Voodoo Gran Met

My, how time flies. Already closing in on Thanksgiving and the light at the end of the fall semester. I sat down this evening and cracked open the fifth bottle of my Voodoo sampler pack: Gran Met, a Belgian style ale that, to me, floats out there between a tripel and a strong ale. So far, all of Matt Allyn's beers from Voodoo are technically superb. There aren't any flaws, or what I'd consider flaws (what the hell do I know, though) but the recipes all throw some sort of curve at your palate. It's refreshing, really, and you never quite know what to expect. But, it leaves many of us beer geeks a bit befuddled, even dazed (maybe that's just the high ABV), as we try to wrap our taste buds around the mix of elements that don't always get paired quite so readily as Matt has done.

Bottled. Has a sweet, clean aroma. Light honey, tripel estery profile, and mild alcohol notes. Sweet with a bit of muskiness, like a melon rind that's not quite ripe. Alcoholic notes get more and more pervasive as it warms, reminding me a bit of a European strong. Just a bit of butterscotch, but not to a fault. Light and fruity, with a hint of mild hops. Golden amber clear, with a thin white lacing head. Medium bodied, deceptively light for the amount of alcohol but probably because of the beet sugar. Medium to high effervescence, with a bit of prickly carbonic tang; could be a little smoother, but this might be helped by a little aging. Starts sweet, with honey, orange blossom, sugary sweetness and a mild hint of peppercorn. Honey Crisp cereal notes in the finish, light spicy character like teaberry gum. Bitterness is really secondary, lending more of a dry finish to the sweet malt and alcoholic notes. Alcohol warming, with a muted dry-grainy after. A little rough around the edges, and will probably improve (hopefully) with a bit of age. A decent offering and technically solid, but not as complex as I would have imagined.