Emboozlement Tripel - Rough Draft Brewing Company

Belchmaster

4.81/5  rDev +39.4%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.75

Poured a bottle into a chilled glass and a nice white head, small in stature, rose up slowly from the glass.
The color was a clear golden and there was a bit of lacing.
The nose was an unusual, a bit foreign, hard to place, sweetness with a bit of vanilla and perhaps caramel but definitely very pleasant.
The taste is hard to describe...it's very exotic, but definitely great, and not like anything you've tried before, it's like a Belgian with a slight sweetness and a barrel aged bourbon-ness, but there's more going on here, and there is some serious booziness - no a lot of it and it's darned good.
The mouthfeel is rich, boozy and smooth.
Oh Yeah, I like this a lot.
I'll be trying to find more of this for sure.
Overall this is really a great, very different drink that is a must to try and try again. I'd say this is one of the 10 best beers I've had...and I've had literally thousands over the last 50 years.

Serving type: bottle

01-14-2013 05:14:53 | More by Belchmaster

mactrail

California

3.18/5  rDev -7.8%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3

Now this stuff is in bottles, so I have to do another review. Golden color in the snifter with ample carbonation and a thin cap of foam. Scent of mango and hay and that band-aid smell.

Sweet and spicy and a canned pineapple taste. Modest Belgian character. The general impression is kind of gummy. The sweetness seems to last all the way through, but it's a fruity rather than sugary sweetness, if that makes any difference. Less of the yeasty dryness than most Belgian-inspired brews. Stewed pineapple finish and some earthy bitterness.

From the 22 oz bottle bought at Barons Marketplace in San Diego. Appealing artsy label.

Serving type: bottle

12-18-2012 07:18:17 | More by mactrail

DeanMoriarty

California

2.73/5  rDev -20.9%
look: 3 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2.5

Picked up a 22oz bomber from Baron's Market in Point Loma for a whopping $8.99 (!!!) and poured it into a Odell branded stemmed tulip.

A: Pours a clean straw-like hue with a thin white head that dissipates before the first sip, leaving very little lacing in my glass.

S: Sweet bourbon and oak, vanilla bean and carmel malt.

T: Apple juice concentrate, raw cookie batter, vanilla bean, wood and sweet bourbon (too sweet though) - similar to that honey Jack Daniel's crap that's on the shelves at liquor stores right now - you either like the flavor of bourbon (and I do) or you don't... and it seems like they are trying to make the flavor of bourbon friendly here by cranking the sweetness up way too much - so ridiculously sweet that hardly any other flavors come through - a bit of offensive booziness in the finish too - this stuff is way out of balance and has no dominant flavor what so ever...and where the hell is the hop - no trace to be found here!

M: Thin mouthfeel that just falls apart instantly upon sipping, but is still somehow syrupy - far too little carbonation for the style - this beer is confused in every aspect.

Big time sugar bomb that covers up any aspects of a Tripel style ale - completely overwhelms all the time and effort they spent on barreling this swill.

I have not tried any of their other brews...so I won't go overboard here, but this just seems like another case of a mediocre brewery trying to emerge in an already saturated market here in San Diego - I hope i'm wrong and will give their other styles a go, but far from impressed by this one.

Serving type: bottle

12-17-2012 03:18:25 | More by DeanMoriarty