Archbeer.com is an independent informal site for beer enthusiasts, providing information on specific beer brands tested by guitarist Archaon of the Norwegian black metal band 1349.
TRILLIUM “Dialed up” (11%) 5/5
So, on a luxurious day as this: Why don’t we just kickstart another trip to the top of the hops?
Noticeably more dark in color, very yellow and murky this is as promising as ever… Pours a small, beautiful head. The nose is caramellish fresh fruityness. Sets the mood for the event of the year that is coming up later this week: MBCC. (Giving great challenge to any IPA’s there too!)
Taste is absolutely splendid, those ABV’s perfectly hidden, blended in with a noticeable hoppy sting of delicacy. This is what an perfect IPA tastes like! Fresh and bubbly, medium-bodied, with such smooth deep sweet notes. Hints of sharon fruit/passion fruit, smooth bitterness and elegant aftertaste.
One word sums up this thrill of a hop juice: Astonishing
Shout out to Westum!
(Photo: M.K. Burheim)
As one would expect from these guys at Trillium, this looks absolutely gorgeous, supreme, fantastic!
As one would expect from these guys at Trillium, this looks absolutely gorgeous, supreme, fantastic! Yellow (a little less though than the last one I had from them), but still that juicy murky feel to it.
Now; the aroma is detectable from even way before the nose even hits the glass… Smells beautiful of orange, grapefruity notes and citric elements… Yet a great deal of sweet fruits and of course: Amazing hops. Now, it’s time to taste this delicious beverage!
These guys sure knows how to make dry-hopped magic IPAs. Gorgeous! This one has awesome ultra-balance, rounded off with the greatest lightly bittersweet hops one can only hope for! Perfect, above what one would expect from a IPA of this sort. Highly refreshing, perfectly well carbonized and a teasing bitterness, very very hidden by the fruits and sweetness. Sends off associations towards green forests, yet infused with pineapple even. This stuff is to die for! Love it.
Cheers goes out to Westum for this one!
(Photo: M.K. Burheim)
Nose: Deep velvet’ish candynight… even the smell is to die for. Insane! Choco-coffee. Barrel aged amazeballs! The best that can be imagined, silky smooth, adult beer. This is everything.
The taste: Nutty, sweet, vanilla, marsmallowy
Chocolate mousse… perfect texture. Perfect balance. Not overly sweet as one expected. Absolutely mindblowing, with a nice tingeling spice sting to it in the beginning. Then, thick oily body that entangles in layers of heat, chocolaty sweetness. The marshmallows are clear as day here, providing the longest sweet aftertaste imaginable. Strange. Not exaggerated at all either, just incredible. Hands down. I hereby leave all hold-back and declare the best imperial stout (if not beer) in the world. Bottle 2553/3070. This is it.
Photo: M.K. Burheim
Another thrill to be experienced is here, in this can in front of me… and just by the odours, I can tell that we’re in for a treat. This dark yellow hop-soup gives associations to an orange soft drink that’s been a fave of mine since childhood. As I put my nose closer, I can sense notes of caramel. Deep yellow in colour, and pours a very fine head. I cannot hold back any longer…
WOW!! Light and bubbly. Immensely fruity and fresh, and with a multiple taste. Hoppy as hell, but not the directly bitter-hoppy way I am used to in double IPAs. First and foremost, it is the ripe fruityness and mango-notes that takes place in this one. Incredibly delicious, rounded off with a sweet drape. (To quote my better half: “Even the burp tastes good!”) There are also citric traces of orange, lemon and even spruce in here. Absolutely astonishing!
After the beautiful middle and great body, there is a small tingly hoppy heat to be sensed, before a long round aftertaste signs off. By far one of the best double IPAs I’ve ever tasted in my life. Hands down.
(A huge thanks to Espen @ Westum homebrewery!)
Photo: M.K. Burheim
Now, after reading up on this one, it’s about as close to a religious moment I’ll have this year apparently… And it sure looks fantastic. Black as night in the glass, with a suitable foamhead on top. Nose is massively infused with matured dark fruits and ripe berries, wood, bourbon hints and burnt notes. Count me in on this one, Chicago!
