Beer – #245 – Green Flash – Le Freak – another redux

I have to stop doing this, however in my defence this was in tap and not in a bottle, so I ware sore tempted and couldn’t resist. I had this over a year ago, and I wasn’t overly impressed with it, to start with, which might explain why I’ve forgotten about it. It was a over ago and I’ve been drunk since.

So, it’s a trip back back to “Le Freak”, which is Brewed by Green Flash Brewing Co. in the style of an Abbey Tripel, and they make that in San Diego, California USA

I have a, from the tap bottle of 1 Litre of a 9.2 % ABV beer – which makes it I have there equivalent in NZ of 7.2 standard drink units. In going back to the previous review it might be a long evening. But I do have Pork ribs sitting in a marinade of some Moroccan concoction and so the evening might turn out alright.

“Le Freak is a modern ale created by converging two beer styles, BelgianTrippel and American Imperial IPA. The use of two yeast strains further marries the styles and American hops give thebeer its modern flare…”

I said a bit “game of two halves, neither of them relevant to the other”, sort of, because I changed it to be a much better beer than I thought once I and dwelled on it a bit, and that doesn’t happen often. Mostly I get remorse about being too kind. This of course based on I’ve spent my own money and therefore have to enjoy it. I don’t always enjoy it, but always feel bad about a low score.

Anyway to the beer…. and hopefully I’m focussed and paying attention.

In some weird universe I got the aroma of bananas on popping the top, Hazy cloudy in the bottle .

Nice pour has a head that we persistent but faded. Cab’t however shake the banana thing, what is that about ? The taste is of course the familiar Brlgium style yeast, but there is a the hop edginess , and it finishes a bit like the astringent alcohol burn.

However no way at all of telling if you’re drinking a local domestic strength or this barnstormer. It really is quite a thing, and it could end badly.

Nice balance, nothing to shouty and arrogant in the glass, and all a bit sedate and behaved. I really do mean a strong aroma, and seriously I thought banana, I said it again, therefore must be true, probably isn’t.

This is an interesting beer, it’s not one thing or another, and I think I said before that both together don’t equal the sum of the parts in some way. I get the holiness, even chucked in a hop belch there, and I get the Belgium style yeasts in this. I love the cloudiness, I like the soft fluffy mouthfeel, this really is a beer that you need to be paying attention to as it is quaffable and therefore going to end badly, if you’re not a bit paying attention.

I think I marked this an 8 before, I think from the tap this is better than a bottle version it’s less edgy and there isn’t a two face thing going oh, it’s more an equal partners enjoying a thing. The from the tap in the take-away “growler” rates. according to me, a a very good 8, straight off the bat. I know shut-up, but this is a very good beer. It is well behaved, has enough of a presence for you to interact with it, teases you to go back to it and have a little more, and rewards you by being just a bit nice.

at 9.2% ABV this really is a quiet achiever, there isn’t any taste clues that you’re being made incompetent and incoherent by the mouthful, as you can with some beer, taking your clues from the very bitter grassiness, or the alcohol astringent burn, it’s just not there with this. Dangerous much?

A real gem that would enjoyable but a wide range of drinkers, if only they’d take a chance and a punt. I am so not disappointed that I brought this, despite my frail memory, even though I keep a list, it’s kind of made my weekend (so far) a good thing.