Brasserie d'Achouffe - Houblon Chouffe Dobbelen IPA Tripel

Tonight I'll be drinking a big bottle of brew straight from Belgium - the Houblon Chouffe Dobbelen IPA Tripel - which translated into English means.... hoobly choofly dobbly Tripel IPA.  Just kidding!  I have no idea what it means!  This brewery was founded by two brothers-in-law back in 1982, and has slowly grown through Europe and beyond, now shipping to 20 countries worldwide.  The Houblon Chouffe was first created back in 2006, with the idea that they would take an unfiltered, bottle-conditioned Belgian Tripel, throw some American hops in there, and see what happens.

The label on this brew shows a little knome/elf dude picking hop flowers from a garden.  It also lists the 9% ABV, and a little story on the back which is pictured below.  The beer is a cloudy light golden color with a cob-web layer of white head the leaves a lot of lace behind.  The aroma brings loads of citrus and florals, with some yeast funk behind it.  Fruity smells with apricots and grapes, almost reminds me of champagne.  The flavor starts off light and crisp, with a decent amount of bitterness up front.  Citrus takes center stage, with lemon rinds and bitter orange peels, very zesty. This is complimented by a softer peach flavor, and then transitions over to a light biscuit maltiness.  Some warming alcohol comes next.  The finish brings it full circle back to the citrus zest, with a pleasant dryness that leaves me ready for the next drink.

Overall Rating:  This is a phenomenal beer.  It doesn't compare to American belgian IPAs - the Tripel base really stands out and gives it another level of complexity that American interpretations just don't offer.  Epic beer - highly recommend it!  A

Sorry, very tough to read - my iPhone camera sucks!

Great Divide - Belgica Belgian IPA

Tonight I'll be giving this Belgium IPA a run.  After recently having a growler of freshly brewed Harriet Brewing Belgian IPA that was absolutely amazing, the bar for this style is set extremely high.

The label design is simple and includes a pair of gargoyle-style lion creatures, along with the words "Singular" and "Ebulliant" (zestfully enthusiastic).  It also includes a stamp that states "Great minds think alike."

This beer pours a straw-golden color with a small amount of head that doesn't stick to the glass much.  The aroma instantly hits the belgian yeast notes, with some bitters and fresh pears.  There's also a hint of pilsen malts that come through.  The first drink....there is certainly a lot happening here.  The first thing I notice is the sweet n' sour belgian yeast.  Then some light malts come through, carrying a lemon-pepper note on their shoulders.  That light lemony tart flavor lingers all the way until the finish, which has a cleansing quality to it.  The beer is pretty creamy and the carbonation brings just enough to give the beer a crisp finish. 

Overall Rating:  (4.3 out of 6.0)  This beer doesn't have the hop characteristics of an American IPA at all, it's really more of a belgian pilsener in my opinion.  That said, it was a tasty, refreshing, drinkable beer that I would recommend, especially for all you belgian brew fans out there. 

Tough to read - may require magnifying glass

Tyranena - "Brewers Gone Wild" La Femme Amere

Tonights brew is one that I figured I'd take a chance on.  I had never had Tyranena before and knew nothing about the brewery.  So what better way to get to know a beer and the people behind it than trying one out while poking through their website!

Tyranena Brewing Co. was founded in 1998 and started brewing just under a year later in '99.  They don't have a whole heck of a lot of information on their site.  Plenty about current events and news releases but little about their history.  So instead of focusing on Tyranena's past we will take a good look into what I'm drinking this evening, Brewers Gone Wild La Femme Amere.

I chose La Femme Amere over my other choice at the store, Benji's Smoked Chipotle Imperial Porter.  For some reason peppers don't appeal to me in a beer but I guess thats why its in their Brewers Gone Wild (BGW) series.  "A series of big, bold, ballsy beers... each beer in this series is to the extreme.  Big flavor, wild names and... well... do you need more?" is the description affixed to their BGW page.  Normally this would be a cause for concern since any beer that claims to be an extreme version of something just means that there are too many ingredients included for the brews own good.  And more often than not the beer is overdone and tastes like a syrupy mess of malts and hops.  My hope is that this Belgian IPA will not reinforce the "Extreme beer" stereotype.

This brew is Tyranena's popular Bitter Woman IPA brewing with a Belgian yeast strain.  Should be a fun combination to enjoy!  Very little head with a small lacing left behind in the pour.  Floral, hoppy, fruity, spicy, a hint of black pepper, malty all in the aroma.  Color is orange/amber and clear.  I'm almost positive its filtered since there is no residual yeast at the bottom of the bottle.  Taste... wow!  Very surprised.  Nice and hoppy with a very balanced mild mix of spice and fruit.  So much going on here.  Somewhat difficult to describe.  A mild sweet malt comes through to support the madness of flavors.  Finish is slightly sweet, not cloying, but sweet enough to notice.  Could be a bit dryer.  The hops help bitter it out but not as much as I would like.

Overall 4.8/6.0 - I was surprised.  I wasnt expecting much from this beer but this really came out of left field.  The bouquet of floral and Belgian flavors come together nicely.  The finish could be dryer but only slightly so.  I could drink a few of these and be happy.  Ill be buying this again if I can find more of it!

I'm pretty sure this cheese head is saying "Will you drink a beer with me?"  My French is a little rusty though.

A little story about the supposed journey of this brew.