A week ago I invited some friends over to sample some beers, only one showed up. This was OK because that just meant our sample size was going to be bigger. Through the night we drank five different beers, and took notes on two. The two I took notes on was The Breury’s Trade Winds, which is a Belgian style tripel with rice and Thai basil, and the other one was Stones Double Bastard, a Strong Ale. In this post I’ll smooth out my notes and relay what I thought of the beers. I did not score them, this tasting was a bit more informal than when I want to review a beer, but I did take notes.
Trade Winds, a Belgian Tripel with Thai Basil and Rice
This was Trade Winds, a beer I was very excited to try because of its unique ingredient, Thai Basil. Here is the review based on my notes from that night.
The aroma is sweet and grainy, there is a distinct herbal aroma, most likely from the Thai Basil. There is some sweet and juicy fruits in the aroma as well, mostly tangerine like.Some alcohol detected.
The flavor is sweet and corn like, with some soft grain character. The Thai basil is quite evident in the flavor along with some yeasty spiciness. I am really liked the Thai basil, it works with this beer quite well. There is also some sweet and mildly tart fruit in the flavor as well, just about as subdued as in the nose. I can picture drinking this beer with an oven roasted chicken or grilled pork chops.
Stone Double Bastard
The second beer I took notes on was Stone’s Double Bastard. An American Strong ale. I would like to start out with the note that my tasting buddy made in the book. It says, and I quote “Looks like it would have lots of floaties”. With that, lets look at what I thought.
The aroma is very rich and complex malt character. There is lots of caramel and thick toffee. The beer smells sweet. Very little hop aroma, what is there is slightly piny and citrusy. Just a bit boozy, but overall I am really liking the rich malt character. Expected a bigger hop aroma, but all in all this smells like a younger English Barleywine.
The flavor is sweet, with a rich malt flavor. Full body with a nice smooth texture. Some minor chocolate notes along with very rich toffee flavors, works well with the tangy hop bite. This particular beer seems to be showcasing the malts used rather than a traditional American style beer which usually showcases hops. The hop balance is just enough to prevent the beer from being cloying.
On top of these beers we had Ale Asylum’s Hopalicious, Capital Autumnal Fire, and I’ll be damned if I can’t recall the other one. Oh well, that’s not important.
