Having
had Tallgrass Brewing’s 8-Bit Pale Ale, I was already impressed with the
quality of the beer coming out of Tallgrass Brewing, so I was looking forward
to enjoying their take on a Belgian Tripel. There are many breweries that have excellent Tripels and many more that
produce bad Tripels, so I went into my can of Velvet Rooster not knowing which I
was about to drink. However, as with
every beer that I drink, I wouldn’t have chosen it for a review if I expected
it to be bad. So, fingers crossed and
with positive thoughts of the efforts of Jeff Gill’s life work I popped the can
open and poured.
On
Beeradvocate, Velvet Rooster has an 85. Over at ratebeer, it has a 78 overall and a 54 for style.
They say:
Velvet Rooster
Belgian-Style Tripel
(ABV 8.5%)
Belgian-Style Tripel
(ABV 8.5%)
This beer is a Belgian Tripel that
lives up to its name. Smooth and carefully crafted like a fine velvet painting,
but with an 8.5% ABV this bird has some spurs! The beer pours a golden straw
color with brilliant clarity. Topped with a lofty pure white head the beer has
a wonderful floral nose, with subtle fruit notes.
The taste is clean and crisp, with
subtle fruit notes and a touch of candy-like sweetness. The beer has a Champagne-like
effervescence that provides a crisp offset to its sweet finish. While a
pint glass is always nice, Velvet Rooster would also be at
home in a tulip glass or Champagne flute.
I say:
Velvet
Rooster pours a gorgeous hazy gold with a large rocky head that has excellent
retention and great lacing, typical of an excellent Belgian Tripel. There is a
light malty aroma with subtle fruity (orange) and spicy yeast esters.
The
flavor is bitter and peppery up front, becoming slightly sweet and fruity
(orange) with strong clove notes and the slightest bit of alcohol in the back
end. Velvet Rooster is medium bodied
with a medium to high level of carbonation.
Compared
to the style: Tripels are usually clear
with no haze and have a stronger spiciness both in the aroma and flavor; and
many have more noticeable alcohol notes.
That
said, Velvet Rooster is an excellent beer, and it was truly a pleasure to drink
it. It just did not fit into the
narrowly defined guidelines for what a Belgian Tripel should be. However, I often find that commercial
attempts at Tripels overshoot the pepper spiciness of the style and become too
spicy to drink. Velvet Rooster, however,
was very nice and smooth. When I am
looking for a good beer I am looking for drinkability, for something that I
would enjoy a 4 or 6-pack of. Velvet
Rooster definitely falls into that category. Once again, Tallgrass Brewing has proven to me that they know what they
are doing. This is an excellently brewed
beer and you should be on the lookout for it.
That’s
all for today! I am going to be heading
out to the Wisconsin Beer Lovers Festival in a couple hours and hope to bring
back a lot of pictures of the event to upload here.
Happy Weekend and Happy Drinking!!!