Trinity Brewing- TPS Report

Trinity Brewing is a Brewpub that I've been following for quite a long time.   I'm absolutely envious of how they are running their business and if I ever decide to open a brew pub it's gonna be a lot like Trinity.   They do your standard beers, but they also have an extensive barrel aging, souring program going on.  Acid beer seems to be the main focus of this brewer, and brewery! Head brewer Jason Yester is a bit of a sour freak, in fact his Twitter handle he calls himself Saison_Man and states..."I love Saison MORE THAN ANYONE"!  You gotta love the passion on a statement like that.   Naturally I wanted to try some of his beers.  I ended up making a trade with a dude in Colorado Springs for some Surly's and New Glarus for some Trinity's and Ska brewing beers!   Pretty solid trade!    I really like the Ska IPA Modus Hoperandi, I could drink a shit ton of that!  I do have a review of the Trinity TPS Report though.

Trinity TPS Report is an American Wild Ale but I'd call it either a Funky Saison, a funky Saison with Wheat, or a Funky Wit beer.  

Aroma: a mixture of funk and a tiny bit of citrus. very intriguing. I've never had a funky wit beer.

Appearance is cloudy like you'd expect. No head to speak of and barely carbonated.

Flavor: mildly sour at the start, kinda empty in the middle, but gushing with citrus,fruity yeast, cherry, a bit of brett funkyness in the finish. mouth waters for more instantly!

Mouthfeel; Mine was extremely under carbonated which I'm assuming wasn't the intention. Without carbonation it's rather light bodied and a little carbonation would really help this beer.

Overall-this is a fantastic beer for drinking on the porch on a 90 degree June day in Minnesota. It's only 5% so you can take down the whole bottle!  The funkyness of the brett is strong in the nose, but is very much in the background in the taste, and the lemon, lime, tangerine dominates the flavor and refreshes the palate! 

This beer really works for me. I'd say it's the lawnmower of funk beers.  If this was a little bit more carbonated it would be an A, but I'd have to give it an (A-) VERY DANK BEER!  Nice work Mr. Yester!

Victory Helios Ale - Saison Brett

I picked this beer up at Four Firkin the other day because it's only $3.99 for a 22 oz bomber.  They said it was a funky Saison so I couldn't believe the price tag.  Especially when you look at Sophie or Boulevard Saison Brett.  

From what I understand, Victory adds brett during bottling which I guess would significantly reduce your cost.  If Sophie or Boulevard Saison Brett are aged on brett for a significant amount of time and taking up fermentors I can see justifying an extra couple bucks.

I found this to be a very enjoyable Saison!  It's hoppy, funky, and crisp, exactly like a Saison should be.  Highly carbonated, bottle conditioned, and just plain right on.  


Appearance - exactly how it should be.  Nice crystal clear orange in color and brilliantly clear.  Rocky head that dissapates fairly quickly. 
Aroma -Barnyard funk, looks of brett in the nose.  Some clove, pepper and lemon rind action as well.
Flavor - Sweet malts and starts out with malt body, then onto citrus and brett funk on the end.  Some hop bitterness coming into play but not too much or to little.  Perfect for the style.
Mouthfeel- is Thin to Medium mouthfeel, and highly carbonated which is perfect.   The carbonation level really helps the bitterness and citrus of the hops to shine through which balances this out in an otherwise funky saison.
Overall- fantastic example of a Saison Brett.  Funky, citrusy, perfect carbonation and balance throughout!  I'll buy a shit ton of this stuff at $3.99 a bottle.  I hope more and more and more American breweries create amazingly crafted Saison's like this!

Grade A dank Saison! 

New Glarus - DIPA

New Glarus - Thumbprint DIPA

Appearance- nice orange and golden color.  Fluffy white head that leaves some lace. A bit hazy

Aroma - fruity yeast, citrus rinds, mango, pineapple, and caramel in the nose. It has a little something vegetale possibly onion.

Flavor- Pine, and fruit(apricot, grapefruit rind) hit you right way but then it finish's sweet with just a little bitterness.  The bitterness hits you more as it warms and lingers.  Nice balanced flavor of caramel sweetness on the finish.  The bitterness isn't harsh at all but very mellow and clean (fwh?)

Mouthfeel - Medium mouthfeel with medium carbonation that helps the hop flavor shine. Extremely drinkable and now fusels to let you know that this is 9%.

Overall - I could drink this all day long.  They could easily sell this year round and make a lot of hop heads happy.  People may say that this isn't bitter enough, but true to New Glarus this is an extremely balance beer.   The aroma is fantastic, the flavor and everything about this beer is just right on!

