Sunday, August 8, 2010

Sam Adams Triple Bock & White Birch

Several months ago, Amy and I went to New Orleans and I stumbled upon a couple of bottles of Sam Adams Triple Bock. I opened one about a week later and gave the other to my brew bud Tony. If you are not familiar with Sam Adams Triple Bock, it was brewed three different years: 1994, 1995, 1997. These were '95 bottles. The Triple Bock was brewed with maple syrup and aged in whiskey barrels prior to bottling. At the time, it was considered the strongest beer in the world (18% ABV). A couple of weeks ago,
we had little tasting with just a few of us and Tony brought the other bottle of Triple Bock. The cork crumbled when it was removed, as did the first bottle I opened, not a good sign. The first bottle had a strong soy sauce flavor and wasn't drinkable. The bottle Tony brought was a bit more drinkable and had more flavors than soy. But still not drinkable. So, Tony made it into steak marinade.
Yep! Sam Adams Triple Bock marinaded ribeyes! And they were awesome too. The unused beer we didn't (couldn't) drink went into a Ziploc bag with a few ribeyes and went onto the grill. If you are thinking we made the wrong decision, sorry. I thought the steaks turned out great and we got some use out of the 15 year old beer. And I'm not saying all Triple Bocks are undrinkable, just these.

After dinner, we indulged ourselves with some of Amy's homemade key lime pie. She makes a great key lime pie. And Tony pulled out a really nice surprise.
White Birch Brewing Indulgence Ale. I have never had any White Birch beers and this was a very good first impression. This 2 bbl. brewery located in New Hampshire hasn't been around for long. Owner/Brewer Bill Herlicka really has a great product and I can't wait to get my hands on some more. This Black Ale poured nearly opaque with no head. The carbonation was right on for the style. The chocolate flavors blended well and you couldn't taste the alcohol, it was hidden very well. Tony is going to be up in that area soon and I will make him bring me back a couple bottles from this brewery.

Or if you are in that area, send me some.
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2 comments:

  1. I just tried the Triple from White Birch Brewing and it was a very unpleasant experience! The smell was something between bleach and another cleaning product, but the after taste just topped it off. I took two tastes before I dumped the bottle. For $14 I expected something far superior.

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  2. Danielle, sorry I didn't notice your comment earlier, but it is difficult to scan through all the posts for new comments on a regular basis.

    Sorry you didn't care for the White Birch Triple. I personally haven't had that beer, but would be interested in tasting what you tasted.

    Are you familiar with the Belgian Triple style? Do you think you bought a bad bottle, or do you think it was the style of beer you didn't like? Or both?

    Thanks for reading,
    Jeremy

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