Bluegrass Wormy Trip

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

Sampled GABF 2008
This beer is brilliantly clear and is a very pale, gold color. It is topped by a thin, pale head that only forms a ring around the edges of my glass. The aroma is an interesting mix of clover, light banana notes, honey-like grain (but with an herbal honey edge), sweet cotton candy notes and some fruity, honeydew melon aromas.

The beer is sweet tasting, but only lightly so and it seems that the alcohol actually contributes to the perceived sweetness. Light honey flavor combine with a very light herbal character reminiscent of mint and rosemary. The beer is fairly bitter and this definitely lingers for quite some time in the finish (this last is likely the wormwood as I have heard that it is intensely bitter). There is a touch of grassy flavors as well as a clean grain character. This has captured the heft of a Tripel well as it is fairly light, almost quaffable even, but there is a bit of heft to it.

I really like the clean bitterness that this beer has, it is only lightly herbal in flavor though and I like that there is not much in the way of astringency. This is definitely good; some part of me wishes the wormwood character was more expressive, just so I could get a better sense of it, but it is really easy to overdo and honestly is a perfect, subtle contributor to this beers flavor profile. The flavor is a touch too clean, as it could use a touch more fermentation character.