Dark Horse Sapient Trip Ale - Dark Horse Brewing Company

pmcadamis

Illinois

4.78/5  rDev +30.6%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 5

A - Cloudy peach in color, with a flimsy and ridiculously small centimeter thick head. The small amount of foam quickly becomes a thin collar, and ultimately nothing at all. The pretty color of this brew, however, saves it's ass from a low appearance score. The color is at times like carrot juice, multicolored peach skin, and tangerine candy. Despite the lace of head, a good deal of spotty lace is smatered all around the surface of the glass.

S - Caramel, taffy, and fruity candy. My wife recently bought some organic tangerine flavored licorice that came in a brown paper bag, and this smells a lot like those interesting treats. Apple skin. Yeasty and fresh as can be, this smells delightful.

T - Sweet tangerine and mango flavored taffy. I've had confections at an old-fashioned confectioner's shop that taste a lot like this...the sweet gooey stuff that's pulled on a big old fashioned iron taffy puller. This is never overly sweet or cloying, as a really nice hop presence tightens things up. This starts sweet and thick, moves through a hoppy and slightly boozy mid-palate, and ends with a fresh fruit and sea salt neutral finish with a very faint white pepper note. Damn...this is crazy-complex and tasty as hell.

M - This feels lighter on the palate than it really is. Sugars abound at the initial sip and made me think that this would be a really heavy beer, but the really heavy hop flavors and alcohol feel keep this in check. This has a very low level of carbonation, but the bubbles that I can feel are an occasional sharp prick in a sea of smoothness.

D - Killer drinkability! No ABV listed, but I can bet it's pretty high...who cares? I'd still session this one! This is honestly one of the better tripels our there IMO, especially for an American take on the style...I think I'm a sucker for the hops, and the high level of malt sweetness in this one is just the perfect balance for the flavors presented here.

Serving type: bottle

09-29-2008 15:38:35 | More by pmcadamis

Lucoli

New York

3.5/5  rDev -4.4%

05-21-2013 01:23:31 | More by Lucoli

NateMac13

Illinois

4/5  rDev +9.3%

05-20-2013 14:58:35 | More by NateMac13

NJB145

Michigan

4.5/5  rDev +23%

05-19-2013 01:12:46 | More by NJB145

pathman

Ohio

3.5/5  rDev -4.4%

05-19-2013 00:34:17 | More by pathman

DrunkinYogi

Connecticut

3.5/5  rDev -4.4%

05-18-2013 06:42:53 | More by DrunkinYogi

rkf1976

Michigan

3.75/5  rDev +2.5%

05-18-2013 02:20:29 | More by rkf1976

spikechiquet

Indiana

4.25/5  rDev +16.1%

05-17-2013 03:31:36 | More by spikechiquet

GinsuDave

Michigan

3.75/5  rDev +2.5%

05-17-2013 00:56:07 | More by GinsuDave

billab914

Virginia

3.5/5  rDev -4.4%

05-11-2013 20:53:46 | More by billab914

Slay40

Michigan

4.5/5  rDev +23%

05-10-2013 21:11:32 | More by Slay40

beersvh23

Illinois

3.5/5  rDev -4.4%

05-05-2013 04:19:19 | More by beersvh23

MichiganBrews

Michigan

4.25/5  rDev +16.1%

05-05-2013 00:02:14 | More by MichiganBrews

Lukass

Ohio

4.5/5  rDev +23%

05-01-2013 01:22:24 | More by Lukass

tectactoe

Michigan

3.7/5  rDev +1.1%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 3.75

I've had this a at Old Chicago on tap, but never got around to reviewing it. This review will be based on the bottled version. It pours a murky golden-yellow color with a bit of stoplight-amber at the very core. The stark-white head settles nicely at about a quarter-inch and leaves a small amount of lacing, only at the very top of the glass.

