Blitzen
Rock Bottom Restaurant & Brewery

 

 

 

10 tap pour (Milwaukee location) into a flute.
(Review from notes)

A - Totally hazed, this golden apricot beer has a off-white head with low retention. Bits of lace are left behind.

S - Smells the part, for an American, with Belgian yeast esters of clove, banana, and white pepper. Pils malt and candi sugar with a tiny hop citrus hint.

T - Grainy pale malt and oils sweetness with a sweet candi sugar finish and low yeast ester involvement.

M - Medium-full bodied and lightly citrusy finishing with just a touch of alcohol warmth and a sliver of solvent.

O - The yeast doesn't come to a full fruition in this Tripel attempt. Good, but not quite there.

 

 

This one sounded pretty and I decided to try it, and it was a good choice. It's a hazy gold/orange with foam that hangs around for a long time. The aroma and taste are fruity with a touch of cloves and hay and an inkling of wheat. It's sweet and fairly easy to down, leaving a pleasant aftertaste. I'll have another one.

I had this one on tap at the Orland Park Rock Bottom on 2/11/2009.

A= This ale poured a slightly cloudy golden orange color with a 1/2" white head. The head fell to almost zero but was able to be renewed with a lot of swirling. Not much lace to speak of.

S= Bakery malt sweetness and a lot of fruity esters dominate. Not a lot of yeast character in the aroma of this one.

T= Very sweet and fruity most of the way through each swallow - showing heavy on the malt sweetness, bubblegum, and juicy fruity esters. The finish is sweet and shows just a bit of alcohol in the end.

MF= Medium bodied with a carbonation level that was a bit too low in my estimation.

D= A worthy example for sure, but I wish it were a bit drier and a lot more effervescent. In any event, its dangerously drinkable!

On tap at the brewpub, served in a pils flute, Blitzen is a clear gold with only some wispy, white skim.

Smell is very estery, loads of bubblegum and bannas, which happens to suit my taste in Belgians perfectly!

Taste is also all about the bright, fruity esters, with a bit of spice phenols on the finish, which is dry and mineral laden and not at all cloying. Very tasty, perhaps a bit simple and surely to fruity for some, it really worked for me.

Mouthfeel is slick and digestible, not to sugary but rather dry, almost saison like.

Drinkability is really good if you like fruity, dry Belgian blondes. Sweet but nicely attenuated, the ABV at 8.3% is just big enough to satisfy without being overdone or overt, I liked this enough that I had two in a row! Good thing I was taking the max home...

Served in 8 ounce glass and little too cold. Pours pale yellow with pillow white head. No hops in the pour, but a sweet candy aroma is there. When you take that first sip you are smacked in the face with a sugary soda sweetness that reminds me of Sprite? Cloying in its sweetness, made it almost impossible to finish the beer. This sweetness follows through to the finish. I am not sure why brewers make a Belgian Tripple so sweet. I wouldn't oreder a second.

On tap at Rock Bottom Chicago (obviously). Pours a clear, light brown. Little head. Light yeasty aroma, hinting of sweetness to come. Which it does. Sweetness upfront, yeastiness, with some light spice throughout. Full bodied. A bit too sweet overall.

Came in a chalice-- I'm glad this place knows their glassware. Weird in-between brown/gold color with a pretty weak head. This beer really straddles the fence between BSDA and Belgian Strong Pale Ale.

The smell is vaguely Duvelish, but with much weaker ester character, less spiciness, and less overall complexity. It's basically just yeasty and malty.

Tastes like it smells-- malty, a little yeasty, and generally pretty vacant. Mouthfeel is standard for a Belgian Strong Ale and pretty unremarkable.

It's pretty drinkable for the style, I guess, but there are a lot of better choices here.

(Served in a chalice)

A- This beer has a copper crystal clear body with a gentle carbonation of tiny bubbles. There is a white creamy head that fades to a cloud in the middle of the brew.

S- This beer has a fruity citrus hops followed by sweet malt flavor with hints of lightly toasted malt. There is a soft hint of caramel as it warms.

