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A - Pour produces a full lightly butter colored head with big effervescence. Slowly fizzes down, but leaves a clumpy half inch mass sitting on top. Body is golden in color with a very light chill haze to it. Big round bubbles rise to the surface a few at a time.

S - Sweet and spicy. Belgian candi sugar. Fruity with strawberry and maybe apricots. Nice and spicy, with coriander, pepper. There is a lot of earthiness here, with grassy tones and herbal notes.

T - Wow, spices are really more apparent in the flavor than they are in the aroma. Starts off sweet with the malt coming right out. Sweet bread, honey and belgian candi sugar. Out come the spice notes and I am not sure what to think about it. Basil is very apparent, along with some green peppercorn and a touch of coriander. The spiciness is very herbal, and almost is like you have a big amount of spices just dumped into it. Hidden beneath the big spices are some nice fruity flavors of apples, as well as grassy, slightly spicy hops.

M - Medium bodied. Carbonation is hard and very fizzy.

Overall - I like the mix of flavors and the twist on the style. I guess what I don't like is how the spice seems to overshadow some of the other flavors.

Served In: Tulip

This is very well carbonated, in the time I popped the cap, put in a rubber stopper and sat down at my computer a bunch of yeast was circulated within the bottle such that my first pour into my 25cl tulip glass is quite hazy. The head is quite voluminous and rises a full two-fingers in height above the rim of my glass, not too mention that the head in the glass is a four-fingers in height. The head is a pale cream, off-white color, while the beer is a deeply hazy, orange tinged, light amber hue that only gets lighter when held up to the light. The aroma is quite interesting, it definitely has a lemon-like aroma to it as well as a piquant spiciness to it that is a combination of savory, slightly earthy and significantly herbal notes that I can only assume is contributed by the Thai Basil as it is quite unique. Hints of ginger, a solid woody pepper note, lots of earthy / musky yeast character, including a yeast dough note. This is a very aromatic brew, quite complex and I like that the Thai basil is but one component; actually if not told about it I could easily be convinced that this was not spice at all.

Soft and creamy for a split second before the carbonation kicks in and creates quite a bit of froth. This has a nice, sort of astringent, bitterness to it that doesn't quite seem all contributed by hops. This has quite a complex flavor to it, though there is perhaps an overarching herbal note that seems to tie everything together. Sweet, almost honey-like malt flavors don't intrude on the fact that this is a light quaffable brew for a beer of this strength; some of the sweetness seems contributed by ester-driven, higher alcohol notes as well as a soft, lemon-like citrus component. Flavors of clove are significantly noticeable, but only after I start to contemplate the lingering note in the finish. This has a yeasty bite to it near the finish. There is a soft fruitiness here that seems quite a bit hidden by some of the herbaceous notes, but still provides hints of aromatic apples and a touch of tart plum.

A tasty Tripel, perhaps a touch hot at times, but I definitely like the mix of flavors that are found here. I am curious how this would taste if the powdery, fluffy yeast had not been stirred up into the beer from the ample carbonation (I like the carbonation though).

Purchased: South Bay Drugs, Imperial Beach CA

Served In: Bottle