616. Three Taverns Brewery – A Night in Brussels IPA

Posted By kkozlen on Oct 11, 2013 | 0 comments

After stopping at the Wrecking Bar Brewpub for a couple beers and a snack, we headed out to find a place for dinner.  We tried to stop nearby at Fox Bros. BBQ, but it was too packed, so we headed to Decatur. Joe said that Leon’s Full Service was one of his favorite places here, so we grabbed a beer at the bar and waited to be seated. They had some nice beers on tap, and this one gave me a chance to try out another local brewery.

Location: On tap and served in a large goblet glass at Leon’s Full Service in Decatur, GA.

Numbers: 7.5% ABV, 69 IBUs, 220 Calories

Appearance & Aroma: It was dark in the bar, but it was bright yellow in color and extremely clear. As you can see, the head was huge, fluffy, and white. The rentention was very good, and with a head so big, it couldn’t help but leave some great lacing. It did make it hard to pick up on the aroma, but there was juicyfruit and a bit of Belgian spiciness with some pine and citrus from the hops.

Taste & Feel: The body was light-medium and the mouthfeel was mostly creamy (due to the huge head) with a slight bit of carbonation crispness. The flavor up front was slightly sweet with juicyfruit like flavors. The spicy Belgian character soon followed, and seemed to dominate the palate with citrus and pine hop flavors in the background. The Belgian spices lasted for a minute or so in the aftertaste.

Food Pairing: This beer has a lot of Belgian spiciness with some juicyfruit and citrusy hop flavors. I think this would go good with a well-seasoned steak, as the spices would mix together nicely. It was very drinkable, so it would help to wash down a hearty steak.

Overall Impression: There was a fair amount of complexity in this beer, from the semi-sweet juicyfruit flavors up front and Belgian spiciness, to the citrusy and pine hop mix. Belgian IPAs are always a delicate mix of yeast spiciness and hop flavors. In this beer, the Belgian spice character won out. I prefer the hop character to be more pronounced in Belgian IPAs than the spices, but this was still a good beer. It was very drinkable, and the complex flavors made me want to try more brews from Three Taverns.

My Rating: