GrapeHops Blog

Do you know I carry a small notebook with me all the time. In it I write notes for things I think would be good for my blog. The problem? I forget to write those notes into entries. Well, not any more.

So, in addition to going back and catching up on our trip to Piedmont Italy over the next week or so, I’m also going to do some beer reviews, brew pub reviews, and even a winery review or two.

So let’s get started.

Back in December, we headed over to Princeton for dinner one night, hoping to check out the Triumph Brewery there. We’d been to the one in New Hope (decent food and beer, not a big fan of the atmosphere) and thought we’d give this one a shake. Man was it hopping. We left our name with the hostess but ultimately were able to snag two seats at the bar (I prefer this when trying out beer/wine as you get some great insights from the bartenders … usually).

I ordered the sampler, which came with seven of their beers! Now let me give you some quick thoughts on samplers. I like to get the varied taste of multiple beers from a brew pub, but I find I’m usually burned out after five or so. Plus, I find a small sampler pour doesn’t provide enough to get a complete picture (e.g., head, and flavors that mellow or appear as the beer warms a bit). In my perfect world, I think all samplers would be 6 to 8 oz pours and contain four beers at most, instead of seven or eight 3 oz pours.

Like all places, they line the beers up on the bar (here in a cute semi-circular pattern) with the lighter beers on the left, progressing to the heavier beers on the right (and please note that heavier doesn’t necessarily mean darkest as the Imperial Stout was the fourth beer I tried that night).

I started with their Honey Wheat beer, though clearly not the season. It’s very light in color and body, light on malt and like the name has a subtle honey after taste with no carbonation.

Next came their amber beer. I don’t know why, but I’m a sucker for amber beer and this one did not disappoint me. Definitely thicker in body and feel than its predecessor (as it should be) it had almost a brown sugar scent, slight carbonation on the tongue and flowery hops on the end.

Number three was the German pilsner, which I could not pick up a scent from at all at first. They say when they balance this they move it more towards the hops, and they do. Once I drank a bit off, or maybe once it warmed up, I did pick up some slight citrus overtones in the nose. It had a mild fizz, less than the amber, more than the honey wheat.

Come December and January, I love a good stout and I could have enjoyed a pint of their Imperial stout with its dark chocolate aroma and taste, bitter near the end but oh so rich and creamy.

The winner of the night though was probably their CTZ IPA, light on my tongue, lots of floral hops, a bit bitter at the end and golden in color with a two finger head (this I saw because my companion did indulge in a pint or two).

It went down hill from here (but remember my warning, when it comes to tasting, I have a four or five beer limit before my taste buds are fried).

Okay, on second thought though, I’m not blaming my taste buds for my dislike of the pumpkin beer. My notes say, “flat, past its prime” and seriously, serving a pumpkin beer well into December? I’m going to stand by my notes. While it did have a bit of that pumpkin scent I like and an incredibly deep orange color, it left me wanting something with more body and flavor and had no business being served after the stout.

Last up for the night was their ESB out of the hand pump. There’s no head and if I didn’t know better, from the color alone, I would have thought this was the pumpkin beer. This beer definitely made me pucker with bitterness and very mild malt but I didn’t taste any hops.

So that’s it. That’s where the notes end – nothing about the food here though I do remember it being tasty and them being out of the cassoulet that sounded so good on the menu. I remember the menu as being a bit higher end than pub grub and the atmosphere was rocking with everyone from local college students to young, suburban professionals to families, to the not so young suburban professionals.

Anyway, I’d return for the food and atmosphere and probably to pick up some growlers because now I’d like to do some head-to-head tastes with some of our other local breweries.

Apologies, I thought I took some pictures but apparently I left my camera at home.