Archive for the tag “Collaboration”

12 Nov 2013

He Said Baltic-Style Porter – 21st Amendment/Elysian collaboration

 hesaid_baltic_can8.2% ABV
Purchased at Curtis Park Market ($11.99/4-pack of 12 oz. cans) and poured into tulip glasses.

This other half of the He Said four-pack is a “Baltic-style porter brewed with pumpkin and spices”, and it pours a coffee bean dark brown with a slight, cola fizz-colored head.  It offers an aroma of flaky-crusted pumpkin pie up front, backed with some black licorice and candied ginger.  The first swallow is very spice-heavy, including ginger, pumpkin pie spice, and something sharply herbal (according to the website, the spice additions are Vietnamese cinnamon and caraway seed).  There is a black licorice twist to the finish that introduces the “Baltic” aspect, which might be one high concept too many for He Said’s overcrowded flavor profile.

toasts-3   3 Toasts

HeSaid_BalticPorter

toasts-3   3 Toasts

Posted in 3-4 Toasts, Baltic-Style Porter, Beer Review, Collaboration, Porter and tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment
05 Nov 2013
1 Comment

He Said Tripel – 21st Amendment/Elysian collaboration

HeSaid_Tripel8.2% ABV
Purchased at Curtis Park Market ($11.99/4-pack of 12-oz. cans) and poured into goblet glasses.

This collaboration between San Francisco’s 21st Amendment and Seattle’s Elysian is a Belgian tripel brewed with pumpkins, tarragon, and galangal (aka Thai ginger).  It pours a light, peachy orange with a tight white head, and presents a lot of earthiness and spice on the nose, including pumpkin and gourd flesh, sweet potatoes, ginger, and other autumnal spices.  He Said Tripel feels lighter on the tongue than anticipated, with a nice effervescence on the front end that gives way to those expected autumn spice-bomb flavors, led by pumpkin, ginger, and candied yams.  Despite the potential here for a cutesy hybrid, the flavor profile is expertly balanced, with a little banana-like sweetness cutting through the heavy, lingering spice notes.

toasts-4   4 Toasts

HeSaid_Tripel

toasts-4.5   4.5 Toasts

Posted in 4-5 Toasts, Beer Review, Collaboration, Tripel and tagged , , , , , , ,
30 Jul 2013

Tropical Tripel – Cigar City/de Proef Collaboration

de-proef-tropical-tripel-bttl

9.5% ABV
Purchased through Rare Beer Club and poured into goblet glasses.

This limited release collaboration between Belgian brewers De Proef and Tampa-based Cigar City pours a clear mandarin orange with a minimal bright white head.  Tropical Tripel was “aged on oak chips with coconuts and peaches”, and the nose offers a pina colada-style aroma of tropical fruits, including oranges, guavas, pineapples, and coconuts, with hints of Belgian farmhouse yeast.  It is strong and sweet on the palette as well, dominated by distinctly overripe fruit flavors like oranges, tangerines, guavas, and bananas, along with a touch of hop bitterness on the aftertaste.  The fruit adjuncts definitely heighten the candied fruit and hay taste of a Belgian tripel, but while this brew is thirst-quenching and flavorful, the overwhelming sweetness quickly becomes stomach-turning.

toasts-3    3 Toasts

TropicalTripel

toasts-3    3 Toasts

 
Posted in Beer Review, Belgian, Tripel and tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment
25 Apr 2013

Heavenly Feijoa Tripel – Lips of Faith Series New Belgium/Dieu du Ciel! Collaboration

feijoa_bttl9% ABV
Purchased at Nugget Market ($8.99/22 oz. bottle) and poured into goblet glasses.

This Lips of Faith collaboration between Colorado legends New Belgium and Montreal-based Dieu du Ciel! – brewers of the excellent Solstice d’Hiver barley wine – pours a heavily burnished gold with a slight white head.  The strong nose smells of fermented barnyard grains, Belgian yeast, and the hibiscus flowers promised on the bottle.  However, it’s a tart, super-sweet tropical note that dominates the palette, presumably from the addition of feijoa (aka “pineapple guava”), eventually fading into more of those strong, spicy grains.  It’s definitely an original brew, and I have loved other Lips of Faiths beers (including the new Cascara Quad), but it’s also pretty one-note and too sweet for my tastes.  (2½ toasts)

toasts-2.5   2.5 Toasts

Feijoa

toasts-2.5   2.5 Toasts

Posted in Beer Review, Tripel and tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment
22 Nov 2012

Biere de L’Amitie – Brasserie St. Feuillien/Green Flash Collaboration

9.5% ABV
Purchased at Pangaea Bottle Shoppe ($13.49/25.4 oz. bottle) and poured into tulip glasses.

This Belgian Strong Pale Ale is a collaboration of San Diego’s Green Flash and Belgium’s Brasserie St. Feuillien, the opposite number of their more recent partnership Friendship Brew, a black saison.  It pours a pale orange with an expansive bone-white head, and a gorgeous array of farmhouse aromas in the nose – citrus, hay, and funk are there, along with some banana-coconut tropical notes.   Biere de L’Amitie is unbelievably light and effervescent on the first swallow, with some champagne and funk flavors entering on the finish.  There is some citrus present, but nothing juicy or cloying, just a perfect accent to the crisp mouthfeel and floral, tea-like spices.  In the spirit of cross-cultural collaboration, the resulting tasty brew is both old-world understated and brimming with new-world personality.

    4.5 Toasts

    4.5 Toasts

Posted in Beer Review, Belgian, Strong Pale Ale and tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment
10 Aug 2012

BRUX – Russian River/Sierra Nevada

8.3% ABV
Purchased at Taylor’s Market ($15.99/25.4 oz. bottle) and poured into flute glasses.

His Notes:

This collaboration between NorCal brewing legends Russian River and Sierra Nevada pours a burnished gold with a sizable off-white head.  The bottle describes Brux as a “domesticated wild ale”, and indeed it offers the expected barnyard funk aromas along with some citrus zest and tangerine.  It is spectacularly dry on the palette – the body is visibly similar to prosecco – with notes of citrus fruit, melon, and grass. There is some funk on the tongue, but the lasting impression is a dry, cracker-like bitterness offset by oranges, tangerines, and melon.   Brux has an interesting, fruit-forward complexity, with bready yeast flavors (and even a little saltiness) on the retreat, but the higher-than-average ABV makes it a little heavier than necessary.

  4 Toasts

Her Notes:

  4.5 Toasts

Posted in Beer Review, Saison, Wild Ale and tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

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