Thomas Creek Trifecta IPA - Thomas Creek Brewery

PDXHops

South Carolina

4.43/5  rDev +4.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

Growler poured into a Duvel tulip. This is batch # 2. I never had batch # 1, but I understand that the recipe got tweaked this time around. The Trifecta in question is Thomas Creek, All Good Brands and my excellent neighborhood bottle shop, The Community Tap.

Slightly hazy caramel amber with a nice thick cap of off-white head. Good retention and lacing. Citric and catty nose, exceedingly potent. It’s rather full-bodied for the style, but the matching full carbonation lends a certain fluffiness to the mouthfeel. Rather than swimming in caramel (my #1 pet peeve about east coast IPAs), it’s very bready with a dry, toasty, and sticky finish. I’ll admit I was pleasantly surprised by the hop character of this beer; there’s a mean, almost angry bitter streak running through it and the hop flavor is an explosive combo of pungent, earthy and grapefruit goodness. The touch of heat is a minor complaint (make that very minor; I killed the growler with alarming ease). A great choice for local hop junkies.

Overall impression: Trifecta joins Sweetwater as the second representative in my top tier of east-coast IPAs. Well done, guys.

Serving type: growler

05-04-2011 20:30:10 | More by PDXHops

ADTaber

South Carolina

4/5  rDev -5.7%

04-13-2013 00:36:31 | More by ADTaber

kwillmo

4/5  rDev -5.7%

01-17-2013 16:26:54 | More by kwillmo

EdWuncler3rd

South Carolina

4.28/5  rDev +0.9%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

Growler fill poured into a pint glass. This is the 3rd of 4th growler I have had and am finally getting around to reviewing the beer.

Appearance - Beer pours a nice carmel color with a solid inch of head with good retention and lacing. The beer has a slight haze and is appropriately carbonated appearing.

Smell - A bright citrus and floral aroma with bright hop aromas.

Taste - Very similar overall to the aromas with a good deal of citrus, and an appropriate amount of hops. Very good overall representation of an American IPA.

Mouthfeel - A nice light beer on the mouth, not overly carbonated, but not at all flat on the tongue.

Overall - A solid beer overall. A brilliant collaboration by the guys over at The Community Tap with the folks at Thomas Creek. This is a great representation of an American IPA and it is not at all hard to find yourself pouring a third or even fourth pint before it starts to catch up with you.

Serving type: growler

07-15-2012 15:57:51 | More by EdWuncler3rd

chinchill

South Carolina

3.85/5  rDev -9.2%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

Pint from the tap st the Handlebar.

Pours a clear dark amber with a off-white head that has poor retention. Glass is nicely coated on the way down

The aroma is dominated by piney and herbal hops with citrus overtones. The taste is similar, with s powerful but not over the top hoppy flavor. The malt base is mainly evident by implication, as this beer is not too bitter and the flavor has a god depth and richness.

M: medium body; well chosen carbonation. A bit of fringes in the finish.

O: a fine but powerful IPA, with a level of hops nearly up to an imperial IPA.

Serving type: on-tap

06-17-2012 01:21:28 | More by chinchill

beermjo

South Carolina

4.45/5  rDev +5%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

Pours a hazy orange amberish color with a very nice 1in head which sticks around for a bit with nice lacing.

Nose is full of citrus (orange, grapefruit & mango)

This citrus from the nose carries over very nicely to taste, with the grapefruit and mango shining through in what IMO is a beautiful dry hop. The malt bill balances out this medium bodied IPA in superb finishing fashion.

Overall a very good beer that I look forward to when on the TCT growler station or on tap at local Greenville establishments.


History About Trifecta: This is The Community Tap's house IPA that came about when Mike & Ed from (TCT) & Don Richardson (All Good Brands) sat down and put a recipe down on paper. The beer uses 4 hops (2 bittering/2 dry hop) and once Don fine tuned the recipe at home it was taken to local brewery Thomas Creek. Thomas Creek contract brews this beer for TCT. The name comes from the 3 parties involved in the process.

Serving type: growler

04-20-2012 15:59:29 | More by beermjo

auroracrisis

Kentucky

4/5  rDev -5.7%

01-30-2012 02:43:44 | More by auroracrisis

WillyMac

South Carolina

5/5  rDev +17.9%

11-21-2011 15:24:41 | More by WillyMac

thagr81us

South Carolina

3.98/5  rDev -6.1%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Had this during my birthday dinner with a few friends. Served from tap into a nonic. Poured a slightly hazy red-orange with a minimal off-white head. Maintained decent lacing throughout the glass. The aroma was comprised of sweet malt, pine, pine resin, and pine hop. The flavor was of sweet malt, citrus, fruit, pine, pine resin, and pine hop. It had a medium feel on the palate with with medium-high carbonation. Overall this was a decent brew. The hop profile on this one was very pine forward, which was almost abrasive to the palate to a point. This hurt the drinkability of it for me, but it didn't kill the beer overall. The citrus really helped to bring it all back together. Worth trying if you get the chance and are a fan of big in-your-face hops.

Serving type: on-tap

07-11-2011 14:56:53 | More by thagr81us

businesstime

South Carolina

4.43/5  rDev +4.5%
look: 4 | smell: 5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Got it on tap at the Nose Dive.

A - golden, slightly copper with a nice creamy head.

S - lots of hop aroma on this bad boy. Some cattiness, some fruit mixed in there.

T - Tastes like it smells, some fruity and cattiness flavors, balanced by the malts, which are slightly on the darker/richer side. Not too malty, but a great balance.

M - creamy, not dry. Has a very full body for a 6.9% IPA.

O - great beer, an unexpected surprise from the fine folks at Thomas Creek. They've really reached out and embraced the hop heads on this one with a very drinkable IPA.

Serving type: on-tap

06-12-2011 18:34:15 | More by businesstime