Like you'd expect from most tripels, the first things to breach your nostrils are equal amounts of clove and subdued fruit. Hints of over-ripe bananas coated in a light battering of cloves spices, followed by some mild malt sweetness and a touch of Belgian-style yeast. Unfortunately, this aroma isn't as robust or commanding as many tripels out there, and doesn't have much complexity. Even warming up over time doesn't really reveal anything new or exciting.

The flavor follows closely to the nose in both the flavor profile and the somewhat underwhelming nature. A sea of malt upon which a big of bananas and apple skins lie, coated with a bit of brown sugar and followed up by some kitchen spices. Alcohol character starts off low at first, but by the end of the glass, the phenol character is quite high and almost even a little intimidating.

One of the most disappointing factors of this beer is its straightforwardness. Even the Belgian yeast really fails to open up and develop, and rather you're left with a small hint of bubblegum in the finish and some small, bready notes close behind. It tastes like a watered down tripel that's not really watered down, rather it's just somewhat flavorless in comparison to other beers of the same style. Medium bodied, lightly creamy with a high amount of carbonation.

From reading the review above, I'm sure it sounds like I hate this beer. I don't. I guess I was being hard on it because I expected much more. It's definitely "good" in the sense that I'd have it again (and I have), but it just doesn't stand up to some of the big-boy tripels out there. It lacks the robustness, finesse, and complexity that the style commands, although it's still a reasonably tasty and drinkable beer in a more broad sense.

Serving type: bottle

04-30-2013 11:46:25 | More by tectactoe

Bieniek30

New York

3/5  rDev -18%

04-23-2013 01:35:42 | More by Bieniek30

DudMan

New Jersey

3.5/5  rDev -4.4%

04-20-2013 17:24:12 | More by DudMan

SFC21

New York

3.5/5  rDev -4.4%

04-16-2013 00:58:12 | More by SFC21

sjones5045

New Jersey

3.43/5  rDev -6.3%
look: 2.75 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.25

Pours fairly flat for a Belgian Trippel and has an pretty hazy orange look. The smell hit you with a little spice which is mostly cloves but nothing that seems to impressive. The taste is pretty lacking too. It hits you with some cloves and like the look, it was kind of flat. Keeps reminding me of a watered down version of Weyerbacher Merry Monk. Overall nothing great going on here. I probably will pass on this in the beer isle.

Serving type: bottle

04-12-2013 00:01:26 | More by sjones5045

donteatpoop

Ohio

4.4/5  rDev +20.2%
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25

A- yellow-orange with little yeast floaties. They seem so content, totally relaxed just chilling in the middle of my beer glass. I feel like we're friends already. It's a shame I will soon consume them all.

S - Farmhousey. Bready. Wild yeast. Are those even words? Spell check only recognizes 'wild' and 'yeast' so maybe not. If they were, they'd are called synonyms. Sort of. In a way at least. Accurate is a word that could be used to describe the first four words that were used to describe the scent of Sapient Trip Ale.

T- Oh man. My tastebuds feel like they are awake for the first time. This really opened my eyes. It's a delicious Belgian, grain and spice lacing the tongue and leaving it tingling after.

M- A nice full bodied Tripel, the hug that this beer gives to the inside of your mouth seems to linger.

O- Just great. I'll be repurchasing the shit out of this.

Serving type: bottle

04-10-2013 05:42:22 | More by donteatpoop

sirsteve42

New York

3.25/5  rDev -11.2%

04-09-2013 03:49:37 | More by sirsteve42

Kerrie

Michigan

4.25/5  rDev +16.1%

04-08-2013 16:39:17 | More by Kerrie

DaPan

Ontario (Canada)

3.75/5  rDev +2.5%

03-30-2013 02:47:41 | More by DaPan

gwiedman1

New York

4.25/5  rDev +16.1%

03-23-2013 21:51:52 | More by gwiedman1

match1112

Illinois

3/5  rDev -18%

03-15-2013 11:05:22 | More by match1112