Beer – #970 – Hallertau – Flemish Giant
Hallertau Flemish Giant – the beer of the week for the Beer Jerk beer club. I’m partial to a Triplel. However I’ve seen this in the shops and been put off by the comedy art work on the bottle. Perhaps I’d like a serious beer to take itself seriously, I don’t know that cartoon rabbits do it for me. Bugs Bunny was ok though. And Roger.
pick up this funky little number
This is a 500 ml bottle of a beer that is 8.5% and 255 calories a serve, this is 3.55 standard drink units in NZ.
Brewed by Hallertau Brewbar & Restaurant this is in the style: Abbey Tripel and they’re in Auckland, New Zealand
A British Giant
This hefty Belgium style Tripel is named after the Flemish Giant Rabbit.
Aromas of clove, star anise and hints of estery banana follow through on the palate with a full malt body and complex yeast flavours with a sweet rounded finish.
Dangerously easy drinking for its 8.5%, if you’re into the weird and wonderful then pick up this funky little number!
So, What could possibly go wrong?
The aroma starts rather cherry, settles to a warmer sugary yeasty note. But it’s not much of a much.
It look a lot paler than it ends up in the glass, a light golden orange with a decent head that seems hardy but then frail and fleeting, settling away to a lighter film.
The aroma yeasty sugary but isn’t overly strong of forthcoming.
The initial taste seems alcohol harsh and tart, sharp and slightly unpleasing. Pushing through that uncovers a lot softer body. It does still come with that sharp finish and lingering bitterness though.
It is paler than you’d expect, and the head looks hardy by is fleeting. There is an uncomfortable earthy bitterness and alcohol tang in the drinking, with a long bitter finish and lingering.
It’s a bit unpolished.
It does however improve as it warms, and releases the softer middle, sadly this also comes with a slightly twangier alcohol sharpness. Nearing the end of the glass it seems to have found it’s happy place, sadly I didn’t find mine.
The pdubyah-o-meter rates this as 7 of its things from the thing. I wanted to like this, but there were signs that it’s an outlier beer, the lack of information, the comedy graphic label, which is way ‘off brand’. It’s a nice idea, and unusual for NZ brewers to attempt, and this has the bones of a great beer, but it’s not been given the care and attention that it might have
The double dip review
- Where did I get it? BeerJerkNZ beer club
- Am I enjoying it? I’m trying to, but failing.
- Would I have another? No, probably not.
- Would I share with a friend on a porch and set the world to rights? I can’t think why, this is a little unpolished and rough, lopsided almost, a good idea that needed better execution.
Music for this: Panther In The Dollhouse by Whitehorse on the Spotify
Whitehorse is a Canadian folk rock band composed of husband-and-wife duo Luke Doucet and Melissa McClelland. Based in Hamilton, Ontario,
ABBEY TRIPEL
Like other abbey ales, Tripels are strong, yeasty-malty beers. But they are also pale, and have a notable hop profile. Hop bitterness may be higher than a typical abbey ale, up to 35IBUs. But the finish is where the hops really shine, as tripels should finish fairly dry. Otherwise, maltiness is still essential to the style, and the assertive yeast note typical of all abbey ales will be more apparent in tripels, since they do not have the rich dark malts to distract the palate. Alcohol flavours feature more prominently in Tripels that in just about any other style.
A life just as ordinary 