Barrel Aged Trippel 7
7 Mile Brewery

 

Had this a year or so ago, and though meh, it's ok but overpriced. 2nd try much different perhaps they tweaked the recipe? A buddy brought one to a tasting where we'd already had Upland Raspberry Sour, Cascade Pumpkin Smash and Evil Twin Wedding Cake, so my tasting buds were adjusted to high quality. This followed those.

Excellent tripel character and yeast, Walnutty light banana bread with oak barrel notes, had to pull this off having the barrel compliment the tripel taste but they did it, kudo's. Refined mouth feel. Will get again.

(22 oz bottle, not dated ... split/shared between two tulip glasses)

L: Mildly-hazy, golden-amber liquid; cottony, spongy off-white foam; retains messy cap, laces a little... haze doesn't dissipate much even after 30 min (and bottle had been left out of fridge for about 30 min before opening)

S: first note is of yeast slurry; immediately beyond that hints of apple cake, possibly skins of golden raisin... the barrel aging notes are very subtle, maybe some vanilla, but little-to-no char, wood, or bourbon itself... luckily the booze is very mellow, maybe adding only a hint of spice

T: cakey malt, mellow caramel core... back end flash of nutty yeast... base flavors of spiced cake, dried apple, maybe a hint of bubblegum... altogether muddled, unrefined

F: soft, lightly-plush body... bit of a heat flare in the finish, but it never gets hot

O: the yeast aroma is peculiar, but not entirely off-putting, and fades as it goes, but stands out nonetheless... while the beer drinks rather easy, its flavors have little definition, leading me to wonder whether the fermentation had issues or if the barrel-aging had complications... at any rate, I would be interested at having another go with a new batch, but its price tag is prohibitive