Beers in Review: Linden Street Black Lager, Orval and Lé Freak
Over the weekend, my friends and I traveled up to the Trappist for a few beers. For those of you who don’t know, The Trappist is a Belgian beer bar located in Oakland that I often describe as a “destination” bar. There’s not too many places I would drive to just for the beer but The Trappist is definitely one of them. Outside of Sammy and myself, no one else in the group had ever been there. Some in the group even questioned why we’re driving so far for beers but as they told her, “Pete don’t mess around with his beers”. Indeed.
I had previously written about The Trappist when I attended a Begian Dubbel and Tripel tasting session they put on. The Trappist is as authentic to the Belgian drinking experience as it gets here in the United States. They have an extensive bottle selection and about 15 or so taps on hand. The people who work there are well-informed about the beers they carry. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been to a bar or even a brewpub knowing more than the people who work there. It’s frustrating. This is not the case at The Trappist though as this is one of the few places I can sit and relax and shut up.
As a group, we tried quite a number of beers that night. That’s the good thing about going in a group; you can each buy different things and then play “pass to the right” with your friends (assuming no one has cooties or mouth herpes). It’s a relatively inexpensive way to taste a bunch of beers. Then, when you zero in on a specific type of beer you like, you can just buy a glass of that. Even though I tried about 8 different beers that night, I only took notes on three of them. Here they are:
Linden Street Black Lager, 5.5% ABV
Linden Street Brewing Company is a relatively new brewery in the bay area. Their flagship beer is a California Common style of beer. The most well known brewer of this beer style is Anchor Steam but they don’t call theirs a California Common; they refer to their beer as a steam beer. There is virtually no difference between the two styles but Anchor Steam has a registered trademark on “steam beer” so Californai Common was created as a way to refer to the same beer without being sued.
While not listed on their website, Linden Street is now brewing different styles of beer, one of which is a black lager. I often refer to black lagers as the lager version of a stout. Unlike stouts, black lagers are cleaner and lighter on the palette and shouldn’t have any estery characteristics.
Linden Street’s Black Lager pours an opaque black with a tan head. The aroma is roasty and slightly malt with a definitive coffee/espresso characteristic. Slightly tart, this black lager is full-flavored with a prominent roasty flavor characteristic balanced with black coffee/espresso flavors. There is virtually no hop bitterness or flavor. I found this beer to be medium bodied with medium/medium-low carbonation. It is clean and light on the palette with a slight creaminess.
Orval, 6.9% ABV
I have often seen, heard and read about this beer but I have never tried it. I was talking to Nicole (one of The Trappists awesome bartenders) about the past sour ale tasting session I missed out on and I mentioned to her that I only tried two of the beers on the list: Rodenbach Grand Crú and Duchess de Bourgogne. With a look of disbelief, she graciously bought us a bottle of Orval to try.
I’m hoping my descriptions of these beers accurate. Trappist is pretty dimly lit and we were there in the evening so some of my descriptions may be off somewhat.
Orval pours out a light amber color with gold highlights and a white head. The aroma is slightly sour with subtle fruit esters and an earthy character that I maybe from the hops but mostly likely the yeast. I detect some funky Brettanomyces aromas but not all intense. Instead of being all “horse blanket” and “barnyard”-ish, it probably contributes to that earthy/musty aroma I’m getting. This beer has some fruit notes in the flavor (pear? apple?), the trademark spicy Belgian yeast flavors, medium-low hop flavor and bitterness rounded out by a medium-low/low level of sourness. The sourness isn’t mouth-pucking by any means. There’s just enough to let you know it’s around. Orval is medium bodied with medium-lo carbonation.
This isn’t a beer that “wowed” me by any means but I did find this beer appealingly complex and flavorful. Unlike other sour ales, this one is subdued in it’s sourness. According to Nicole, this is the only Trappist ale (as in beer produced by Trappist breweries and not the bar) that is sour. I could easily order another one to drink a bit slower. I should’ve waited a bit longer for the beer to warm for the bouquet to open up more but hey, it’s a good beer and those are hard to nurse.
Green Flash’s Le Freak, ? ABV
Allagash Flux had just run out and was replaced by this beer. I believe I was the first to order this. While not listed on their website, a little Googling reveals this is a Belgian IPA. Not officially listed as a distince style, Belgian IPAs are, as the name would suggest, a Belgian-style ale brewed to IPA strength hop flavor and bitterness. Not really surprising when you realize that Green Flash, located in near San Diego, are fans of the über-hoppy West Coast style of brewing.
Le Freak’s aroma is a combination of spicy, Belgian yeasty goodness with a heavy-handed dose of citrus and piney American hop characteristics. This beer pours a slightly pale, cloudy gold color with a white head. Assertively hopped, this beer has enough malt sweetness to handle the unexpectedly high level of hops uncommon to Belgian-style ales. Yet the characteristic Belgian spicy flavors are still apparent and are able to hold their own. This is a medium bodied beer with medium/medium-low carbonation.
I shared this beer with of the people we were with but they didn’t like the hop level of the beer. A good way to describe this beer is that it’s a blend of a Belgian tripel with an America IPA. Most of the people I let try this beer couldn’t hang with the hops. I’m sure if it was an American IPA, they would’ve been fine but we’ve been drinking low-hopped Belgian beers all night and this was too great a departure for most of their taste buds.
Overall, we had a great time at The Trappist. It was cool talking to the bartenders Nicole and Bob and we even ran into another BJCP judge. I’ve seen Paul at some events I’ve been to in the past but never had a chance to make his acquiantence. David, who was there with Paul, stewarded with us at the AHA NHC West Regional homebrew competition held at Devils Canyon Brewing Company some months back. I’m looking forward to my next trip back.
