So, the fine fellows of Beer and Comics got together for the first time in a long, long time.  We have decided to provide you with a review of several beers, none of which we have pictures for.  The first of which will be the New Holland B.A.M.B.

At first, you may note that if you pronounce these letters together, it sounds like Bambi.  Strangely, this beer tastes absolutely nothing like deer.  Not even baby deer.  What it does taste like, however, is delicious.

There is a story behind how this beer came to be.  Something about how this was the beer that won in the employee homebrew contest.  Ian knows better than I do.

So, what does this limited beer have to offer you, the consumer, if you can somehow get your grubby little paws on it?  In one word: deliciousness.

This is a light, pale, belgian style beer.  It is actually considered a Pomegranate and Clove Tripel.  For the purposes of this review, we will disregard that this is supposed to be a tripel, because it is not… at all.

It pours a standard pale ale color, a light orange/tan color.  It pours with a decent head, even out of a growler.  Thick enough that it’ll stick to your moustaches, but it fades with some predictability.

The nose, is all clove and esters.  In fact, I would say the nose is the most standardly tripel in style (and that’s not exactly a truth).  If you love clove flavor, you can’t go wrong in the nose.

The taste, on the other hand, is dominated by the cloves.  Ian may claim there’s a hint of sourness imparted by the pomegranate, but it’s not something I’m noticing.  What I am noticing, is that this is fucking DELICIOUS.  The mouthfeel is considerably smaller than my brain is leading me to believe the alcohol content is.

I cannot in good conscience give this beer any less than a 7.5/10, but I am reluctant to lump it in with the greats.

7.5/10

Ian’s two cents:

So as I noted in my post about my trip to New Holland, this beer was indeed the winner of the employee homebrew contest at New Holland. Brian is pretty much dead-on in his description of the nose and flavor. I did notice a bit of tripel-ness in the nose (that sort of banana, rotten fruit smell), but Brian is more or less right in saying that its not the truest trippel in the world.

What I really liked was how the pomegranate came through. Just a little bit of sour, but not very fruity. The only sweetness it had could have been from the pomegranate, or it could have been plain ol’ Belgian candy sugar. Hard to tell.

It was nice and summery, though. I will concur with Brian’s rating of 7.5/10.

And despite what Brian said above, we do have a couple pictures now, although they are both blurry and shitty.

This Belgian-style trippel ale is one I warn people about. It is an outstanding beer, delicious, complex, and highly drinkable. It is also a lot stronger than it seems at first. Its one that while very easy to drink, its a strong 10% ABV. It sneaks up on you.

It pours with a little bit of head that quickly dissipates, but what you first notice is the aroma. There are spicy notes in there; a great Belgian character. Definitely clove, but not as much banana as some Belgians.

The first sip dances on your tongue. Vanilla, tiny bits of citrus, and more banana than the nose gives away. There’s absolutely a candy sugar in there as well, since its sweet without being a highly malty-tasting beer.

This beer is golden heaven in a bottle, and I recommend it highly to anyone who enjoys a good belgian – or who just loves Michigan beer.

10/10