - 2005 vintage. Well it looks pretty nice, a deep copper with an average fizzy-frothy off-white head. The aroma - dry, sharp, like peppery yeast and oxidized apple cores - a tripel? This smells like a cheap dry cider. The taste - bleagh!! just apple cores, that’s it - maybe some cheap white wine, but NOTHING like a tripel - I don’t even really taste alcohol - there is a "bonus" of wet newspaper in the aftertaste. Watery body, totally flat, with a quick finish, yet it still leaves an ugly film of sugary stale/browned apple taste in my mouth. I’m opening my growler of Sierra Nevada Bigfoot to wash this out of my palate. Avoid.
mds (2111), Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Jan 1, 2007 Bottle. 2005 vintage. Pours a clear copper body with a short-lasting white milky head. The aroma isn’t pleasant at all- plastic, metal, bread, and vegetables. Wow, I’m not too familiar with this brewery but next time I’m shopping in Montreal I’ll try to pay more attention and avoid these guys. Barely drinkable, really. Sour and watery palate and tastes like weird fruit and fusel alcohol. Not pleasant at all.
tiggmtl (4179), Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Dec 14, 2006 La Cul de Pointe du Lac. Pineapples and plastic. Murky brown with fully diminishing head. Overly fruity with higher alcohols and no real malt character. Plenty of vegetable notes instead. Watery texture with sharp but short-lived carbonation. Going away party.
muzzlehatch (4424), Burlington, Vermont, USA
Oct 15, 2006 500 ml bottle shared with several Quebecois and one other drunk American at tiggmtl’s going away party in Montreal, from a New Belgium glass. Dirty amber-gold with a thinnish quickly-receding head, no lacing, flaccid-looking liquid....I have to go with my own semi-drunked quote from the evening (I think it was mine anyway) "if plastic could rot, that’s what this smells like"; basically rotting spoiled sickly-sweet fruits amidst chemicals....and the flavor, hmm, similarly simple, pineapple juice that’s been sitting out on a table for a few days. Don’t like it, no sir I don’t.
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