Rabbid Rabbit - Three Floyds Brewing

So, in an order to try more Three Floyds beers, I checked out their website and saw what beers were available around this time of year. Rabbid Rabbit (yes, I know that's not how you spell rabid, but that's how they spell it) was one of the beers that caught my eye. I will warn you, this beer (as well as the next one I will review) is a bit pricey. I got a 22 oz. bomber from Riley's, as that's the only place I found this one, but it cost $10.99. That's basically $11 for less than 2 beers. This had better be impressive.

Vitals:

Name: Rabbid Rabbit

Style: Saison/Farmhouse Ale

IBU: 25

ABV: 7.4%

Gravity: ??

Purchased at: Riley's Wines of the World

Descriptions:

Appearance: Pours a straw color with 2 fingers of bone-white head. The head dissipates quickly, leaving a nice cap but no lace. Looks to be moderately carbonated; the bright color is quite inviting...

Smell: Big yeasty smell with big banana notes as well. Also seems like some honey, clove, and coriander are in there as well. Lemon comes through somewhat, too. Farmhouse ale is an appropriate term here because it smells faintly of sweet hay.

Taste: You get a big spicy taste up front with a yeasty/bready taste following, moving to the finish, which has a moderate/high alcohol heat to it. To be honest, this tastes more like a Belgian ale to me than anything else (a la Leffe Blond or another lighter Belgian Pale). The finish is drawn out and a bit too sour for my liking, but there is a decent floral/herbal hoppiness that is hidden in there. Doesn't hide the ABV well, but not incredibly poorly.

Mouthfeel: Medium carbonation, medium body. The body is heavier than it looks; the beer almost has a powdery texture to it based on how it dries your mouth out. Coats your mouth with the sour aftertaste it brings. 

Overall Grade: C+

Comments: This is just OK from FFF's; I feel quite disappointed, as I sought this out for a few weeks. This is definitely not up to FFF's standards; definitely the worst FFF's beer I've had so far (which still is a good beer anyways). It's a solid beer, but not for $11 for 22 oz. If I'm spending that on that little amount of beer I want it to blow me away; this beer simply didn't do that. I'd go with Gumballhead instead here, or if you want a true farmhouse ale you can grab some Spotted Cow on the (relatively) cheap.

Cheers,

Hurls

Delirium Tremens - Brouwerji Huyghe

I will go ahead and lead off this post that I love love LOVE getting recommendations from people - if you have beer that you enjoy, please give me a heads up by commenting on here, emailing, texting, facebook, etc. However, I am also very wary of things being pumped up too much and not being able to live up to expectations. So, when my best friend Pat F. gave me a heads up to this beer I was very grateful and went out to pick some up. I believe it only comes in this huge liter (I think?) bottle, so be wary. However, when I went to pick some up I asked the guy at the store what he thought of this and he told me that right now (not sure based on what ranking or system) it is considered to be the "Best Beer in the WORLD." Okay, so I am slightly skeptical, but very curious...here goes nothing on seeing if I agree with whomever made that assessment...

Vitals:

Name: Delirium Tremens

Style: Belgian Strong Pale Ale

IBU: ??

ABV: 8.5%

Gravity: ??

Purchased at: Trixie's Liquor

Descriptions:

Appearance: So I don't normally comment on the bottles that the beer comes in, but this one is pretty interesting. It has pink elephants and dragons and crap all over it - it looks like whoever designed this was on drugs or something. Anywho...pours a golden yellow with a TON of head on the beer. I had to make 3-4 separate efforts to get the pour because of too much of the bone-white head. The head itself is very light, but had fantastic retention. There are tons of carbonation bubbles rocketing through this brew; the pour had an odd haziness to it, which made me a bit concerned that it might have an infection. Guess we'll find out...

Smell: You get a LOT in the smell of this beer: from fruity to floral, herbal to spiced. You get some cinnamon I think. I think you get some melon and banana, maybe apricot, and some wheat or yeast smell coming through. I suspect the spices to be cinnamon and coriander. I will be perfectly blunt: this smells like a great (and complex) tasting beer, and it was very difficult for me to identify a lot of these smells because there is so much going out. Having said that, all of the smells come together quite nicely.

Taste: You get a little hop bitterness coming through along with banana, coriander, and apricot. It's a pretty spicy beer and you get a quick taste of alcohol on the bite. Yeast and breadiness sort of dominates a little bit too much for me, but it's not a big detractor. You even seem to get a small taste of apple in the beer. I'm not going to lie, this is an extremely great, but complex taste to judge and I'm having a hard time with it. This was definitely my hardest beer I have reviewed to this point in terms of judging what I'm tasting; definitely not 100% confident in my notes on this.

Mouthfeel: Very light (unexpected) and carbonated (expected); great mouthfeel for the most part but leaves you a bit dried out. The best word for this beer is CRISP, and it's quite dangerous because it's so light that it's 8.5% ABV drinks basically like something that's a 5.5% ABV.

