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

Urine Trouble

There was a lot to live up to since this beer has the GREATEST NAME EVER! I about fell over laughing when I first found out that Three Floyds and Surly had come together to create a beer called Urine Trouble. I made a special trip up to the Three Floyds brewery to get a few of these bad boys.

Urine Trouble is a Double IPA with bret added to the mix. It pours out a beautiful straw golden color with a nice sized white head. The lacing was huge all the way down the glass and lasted the entire beer. Three Floyds said this brew smelled like "Cat peed on the Christmas tree". I'm a dog guy, so I don't know what cat pee smells like, but if this is it, cat pee doesn't smell so bad. Urine Trouble smells like fruity bret with some awesome pine and pineapple notes.

It even tastes better than it smells! It has great pineapple flavors with some awesome funk on the side. The funk is well mixed in with the existing DIPA flavor. The hops compliment the flavor with some serious pine bitterness. It does not forget that it's an IPA. It finishes up with a nice bit of boozy heat at 9% abv to lock everything together.

Between the bret and the high abv this is a perfect candidate for aging. The hops will die down a little bit but all the other flavors should meld well and really transform the beer. I have two more bottles of this that I plan on popping in six months and then sometime after that.

My hat is off to Three Floyds and Surly. This was a bold and innovative brew. Intense flavors dance up and down the glass in a crazy mix you aren't going to find anywhere else. I couldn't ask for more from a limited release beer.

I give it a solid four.

The Little Lady: I'm all for a good road trip, especially one that results in drinking good beer (responsibly of course since there's driving involved) and bringing some home. In these situations, Three Floyds has yet to  disappoint. I admit I was a bit hesitant when it came to trying this beer. The Big Guy and I had opposite reactions to the name and the holiday-cat-pee comments. I'm skeptical in general so this is no big surprise. What was surprising was how much I liked this beer. I tend to prefer Imperial/DIPAs to regular IPAs as I feel like there's a better balance of the hops with the rest of the flavors, especially with the stronger malt characteristics. True to the style, yes I'm looking at official guidelines, there was a beautiful amber color in the glass and a very smooth mouthfeel. It was clean and crisp without being harsh or biting. All in, a great beer!