Four Winds Brewing Co. Triplicity Tripel at 9% ABV | 33.3 IBU (C$11.85 at Hume Hotel Liquor Boutique, 750 ml, packaged on 5-Dec-2017, acquired 30-Jan-2018, reviewed 22-Feb-2018)
Appearance: slightly hazy straw with two fingers of fluffy pale ivory head, excellent retention and moderate clingy lacing. (5/5) Aroma: banana, pear, bread, honey, sage, coriander. (8/10) Taste: moderate-high sweet, moderate bitter. (7/10) Palate: medium slightly slick body, moderate carbonation, sweetish warming mildly spicy finish. (4/5)
Just slightly too sweet, if I’m being picky – and, by all means, let’s be picky, right? This splits the difference between sweet and dry Tripel styles, so of course I’d probably like it better if it were drier – but it’s not bad as it is. There’s little doubt that the higher sweetness is both at least partially attributable to the high ABV, and helps temper that same ABV. Fruit tones lead the way, with bready yeast in the mid, and mildly spicy sage and coriander on a slightly slick warming finish. Oh, and get this: three hops, three malts, and three sugars, with an ABV of three times three and an IBU of 33.3 – cool, huh? I’m pretty impressed with the amount of math that was required to make that work out! (Though I’m pretty skeptical about that decimal point, if I’m honest.) (16/20)
8/10 #ryansbooze ryansbooze.com
