Drink Tampa Bay is an ongoing series chronicling locally made beer and wine.

This week we douche with the Unholy Trippel from Coppertail Brewing Co in Tampa, and the Oak Fermented Sour Farmhouse Blend #1, a special release by Green Bench Brewing Company in St. Pete.

Unholy Trippel – 9.0%

Rusty: It’s almost like a grapefruit in color.

Roy: It’s very cloudy, very small head when it was poured.

Rusty: The art on this bottle is fucking awesome. It has like… a little monk. It has these cool tattoos… and there’s like a little… a little mouse on his shoulder that’s playing an accordion.

Roy: Because… Trappist monasteries… Trappist breweries… for it to be… it has to be brewed in a monastery by monks.

Rusty: Right, right. I’ve heard of these religion beers.

Roy: (Smells) It’s very sweet smelling. Flowery.

Rusty: (Smelling) A hoppy, flowery… I feel like you can kind of get a shtonk of the alcohol in that stink. Do you get a shtonk of alcohol stink in there?

Margeaux: (Sniffs) Yeah a little bit, it’s like a little sting in the nostrils. It does smell flowery to me.

Roy: (Drinks) Yeah, you can taste the alcohol at the end. It’s sweet, then you get the alcohol. The bitterness of the alcohol really stays around.

Margeaux: (Sips) It does taste flowery to me.

Rusty: (Dronks) It’s got a lingering… it lingers.

Roy: Almost a burning.

Rusty: The alcohol… I guess it’s kind of there. I feel like I get it more in the scent than in the… I can definitely smell it. I mean you wouldn’t want to drink to much of this, I think. I would describe it as unholy. It’s super strong.

Roy: I like it. I’ve had it before.

Margeaux: I couldn’t drink that.

Rusty: I think this is a tough one to drink.

Roy: You would want just one, and then go to something light. I do like it. But one and done.

Rusty: I’m not sure how I feel about it. I don’t know what I think.

Margeaux: I know exactly what I think… I don’t like it, I LOVE… the artwork on the bottle. This just isn’t my taste.

Oak Fermented Sour Farmhouse Blend #1 – 5.8%

Rusty: (Looking at bottle) …That’s a lot of good words.

Roy: During Tampa Bay Beer Week, on Friday, they-

Margeaux: They brewed a whole series. I think there’s seven. And we were told this was… a crowd pleaser. It’s not offensive.

Roy: (Pouring) It’s got a nice frothy head. Very thick, fluffy.

Margeaux: It’s got a marshmallow head.

Roy: (Smells) Very sour. Really sour.

Rusty: It’s got a sour stink apparently. (Smelling) I’m not… I’m not getting… (sniffs really hard)…

Roy: …What’s wrong?

Rusty: (Violent sniffing) ……Okay it’s sour. It’s not as strong as I expected. It’s a slight sweet sourness.

Margeaux: (Sniff) That is kind of musky!

Rusty: I excreted my musk into it.

Roy: (Drinks) It’s sour! It’s sour. Up front, but then it goes away real quick.

Rusty: (Drinking) It does! Hmm… I’m surprised at how quickly the taste fades.

Margeaux: Maybe that’s the drinkability part of it.

Rusty: But it’s wholly pleasant when it’s in your mouth… I wouldn’t mind having it stick around. It’s not an overwhelming sour. It’s pretty balanced with a bit of sweetness.

Margeaux: I like it! I could drink a whole bottle. It’s really good. It kind of reminds me of ginger ale.

Rusty: Yeah, I was gonna say… not an orange soda, because that’s too sweet, but…

Margeaux: Like an Orangina!

Rusty: Yeah, yeah!!

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Roy: So which one do you like?

Rusty: I think I’ve been really won over by the sour farmhouse, so if they were competing head to head… I haven’t even decided whether I like the Unholy or not.

Roy: I’d go with the sour.

Rusty: I would too. It’s one hell of a drink.

Margeaux: It’s the clear winner.

The Unholy Trippel can be found in local stores and at Coppertail Brewing Co, and the Oak Fermented Sour Farmhouse Blend #1 was a special release by Green Bench Brewing Company.

Listen to the full discussion here:

 

Coppertail Brewing Co is located at 2601 E. 2nd Avenue in Tampa.
Open Monday through Thursday 4pm-11pm, Friday 4pm-12am, Saturday 2pm-12am, and Sunday 12pm-7pm.

Green Bench Brewing Company is located at 1133 Baum Avenue North in St. Pete.
Open Tuesday through Thursday 2pm-10pm, Friday 2pm-12am, Saturday 12pm-12am, and Sunday 12pm-10pm. Closed Mondays.