T- This beer has a hoppy flavor with some sweet light malt flavors that help boost the hops even more. There is a pineapple flavor to the hops with some alcohol taste that boost the hops in the finish. As this beer warms a bit the pine flavors come through in the hops nicely.

M- This beer has a medium mouthfeel with a little alcohol heat finish that increases as the beer warms.

D- This beer has a big hop flavor and a big sweetness to the malt that makes this a very nice and balanced beer. The alcohol is present but it is not offensive and compliments the other flavors in the beer very nicely.

I tried this beer at the Rock Bottom Brewery on Fountain Square in Cincinnati, OH. The tast was great with lots of spices. The mouthfeel was exceptional and it went together well with the Soft Pretels on the Appetizer menu. Give it a try after hitting the ice skating rink.

Sampled at the 2006 Holiday Ale Festival in Pioneer Square. Pours a bright golden color topped by a sizeable foamy head that lasts a little while. Spicy aroma of pale lame, clove, peppermint, and dark fruit. Palate is maltier, with the same aromatic spices coming through nicely before the swallow. Finish is all malt, accented by the considerable alcohol content. Body is a little thin, especially for such a strong beer. An enjoyable beer on this cold winter day out of doors.

Rock Bottom ~ Portland, OR
Thought I'd give this beer a try, since the keg had just been tapped earlier last evening.
Minimal head and smell (maybe the smoke in the bar area affected that?). Very nice taste, spicy and smooth. I agree with the other post that it was kind of saison-like and that tea was an element. I was a little surprised at the mild sweetness, a hint of nut & caramel, too...
It was pretty easy to drink two pints and could easily have had a third. ABV is not listed, but seemed to be fairly strong (6-7% range?) - I'm basing this on how "good" I was feeling afterward :-)!
Server said it would only be available for about 3-4 weeks so give it a try if you're in Portland...

Pours with an off-white head with a pure amber body. Banana and bubblegum in the nose with some hints of maple syrup. These smells aren't timid either!

Wonderful mouthfeel with a good thickness and carbonation to keep it from feeling syrupy. Great balance there!

This is sweet without any hint of cloying. 'Nilla pudding taste with maple syrup and oranges. Just great! The alcohol is hidden extremely well. I never would have guessed it was 12%. Watch out!

Notes from the brewer says it is is brewed with candy sugar, orange peel, and a secret Belgian yeast strain.

Served on tap at the brewery in a heavy 12 oz. goblet.

Appearance: Hazy orange yellow topped with a small white head. Very little head retention and no lacing whatsoever.

Smell: Fruity bananas and cloves with a healthy dose of yeasty bread, alcohols, and pepper.

Taste: Lots of residual sugar in this. Sweet fruity tastes of bananas and apples with a slight aftertaste of ginger and clove. Very yeasty and peppery.

Mouthfeel: A little overly brash with the alcohol burn with feisty aftertastes. Heartily middleweight in heft.

Drinkability: A little too sweet, verging on cloying, to my tastes. Aking to Red Sky at Night. A decent DT clone rather than a tripel, but these styles overlap a lot anyways. Worth trying, though.

A nice reddish brown under a thin head with very little lace. A spicy note is very noticeable, though the exact spice is hard to tell. At least some orange peel and coriander, but I do Not notice any banana. Nice honey taste to it, too. The server said he thought it was too strong for him, but I only felt a slight alcohol warming. A slightly cloying, but pleasant stickiness left behind.

Sourced from the Portland, OR, Rock Bottom Brewpub, this was sampled at Portland's 2003 Holiday Ale Festival - only 4 blocks away from the brewery! A Belgian tripel as winter warmer, not exactly true to style but that's ok. This tripel kind of ventures into saison territory too. Eh, all those Belgian style demarcations are kind of a blur anyway. A ripe, peachy gold color, darker than your everyday Duvel. Some tea flavors and a lot of fruit and spices. Is that a trace of candy cane? Hey why not, it's xmas. The Belgian yeast is really spicy, almost overwhelmingly so, but spices are what holiday beers are all about. This is notable for 3 reasons: 1. a unique twist on a tripel; 2. a unique twist on a winter warmer; 3. a surprisingly likable beer from a corporate brewpub chain.