Grade- A (very Dank)

Here's what they say about it!
A provocative 85 IBUs reverberates cleanly through this Double IPA. True hop saturation from kettle boil to dry hop cellaring dominates this elegant and lustful sensory enchantment. You hold a deceptively seductive Original Gravity of 19.2 Plato, now 9%ABV following the always 100% natural bottle fermentation. Luscious English Maris Otter malt is the essential heart of this voluptuous double IPA. Surrender is inevitable so enjoy now.

Style	Double IPA
Flavor	true hop saturation cleanly reverberates throughout.
Alcohol	9% by volume

Bellegems Bruin - West Flanders Ale

This is my first ever Oud Bruin and I picked it up at The Four Firkin.  I've had a few examples of Flanders Red Ales but never their Brown version.

appearance: Brown to Reddish
aroma: is a bit leathery, funky, cherry and grape.
flavor:  is like a sweet grape popsicle.  Some cherry in there as well.    A little bit of acid in the back of the throat with some vinegar.
mouthfeel: a bit thin with low carbonation
overall:  much sweeter then expected.  I really liked it, but I think I prefer the Flanders Reds mo betta.  Not quite enough acid for my taste.

I think that they must back sweeten this beer, otherwise I can't figure out how they could possibly make this beer so sweet.  Almost too sweet for my taste.  A really good beer that I'd probably buy again, but I'd like to try some other examples of the style so that I have something to compare it to.

Olvalde Farm and Brewing Company - The Auroch's Horn

Appearance:

Very nice orange appearance that’s a bit hazy living up to the unfiltered claim.

Thin wispy head the recedes pretty quick, possibly due to the glass I’m using.  

Aroma: Lots of clove, a bit of banana, honey, and some fusels.  Aroma is chalk full of Belgian yeast, possible Wit yeast or some other clove, banana producing yeast.

Flavor: The flavor is all clove and honey with a bit of pilsner malt as a back bone.   Fairly sweet and not too dry at all which I was expecting with all of the honey.   I’m having a hard time detecting malt and hops which plays a background role to the honey and flavorful Belgian yeast.

Mouthfeel:  The mouthfeel is surprisingly medium to full bodied which is surprising.  I was expecting highly carbonated saison type tartness, but I got a full bodied sweet braggot with lower carbonation.   I’m not complaining, I don’t believe I’ve ever had a Minnesota beer that I’ve ever enjoyed as much as this.  

Overall:  This is a great beer, not necessarily something that I could drink every night.  It’s like a Belgian Strong ale, mixed with a Belgian Wit, mixed with a Braggot.  Or, maybe it’s just a Braggot…I don’t believe I’ve ever had a braggot unless you consider a Saison with Honey a braggot.  Fusels definitely start to hit you as it warms up and so does the alcohol as you get half way through the bottle. 

I am so frickin pumped to see what else this brewery brings to the market.  Can’t wait to visit the Farmhouse brewery on my way to La-X!

Russian River - Temptation

Vinous, brett, very nice sour blonde ale.   Very well balanced and smooth drinking tart blonde ale.  Has a nice aroma of chardonnay mixed with the funky bacteria.  I could drink this all night long.  If this is considered an American Wild Ale, then I want me some wild!  Damn.   I really gotta get some barrels and figure out how to brew on the Wild style.  Temptation reminds me of a traditional Saison.   More well balanced then say Boulevard Saison Brett.  Temptation tempts the taste buds through and through.  Crisp apples, grapes straight off the vine, oak in the background, and funky brett and bacteria rounding it out.   num num num num

Widmer Deadlift Imperial IPA

I've been drinking craft beer for quite some time now.  About 14 years ago while off to college I got a nice job at a little liquor store.  In Wisconsin going to school at UW Madison there was a plethora of very good beers, and I came to realize this to it's fullest while working at Riley's Wines of the World.  At Riley's we dominated the town.   Everyone came to Riley's from the frat boys, the hippies, professors, the locals, everyone.  Once I got my job there, I ended up getting all of my friends jobs as well.  While all the kids were in the front of the house buying up kegs of crap beer, me and my boys were making money in the back of the cooler all the while sampling the plethora of different local and national craft beers.  After college many of  my friends ended up working for different wine or beer distributors across the nation after they graduated.   I didn't, although I'm obviously obsessed with beer.   But my boy Pauli ended up getting a great job out in Portland working for Widmer.  That was before they became a part of the Craft Brewers Alliance.  He's still working for them out in Tacoma, WA and he's got some great brands to stand behind.

Now, I guess I gotta talk about the IIPA from Widmer.

This is a nice IIPA, nothing that amazing though. The aroma of citrus and piney hops is definitely in the forfront.  It taste's  malty and very caramelly which doesn't bother me at all.     You get some sweetness up front and then it finish's with a little bitterness.  As it warms the piney hops become much more present.  My mouth waters after every sip.  The carbonation seems a bit low to me.  I gotta say...this is a decent beer but nothing I'd claim as the best beer in the world, but I'm not exactly going to be going raving to Pauli.