Tripel Brun

Overshores Tripel Brun
1 bottle, $?, % ABV

Purchsaed at the brewery, East Haven

tripelBrown is just the worst color, isn’t it? What do we associate with brown? Poop, UPS, and brown ales I guess. Maybe dirt too. And brown outs and brown notes.

Bleh.

And let’s be honest here – brown ales are fairly boring these days. Sure, when Newcastle was one of two decent beers available at a bar, it was a good thing. But now? Even brewpubs only brew a straight up brown ale once or twice a year.

Brown.

Downtown Julie Brown. (As if I haven’t ruined “brown” enough for you yet.) Overshores’ tasting room is pretty darn unique to Connecticut. They offer no beers on tap at all, as each of their beers are bottle conditioned. As a result, you must buy an Overshores bottle if you want an Overshores beer.

However, they also offer non-Overshores beers. The line-up is entirely “Belgian style,” and it is pretty impressive. (As of today, in September 2014, OEC Brewing in Oxford and Broad Brook Brewing in East Windsor also offer other beers in their tap rooms – and Broad Brook and Overshores have other Connecticut beers on offer. Which is pretty cool.)

So as you’ve now surmised, I had the Tripel Brun at the bar at the brewery. The best way to make a brown interesting? Make it a tripel.

Overshores says:

Overshores Tripel Brun combines Caramel and Munich malts with our Belgian base malt and Belgian yeast to create an amber 1.090 Tripel that is as malty and smooth as it is strong. Our award winning flagship beer that is establishing Overshores as a respected brewer of fine Belgian ales.

Pair with strong cheese, cured meats, spicy mustard, grilled tomato, lamb, steak, lobster, duck.

Man, that food pairing line-up just conjures of a fat Belgian guy watching a cycling race, doesn’t it?

doodooAnd he’s probably wearing all brown, from head-to-toe.

The Tripel Brun is good, especially if you’re a malty malt malt drinker. What’s interesting about it is that even though it’s a tad too sweet from all the malt, the Belgian yeast brings in some signature farmhouse. Some spice, some light fruit esters, some diacetyl even, but none of that was off-putting as it can sometimes be.

No, the “Belgian flavors” cut the sweetness a bit and kept the beer from just being a syrupy gooey malt mess. The brewers at Overshores know what they’re doing, and they’re doing it pretty well.

They pumped out 5 beers in their first year or so, covering much of the Belgian gamut in doing so. I don’t think they are in danger of becoming too one-note though. Niche? Yes, but I think that’s their plan.

And since I mentioned “notes” again and the brown-note above, I’d be remiss if I didn’t link you to two of the smartest shows of my life. First up, Mythbusters called the brown-note a myth, but in typical YouTube fashion, people disagreed.

Perhaps because they know South Park’s erudite exploration into the brown note achieved quite different results.

Overall Rating: B+
Rating vs. Similar style: A-

Overshores Brewing Company
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