Hopped Toddy
Trinity Brewing Company

 

 

Is it beer? Is it mead? Could it be both? Is it herbal? Sweet? Spicy? Is it aged in bourbon barrels? One sip brings up a ton of questions. To most of which, the answer is "yes!" Based around the cold nights or under-the-weather relief, Trinity brewers are up to their craft beer antics by turning the hot toddy elixir into a hopped honey and beer concoction with the same complexities and effects.

Hopped Toddy pours with the appearance that's succinct with honey. Amber, golden and glowing through a light haze and a short froth. Its aromas are fragrant with honey, whisky, citrus and herb showing a part beer, part honey combination. Its taste is decidedly sweet with honey, caramel and a rich toastiness of granola.

As the flavors develop, the sweetness holds onto the tastebuds tightly, any resistance to fade is tepid. Meanwhile the complexities of citrus bring a lemon and lime taste with a fresh squeeze of citrus. Herbal notes roll across the middle palate next with the grassy and peppery notes of black tea and green tea. Lightly minty, the finish comes with a brief bitterness, a light acidity and the spiciness of tannic oak.

Remaining firm a full in body, the lighter flavors suggest something softer, but the beer is full, sweet and approaching the level of cloying. Rendered to a sipping affair, this braggot is a low and savory drink that showcases well what's best about both barley and honey.

 

375ml Bottle

Poured into a chalice a very nice slightly cloudy, pinkish/orangy color, very nice carbonation, with a very nice thick/foamy/creamy one-finger white head, which also leaves some thick sticky lacing behind. The nose is malty, yeasty, very nice spice note, coriander, peppery, bourbon, with some nice citrus. The taste is very nice, malty, yeasty, spicy, coriander, citrusy, tart, bourbon. Full Body, ABV hidden very well, really a pretty complex brew, very nice bitter/dryish finish. Overall, this is a very nice brew, surprised me.

 

Pours a very murky yellow-brown with a significant head that is very thin and is gone in minutes. Bit of funk on the nose and Belgian characteristics. Taste is got some honey notes along with Belgian yeast esters. Above medium body and below average carbonation.

 

I'm going to kick this off by stating this is the first braggot I've had the pleasure of trying and after reading some style descriptions did my best to rate it according to style.

Murky greenish-yellow color with quite a bit of yeast sediment. Wispy white head.

Honey is the most striking aroma with some lemon peel and coriander. Yeasty. Smells like a lemon honey ludens cough drop.

I was shocked to find it was 13.8% abv. It's a bit harsh, but far from boozy. Easily recognizable honey and spice to it. It does mellow and flavors pop as it warms. Slight hop bite on the tail end.

Mouthfeel is moderate to light, but sticky finish with a light medicinal feel.

A strange style, indeed. Having nothing to compare it to in style, it seemed a bit harsh but captured some of the desired elements.

From a 375mL bottle into a Belgian tulip.

Airy and sudsy head requires multiple pours-and-waits. Carbonation is constant, streaming up to help the head persist. The body looks like honey, dark golden with touches of blond. Pretty nice-looking. 4.5

Interestingly, the aroma smells like sweet cherries or some other pungent and pulpy fruit. Bready and almost toast-like malts are there but hard to notice as is a floral aroma. I'm not incredibly excited by this nose. 3

Plenty of sticky honey taste though. That's good. I feel like Winnie the Pooh smacking my lips to the lingering honey aftertaste. There's a bit of a boozy bourbon taste that sticks to the strong yeast flavor and a potent floral taste that all are a bit much for my tongue. I'm left wanting less of all of that and seeking more honey. A citrusy flavor also lingers on my tongue, which complements the honey well. 3

It feels yeast-heavy on the tongue and oddly tart where I'd expect a lot more of the honey sweetness, which is there but seems interrupted. The thick creaminess also gets a bit undone by yeast. The lingering stickiness from the honey is the one major plus. 3.25

I like what Trinity was grasping for here but I don't quite think they captured it. I hope they continue to toy with the concept until they knock it out of the park.

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Edit: I must confess, at a warmer temperature the yeast subsides on this and citrus, spice and honey shine without hindrance, making for a much more enjoyable beer. I'd advise drinking closer to room temperature. It's much nicer like that.

I'd put it closer to a 3.5 overall with the taste and feel improving to 3.5 for both.

 

well, as so many trinity beers are, this is an awfully strange one, modeled after the hot drink, ive heard they even serve this one warm from time to time down at the brewery. its got tea and ginger and citrus and honey all coming alive in it, something like half the fermentables here in fact come from the honey. yeasty amber liquid with a short off white head gives way to aromas of raw honey, wax and all, and spice, lead by clove and ginger, but even with some black pepper it seems. i taste the honey and the tea first, a healthy thing, with orange peel and black tea earthiness. so much alcohol in the beer, and indeed the cocktail, but its really not all that evident in the beer, which i like, theres enough going on without a huge booze thing too. spices linger with the heat of the ginger in a long finish, and it does in fact have a slight hop bitterness as it winds down. clever and unique, to say the least. maybe a bit light in carbonation, but this is a well made and high headed beer all the way around. will it age well i wonder...

edit: ...and the answer is kind of. we had a years old bottle over thanksgiving and a lot of the tea and floral aspects of the honey have faded out, but the bourbon barrel treatment seems more, and the ginger is still there really nicely. the slight oxidation this took on actually favors it, and it doesnt drink boozy to me really for how strong it is. still such a strange beer, but it felt festive on the holiday and we enjoyed sharing this well aged bottle around. do they still make this one?

A little bit of cheese and honey.