When a friend of a friend texts you and says that he will be in town and, oh yeah, he has a hard to find craft beer to share, you invite said friend over and partake in their beer; no matter what you had planned. This is how I got to sample the Samuel Adams New World Tripel, which is part of their Barrel Room Collection.

The New World Tripel comes in an interesting looking 750ml bottle, not like any that I have seen before. Out of this interesting bottle pours a beer with a bright orange color that is a bit cloudy. The beer has a nice white head, around two fingers in height, that diminishes down to about half a finger, leaving a decent amount of lacing on the glass.

The nose on the New World Tripel is very pleasant, consisting of some bright fruit smells, a bit of banana, some spice, coriander, along with a twinge of alcohol. At 10% abv a bit of an alcohol bite is to be expected throughout the beer.

The flavors fall right in line with the aromas. The orange, pear, and hints of banana all come through and create a very pleasant mixture of flavors. The spices are back as well with some added bitterness and some sweetness from the malt. It’s really well balanced. The alcohol isn’t as present as I thought it would be, making the beer all the more pleasant to drink.

The New World Tripel is a well balanced, flavorful beer that leaves you wishing you had another bottle to dust off. If you can find it give it a shot, but distribution is limited so find a friend to bring you one.

Overall : 8.5/10

Special thanks goes out to Matt (@MattFiedler on Twitter) for the beer hook up.