Hoperation Tripel Cross - Phillips Brewing Company (Canada - BC - Victoria) 7.3%

Hoperation Tripel Cross - Phillips Brewing Company (Canada - BC - Victoria) 7.3%

A slightly cloudy full gold in a glass. A crazily hoppy aroma of melon, fresh-cut grass but also some nectar and floral touches from the yeast and a high alcohol smell. Very bitter flavour and aftertaste: bordering on the alkaline taste from accidentally chewing a non-chewable pill. The high alcohol comes through a bit at first mixing with the hops taste to taste a bit like a solvent (floor polish or something) but mellows and mixes with the Tripel flavours. The melon hops with a pine chaser dominates the flavour with only touches of the floral yeast tones coming through in dribs and drabs. The mouthfeel is a bitter thin for a tripel which I expect to be thicker than most beers. This Belgian IPA is a tad overhopped to my taste, if they backed off on the hops just a bit some of the malt and yeast flavour might come through just a little better. All that being said, Hoperation Tripel Cross is probably pretty appealing to hops fanatics even though it isn't the best Belgian IPA I've had or the best Phillips Brewing Company product I have had.