Brakspear - Triple

Pouring like how I imagine a mix of honey and jam would if they had been carbonated, Brakspear come bounding in like an excited Labrador who's just had a lovely swim, with their Triple, so called because of their 'Double-Drop' system added to an extra fermentation in the bottle. Count along with me kids...

1 fermentation... AhAhAh.
2 fermentation... AhAhAh.
3 fermentation... AhAhAh!

However, even with all those fermentations, this is still only 6.7% which, for its breed, seems a bit like weak sauce. Maybe I'm wrong (something I highly doubt.) What it gives away in boozey brass tacks it more than makes up for in charm, it has a fruity and yeasty aroma and sticky uneven head that is playful in the same way that whipped cream and a blind fold made of duct tape is playful. The colour is a sticky, dark, brown and there is a decent punch of carbonation.

The taste is very smooth and bready with little hints of the fruitiness that the aroma alluded to, as well as a rich, round, toffee feel with only a small kick from the alcohol at the end... Seemingly just to remind you that it's there. With a taste like that as well as a smooth, refreshing, body I am surprised that this only comes by the half bottle. I could drink a litre of this out of a boot or a yard of it out of... A yard glass. This beer is much more fun than the label would have you believe. I look at the bottle and think that this is going to be a drink for old men who like beer the way it was in the 70's, there's nothing exciting about it to entice me to drink it and that's exactly why it's been sat in my beer cupboard for nearly half a year. I'm only drinking it now because I'm between themes and I didn't want to write a rushed review about the bundle of Belgian rarities I was recently given.

So, for a stepping stone, this wasn't bad at all. Lovely body, decent taste, warming kick and, like hooker with insomnia, head for days.

I still don't have a ratings system but I shall rate this as 7 turnips out 25 because the rest are rotten and you can't make beer out of turnips.

Food suggestion: I really want a steak when I drink this. Not a REALLY good one, just the kind you get from Beefeater, better than average and slathered with a sauce that's so greasy that, if secretly added to someone's breakfast, could be considered worse than grinding fibre glass into their mid-afternoon coffee.

Drink this if you like: Doom bar is quite similar, though a lower percentage, and Wadworth 6X is a good shout if you prefer something lighter and a bit more on the fruity side.