Green Flash Le Freak

Brewed by Green Flash Brewing Co.
Style: Abbey Tripel
Vista, California USA

Pours a hazy cloudy orange amber yellow, with a large fluffy white head. Aroma was pretty limited, either it was me or something, but i couldn’t detect much. First sip.... interesting spices.. then... hops... mmm different than some other Belgian IPA’s I’ve had. more spices, more hops.. also, can taste and feel the alcohol... nice sticky lace down the side of the glass. Some build up of hop flavors. nice I like it.

Poured a hazy amber color with small head. Aroma was a ton of hops and bananas. Flavor was not what I expected lits of pine and citrus hops, some bananas made it out of there. Hops overwhelmed most of the beer but still very good.

Bottle served in my trusty big ole Karmeliet glass. I apologize for offending any one with a big old anything or any Abbey Tripel lovers whom think it is sacreligious to call an AMERICAN BEER anything associated with the fine abbey’s of Belgium. Clean coppery hue with a lasting frothy head and excellent lacework upon this fine glasswork. The aroma is pungent PNW hops across the base of Belgian yeast esters and candi sugars. very phenolic and quite the joy upon the nose. (I apologize to anyone whom thinks phenolic is a slang bad word in another country). The taste is sweet malt with a slap about the face hop bitterness, Spicy and boozy with a touch of mineral water. (I apologize to anyone whom has been the victim of slaps across the face). The mouth feel is brash and aggressive with an astringent and bone dry background. Brillant attempt at the hoppy triple, Mikey Likey very much. (It is quite clear that the brewer at Green Flash must hate foreigners, I apologize for him and all AMERICAN loving beer geeks in advance to all hate mail going to the brewery,)

Pour is a hazy yellow with a large white head. Aroma has more of the triple notes with lots of yeast, some banana and spicy hops. Flavor is some slight pine hops with a dose of bready malts and follow with some sugar and yeast. I don’t really get many IIPA aspects out of this but its more of an overly hopped triple. Still this is pretty tasty and hides the alcohol well.

Deep amber body with a large, dense, lightly off white head. A little funky leather mixes with some grapefruit. There is also some floral character, like smelling daisies. The taste has some strong leather funk along with a dry grapefruit peel finish. There is black pepper and some dried grass character. A little dry for me, I am also a little put off by the dried grass notes. Overall, an interesting brew that is close to an IIPA than any tripel I have tried. I continue to be unimpressed with the over hopped Belgian style brews, certainly not for me. The characters of the dry tripel just don’t mix with massive citrus hops for my palate.

Pours lightly hazy amber with a large off white head. The aroma has banana esters, Belgian yeast, light toast and a hint of hops. Medium crisp body with quite a bit of carbonation and an overall roughness to the palate. Starts with tripel style malt as mentioned above with some dryness and earthy / spicy hops on the finish along with some dry caramel. I don’t know the age on the bottle, but I was expecting a punchier hop kick. Still pretty solid, but I was expecting more.

Beer pours deep golden color, slightly cloudy and a decent frothy white head. The aroma was mostly Belgian Trippelesque, with some banana and other fruits and a bit spicy. The underlying trippel was a pretty good US effort with a good blend of fruity flavors and peppery spices with a slamming US Pacific Northwest hop presence at the back end which worked well in this beer.

Tasted 3/1/09. 22oz bomber. Dulled golden hue. Layer of off-white head. Fruity aromas with a touch of pepper and orange. Grapefruit and a slight strawberry note. Full bodied with a substantial citrus effervescence. Grapefruit acidic bitterness in the finish. Spicy and zesty. Acidic and bitter. Faint bubblegum. But everything is totally overshadowed by the pine shot. Cringing at first, but it quickly grows on you. This was good.