Overall Grade: A-

Comments: Great beer despite my judging difficulties...I do hate that you have to commit to a whole liter of the beer instead of individual 12oz bottles...you kinda have to commit to the whole liter in one sitting....wait...that's not a bad thing :-) Definitely try this out if you like a nice strong belgian ale. It's not overwhelmingly hoppy and the taste is just so unique and complex, you really should check it out!

Cheers,

Hurls

Leffe Blonde - Leffe

So, a friend/former-professor brought this to our BBQ we held with the Ag Econ kids a few weeks back. I had one then and he said it's pretty much all he drinks. Of course I had to give it a try (and a review).

Vitals:

Name: Leffe Blonde

Style: Belgian Pale Ale

IBU: ??

ABV: 6.6%

Gravity: ??

Purchased at: left at BBQ :-)

Descriptions:

Appearance: Pours a brilliant gold with about 2.5 fingers of bubbly white head that quickly fizzled out. Light to moderate carbonation is visible to the eye.

Smell: This is a VERY strong smelling beer, which is not necessarily bad (but not good either); it just is what it is. I get bananas and cloves on full blast. You can also detect a certain spiciness behind the cloves, but I can't quite figure out what it is. The spiciness is definitely a Belgian Ale thing (you'll get the same type of thing with a Bedlam! from Ale Asylum). Can't detect any hops here, but you get a certain peppery smell coming through very faintly.

Taste: I'm tasting bananas, cloves, and coriander here - so no real surprises. The beer holds together very well as a complete package, with nearly no bitterness; actually, you mostly get sweetness and then some spiciness at the bite with some alcohol taste coming through. The alcohol taste is usually not a great thing, but it plays well with the spicy bite - it warms you up at the finish. I think ZESTY is a good word for this beer. Solid, but not spectacular, taste.

Mouthfeel: Medium bodied; a bit on the creamy side but with carbonation that prickles your mouth. I wasn't expecting this beer to be so heavy, but it's not really a detractor for me.

Overall Grade: B

Comments: I get the impression that this is a standard run-of-the-mill Belgian Pale Ale, but it's pretty solid. The 6.6% ABV is pretty big and you get a nice taste from this beer. You can most likely get this almost anywhere, so I don't believe this one is limited to Wisconsinites! However, I will say, for my money I would take Bedlam! from Ale Asylum over this to get a bit stronger of a taste/flavor and some hoppiness. Solid effort, though - definitely worth checking out.

Cheers,

Hurls

Bedlam! - Ale Asylum

So, as previously mentioned in my Craft Beer Week post, I was able to sample Bedlam! at the tapping/Beer Wars party at Argus Bar & Grille. I made sure to add a bottle of it to my BYO 6-Pack at the Old Fashioned just to make sure I had a chance to sit down and really enjoy this beer and see what I tasted.

Vitals:

Name: Bedlam!

Style: Belgian IPA

IBU: ??

ABV: 7.5%

Gravity: ??

Purchased at: The Old Fashioned (BYO 6-Pack)

As an editors note, I completely love Ale Asylum but am nonetheless completely frustrated by their secrecy that they have regarding their beer. They are apparently (after reading some online posts) notorious for not releasing IBU and Gravity information about their beers (most likely for fear of someone reverse engineering the beer and, thus, figuring out the recipe). At any rate, that's why I don't have the information above.

Descriptions:

Appearance: This beer pours a deep hazy orange, with a few inches of cloud white head on it. Most of the head subsided but there were little patches of it hovering on the top of the beer, which was nice. Not much lace is left by this beer in its wake.

Smell: The aroma you get from Bedlam! is quite floral, slightly citrus-y and somewhat bread-y. Mostly on the citrus you're getting orange and grapefruit I believe. Smells absolutely great and you can also detect some herbs/spices in there too, as it is brewed with clover and coriander.

Taste: This beer tastes very good - everything seems well balanced and compliments each other note that you get on your tongue. You get a great deal of orange and grapefruit, with a little light bread taste. You also get a hint of the clover and coriander, which is awesome because it's so well done it is not overstated in the least...just gives it a little bit of spice and a distinct flavor that sets it apart. It's not too hoppy either, so if you're not into hops you can still enjoy this beer. The malt, as with most Ale Asylum brews, is well done and gives a nice background/backbone for this beer, though the breadiness still comes through well. By the way, this beer hides the 7.5% ABV VERY WELL...BEWARE OF THIS BEER!

Mouthfeel: The mouthfeel on this beer is very smooth, medium to light body, almost juicy. However, it definitely has enough resin from the hops to stick on your tongue and teeth after you begin drinking. There is a small amount of carbonation, but it's not overstated and is not a detractor.

Overall Grade: A

Comments: I absolutely LOVED this beer and would recommend it to anyone. It is citrusy enough that many non hop-heads would like it, yet it still has enough hop flavor to cater to a true hop-head. Get out and try this beer now - it is on tap at a lot of local places, including (but not limited to) two of my favorite spots: The Old Fashioned and Argus Bar & Grille. It is a seasonal brew, so make sure you get it while it's around. It is a great summer beer and should be enjoyed over the upcoming months!

Cheers,

Hurls