The Bruery Trade Winds Tripel

Brewed by The Bruery
Style: Abbey Tripel
Placentia, California USA

Clear medium gold, nice lasting head. Aroma is sweet, honey accented malts with a spicy note. Flavor is that of a nice tripel - solid pale malt backbone with an enjoyable spice finish. Maybe a hint of bubblegum. Wouldn’t have picked out the rice and thai basil, but I think that is a good thing - the unusual ingredients are all in harmony with the beer. Well done tripel.

Bottle:   Straw in color, hazy, huge rocky white head, nice lacing.   Peppery nose, subtle spices, bready.   Seems american yet more spiced.   Not like belgians, more like and american version but rather spicy.   Bubley, fairly full bodied with a spritzy mouthfeel.   Sweet, decent malt base.   Not as heavy as others.   More spicy and floral like Belgians.   Well, more spicy than floral.   This is a treat!   Lingering pepper.   Slightly bright with some alcohol warmth.   Very unique and tasty.

Cask. Rattle N Hum, NYC. Hazy deep gold body. Fizzy, off-white head, quickly diminishing. The aroma displays notes of coriander, toasted grain, caramel, herbs, flowers. The flavor is moderately to heavily sweet and moderately bitter. It finishes moderately sweet and moderately bitter. Good balance. Medium to full body, watery texture turning sticky in the finish. Moderate carbonation. Alcohol warming. First impression is that this is one of those way-to-sweet, unrefined American tripels, but there is enough balance to keep the sweetness from being overwhelming.

From a cask at Rattle’n’Hum. Aroma is sour-sweet, and the flavor is striking. Sour and herbal, with malt, Belgian yeast, and lemon-lime. Dry and herby overall - I guess that must be due to the Thai basil, which I would never have guessed was in here - hats off to The Bruery for that creative move! Very interesting, and surprisingly good as a cask ale.

Bottle. Moderate straw for the malt, heavy grass and lemon for the hops, moderate barnyard and musty basement for the yeast, with a hint of black pepper and apple. Head is huge, frothy white with excellent thick lacing and is fully lasting. Flavor starts lightly sweet and moderately to heavily acidic, then finishes moderately acidic and lightly bitter. Palate is medium, oily with a lively carbonation and a lightly alcoholic and astringent finish. One of the better American Tripels I’ve had.

sparkling clear golden with a big fluffy white head. aroma actually has quite an uncooked rice smell and some apples. Flavor is a bit sweet, not really noting any basil. Fruit and a bit of yeast. Some alcohol noticeable.

Bottle from Canals in Lawrenceville, NJ. Pours a hazy bright sunflower under a medium-short white head. Mildly citrusy aroma of lemon peel with some yeasty notes. Crisp flavor of light malt, fresh bread and restrained spice. Lacks the sweetness expected of a Belgian style beer but in a very good way. If I Thai basil wasn’t on the label I would never have picked it up. Light texture with just the right amount of carbonation and a dry finish. A really nice beer.

I like sour, so I liked this, but this beer didn’t have typical sour flavors and sure as hell wasn’t a typical tripel. I found it to be tasty, but honestly a little difficult to drink. Appearance was not like a tripel at all - it was dark and cloudy without much head. Aroma had a ton of fruit like sour cherry and cranberry. Despite the absence of candy sugar in the recipe, flavor is of candy sugar, fruit, and SOURNESS! Mouthfeel is dry. This is a pretty challenging beer to drink - tasty, but not all that drinkable. Quite interesting - I’d be happy to try this again, as it is complex enough I am not sure I really got it all in this tasting. I had this on-tap at Shorty’s in mid-town Manhattan.