Sat down at the Yellowhammer taproom bar in Huntsville, Alabama this evening and ordered a Miracle Worker. Before me was placed a tulip glass with 12 oz of golden goodness. A pinky-thick head of white bubbles rested on top and slowly melted away to a ring. There is some lacing, mostly sheets as I drink which break apart. The tripel is fairly clear with merely a slight haze obscuring my view through it.
Miracle Worker's aroma contains plenty of light fruits; I can sniff out apricot, light citrus, apple. There is a bit of grass there, too. A puff of alcohol hints at the ABV and overall potency of this tripel. If I strain, some of the yeast gives off a slight breadiness, but the fruit crowds a lot of that out.
The fruit imparted by the yeast jumps out first to me. It seems as if the fruit has been dredged in sugar. Now don't confuse that comment with Miracle Worker being a really sweet beer, it isn't really. The sweetness isn't in any way syrupy or cloying. It finishes with a white wine-like dryness that also helps to keep the sweetness from building up.
My tongue appreciates how smooth Miracle Worker is when I drink. While the taste encourages sipping and small samples, there isn't anything to keep me from treating this Belgian brew like a pilsner or other gulp-worthy styles. This drinks very cleanly.
Over the past year, tripels have become one of my favorite styles. I have been sampling any tripel or quad I come across. It seems that more breweries are doing tripels (possibly as a counterpoint to the hopping frenzy phase that has had a grip on craft brewing in the US). While I have had many good tripels, the market seems to lack many tripels that are great or excellent. Miracle Worker is one of the best tripels I've had and would be in the top 3 of the tripels I've had that weren't brewed in Belgium. Whatever difference Yellowhammer Brewing has in their recipe for this style, they need to embrace it.
This went very well with the goat cheese and vegetable grilled sandwich I got from the Back Alley Traveling Bistro truck that was pulled up to the brewery.
