The Tide and Its Takers

photo courtesy of Anchorage Brewing Company

Like Ahab's white whale, this beer is a beast worth of devotion and furious obsession.  It deserves to be serenaded with sonnets and ballads strum upon pearlescent lutes leafed in hazy gold to match the yellow hued straw of this bottled sunlight.

Whereas big Imperial stout, or rich chocolate porters conjure images of dark velvets and language that is as laced and heady as a deep red wine, this Trippel, imbued with Bretts in an Oak Chardonnay barrel, is just as decadent, but with contrasting lightness.

It pours out like straw colored champagne and retains its head and lacing like the aforementioned beverage.  It holds a nice golden light and gives off a soft nose of yeast and lemon.  The addition of Bretanomyces really takes a solid Trippel and makes an incredibly nuanced beer more akin to wine than a straightforward beer.

Anchorage Brewing Company has really mastered the use of Bretts and have not feared the big bad monster of "wild yeasts."  Embracing the fact that they have been around souring beers before the discovery of sanitizing in the 19th century, it's another connection bridging modern brewing with the traditions of the past.  It's fitting that Belgians haven't shied away from this beast and for Anchorage to throw it into a Trippel is a nice touch

The tropical, peppery, earthy-ness that is lent to Bretts creates such a unique and subtle backbone to this exquisite Belgian.  You still get the zesty lemon/grapefruit, but it seems to be infused with an apple-pear crispness and the oak and chardonnay tartness really add to the surprisingly robust flavor. All that sharp and airy tartness has Bretts breath through it and adds that wonderful, earthy funk.

The name of this beer is spot on.  It really does feel like the ocean.  Light, breezy, wild, and satisfying to the core.

As far as Bretts beers go, this one is insanely approachable.  It would turn on any wine drinker with its white wine aspects.  It's not aggressively sour or funky and that's the beauty.  It takes an established style and elevates it to something wonderful.  A white whale in this under sailed sea of Bretts beers.

"...the waves should rise and fall, and ebb and flow unceasingly; for here, millions of mixed shades and shadows, drowned dreams, somnambulisms, reveries; all that we call lives and souls, lie dreaming, dreaming, still; tossing like slumberers in their beds; the ever-rolling waves but made so by their restlessness."
-Henry Melville, Moby Dick

5 adoring heads out of 5

New World

Creation: New World

Style: Belgian Tripel
Masterminds: Samel Adams
Location: Boston, MA
ABV: 10.0%
IBU: 17
Hops: Tettnang Tettnanger, Saaz
Availability: Year Round
Drinkability: Light enough to prance around and act like a sessionable beer, but has the ABV of a complex beer that will catch you unawares and leave you with your head in the toilet.

Served out of the bomber, cold right out of the fridge.  Pours  a light gold, fizzy onslaught with medium head.  Head will stick around for the entire flavor trip from full pint to empty glass.  The head makes the lacing deceptive, because there is minimal to no lacing present at the end.

Yeasty fruit spice nose.  Notes of apples, pears, cinnamon, peppery clove.  I didn't get the pineapple notes as described by others.

Has distinct flavors.  A very noticeable first, second and finish.  The flavor trip starts with pear, then  to apple, ending with a cinnamon pepper clove with a slight boosey heat.

Ever so slight bitter yeast with a honey sweetness dry white wine finish with a slight toastyness.  Highly drinkable, but high ABV will rein you in to just a few

Serve Warm(er):

Let it warm up to help the complexity of flavors come out, if served right out of the fridge the apple will overpower most other flavors and be very sharp and bright.

O-Dawg: 4

Post-Mortem
To be Frank (not O-Dawg) for a moment, I had this first off of draft at Mo's Irish Pub here in Indy last winter.  It was an interesting lead up to Winterfest which neither me nor my compatriots could attend (or so we thought until The Professor scored last minute VIP through a friend.)

Morose and wanting to hang, the gang got together at Mo's for a Tap Takeover that was supposed to be Upland on all taps.  When we showed up it was half Upland and half Sam Adams.  Since we #drinklocal we went through the lineup of usuals and one seasonal that Upland had to offer.  Komodo Dragonfly BIPA, Double Dragon Fly x2IPA stole the show for me.  Their Winter Warmer... well... lets just leave that one till later shall we.

Feeling adventurous and a little bit curious as to what Ol' Samuel Adams had up his sleeve I started through their Small Batch Series, Barrel Room Collection, and Limited Release Beers that were on tap.  The ones that really stood out for me were New World, Tasman Red, Dark Depths, and Grumpy Monk.  This really surprised me because I love (and still love) Uplands beers.  I did not think a Nationally distributed brewery could withstand the onslaught of awesome local beer.  I stand corrected.

Getting just a taste of the New World I knew I wanted to snag a bottle of it.  Cut to a few weeks ago...  Yes even because Ol' Sam stated it was a year round brew, the little bugger didn't show up in Indiana until just recently.  Go figure?!  Why don't you go get yourself a bottle and see why I kept looking for it as long as I did!

The Big Guy: O brought a bottle of this over earlier in the year. It was one of the better Sam Adams beers that I have had lately. It was a solid Belgian with a big abv, and I have one cellaring right now. After having it for a second time at the Sour Wild Funk Fest though, I am not as in love as I thought I was. I hope it ages well. I give it a 3.