California Tripel
Ruhstaller - BSMT

 

Found this in the remainders display at Total Wine South Bay. Didn't look like it had been sitting around forever but it must have been a 2015 limited release. Bought it since the brewery looked like something I would want to support and it was made with a hop variety I'd never heard of. Didn't notice that the cap had rusted until I drank the lees.
Poured into a wide mouth bar glass at 47 degrees that I found beside the driveway after one of the neighbor's giant parties. (I did wash it first.)
Smell - near nothing
Appearance - cloudy golden copper. Slight lacing no head. Looked a bit syrupy during the pour and it developed a bit of a slick As it sat. Reminded me of some of my homebrew attempts.
Mouthfeel - heavy. Mild carbonation
Taste - weird. Fruity but not like diacetal, and overwhelming. Alcohol aftertaste and a definite presence. As the French say "ça chauffe." No clear experience of the hops. The yeast character faded as it warmed up.
I would try other beers from Ruhstaller but not this again.

 

 

Pours a murky honey orange with a foamy orange-tan head that settles to a partial film on top of the beer. Foamy swaths of lace form around the glass on the drink down. Small particles of sediment are seen floating around in the beer after the pour. Smell is of white grape juice, grape jelly, honey, and spice aromas. Taste is much the same with white grape juice, grape jelly, earth, and spice flavors on the finish. There is a mild amount of spice bitterness on the palate with each sip. This beer has a lower level of carbonation with a slightly crisp mouthfeel. Overall, this is a good beer with very nice grape characteristics all around, especially in the smell.

Serving type: bottle.

 

 

 

 

This is a lovely looking beer with nice dark carmel color and a nice foamy white head. Nose is "ok" in that there is hardly a nose at all. Hints of sweet bread but not much else. Mouthfeel is decent but overshadowed by a cloyingly sweet malty taste that is just "too much." This one is so sweet and gooey that it's just not appealing. Finish is of very sweet brown bread.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Poured into a Trappist glass. Thin head on a hazy, orange/straw colored body.
The aroma has ripe fruit: pear, cantaloupe and alcohol. Enjoyable.
The taste is smooth and balanced. Pear, apple, a little lemon and a little boozy heat.
The texture is crisp with moderate carbonation.
Very enjoyable.

 

Courtesy of JE. Thanks!

A: Light gold with a thin, off white head. Looks pretty solid.

S: Wheat, Belgian yeast, candi sugar and a good amount of dates.

T: Sweet Belgian yeast, dates, slight booziness, brown sugar and a bit of bubblegum. A really good tripel.

Pours a clear, golden amber in the Brewery Vivant tulip. The most head subsides to a bubblefest. The carbonation is more than adequate in the mouth, and it has a prickly, malty mouthfeel. It even smells like champagne with a slight whiff of horse trailer.

Quite flavorful, but the Belgian yeasty dryness really runs off the rails. A tart fruitiness that is pleasant, but the fruit evaporates not long after each sip. The yeast in this is a little scary. I'm thinking, what else is going to happen in my mouth, as it barrels on from faint malty sweetness to that dry conclusion with an increasingly powerful aftertaste.

This must be the strongest dry Tripel I've had, in flavor as well as ABV. You're left with that flinty and mineral taste, and a high octane fume of alcohol, like peach eau de vie. This would be Stone's idea of a Tripel. I wish it was all toned down with just a wink at mellowness.