When it comes to taste: A variety of tastes. Starting off with beautiful sweetness of chocolate, and sort of like, say 5 seconds in, spanning over to the uttermost comfortable sour’ish side of the specter of whisky/bourbon taste (almost so that you wonder if you’ve just had a sip from a glass with that!), enhanced with heat, which in turn transforms into the most insane, rich roasted coffee taste imaginable. Gone is the fruity notes from the aromas, but what an exchange!
Mouthfeel: The body is magnificently full, like a velvety cloak dressed around the mouth gland. Perfectly carbonated (of course- this one lives up to (if not exceeds!) all of my expectations. Such quality.
Aftertaste is still lingering, minutes after swallowing… licorice… warm soothing heat. Wow. Just, WOW!
Photo: M.K. Burheim
Today, I’m in company with a fantastic beverage from Kansas… looks fantastic. Beautiful color in the glass. Nose is rose and subtle fruityness. Gooseberries and red currants is what comes to mind here. Judging by The looks I’d say it’s very little carbonation going on here… Let’s check it out.
Well, that was something quite different!There is definitely carbonation here, although it pours no head. At first, the tastebuds are paralysed by the extremely tart shock! Really, just extremely acidic before blending in with it’s seducing fruityness… almost like lemonade.
There is no defusing sweetness here, only hard-core sour attack. But a beautiful one for sure. Great maturity too… Leaving sour berries down your throat for aftertaste. Very, very nice (and I’m happy this wasn’t stored any longer!)
Photo: M.K. Burheim
I’m always a bit exited when it comes to trying a new beer from Sierra Nevada. The brewery has since I first tried their «Pale Ale» and later «Torpedo» as well as «Celebration» + a few others, surprised me with a supreme quality in the whole selection, even though it’s a brewery of their size. At hand this time we have their «Oktoberfest», which would be their interpretation of this famous seasonal brew. Together with them on the team is the German craft brewery Brauhaus Miltenberger, in order to bring the level of expertice to an even higher level. Light and crisp with golden colours, this fine brew is pretty malt-driven with several layers, together with a quite complex fruityness from the hops and with a very fine bitter adjustment at the end. No dissapointment, pretty far from. A right beer for the fest!
As I am familiar with some of their other brews, expectations would be reasonably high from the start here. Adding to that, the fact that this is an Imperial IPA from the brewery’s Barrel aged-series, stakes are dangerously high… First off; the label design is cool. There is a tipsy reaper lurking beneath the beer bottle, all barely visible in this dark artwork. So, let’s get down to the real deal, shall we? A fine, smooth golden look, pouring equally esthetic head in the tulip glass- just a tad mirky… Like watching a still flame. Nose is an incredible blend of hops, resulting in foresty smells, including flowers, spruce and almost caramelish notes of sweetness. I’m incredibly eager to drink this! When the first drop comes in contact with the tongue, there’s maturity fusing with an incredible bitterness, vanilla hints comes into play in the background. It’s quite strong, as one would expect from an imperial IPA to be. Still, very very nice balance of each of the elements featured. The taste lasts for an eternity, like a dark long catacomb from here to the underworld. Pretty astonishing stuff, as I thought.
(Photo: M. Brochs)
This beer has a a deep yellow colour to it and I t produces a light, small hat, after showing off it’s pretty highly carbonated nature when pouring. Nose is very intense and sweet- at the same time as it is a bit stingy. One can even smell the acidity, and there’s hints of strawberry. Taste is fresh, sharply sour rhubarb-like craziness! The acidity is strong in this one. As a matter of fact, it reigns pretty hard in an otherwise light-bodied beer here. The dominance of fruity acidity in the middle evolves. After a goood while, into subtle taste of summerly taste of raspberry and strawberry, which becomes evident at the end. Splendid stuff.
(Photo: M. Brochs)
For one of those days which simply calls for a stout, I must say this is not a bad alternative. The somewhat not-too-tough in ABV beverage at hand holds a dark, seemingly medium-bodied consistency with a decent head topping it. The nose is heavily roasted coffeemalts, providing delicious flavours and a hint of wood-like ending as far as taste goes. Perfect carbonization helps to ease the extremely present roast-taste, there’s not much of that oily-feeling one often gets in stouts. Not a long aftertaste, but highly present during consumption. Pretty nice indeed, torn between a 3/4 here.