Three Brews By Ted

I recently exchanged beers with Ted at Tedbrews. I've been reading Ted's blog for over a year, and have always been impressed with his experimentation, his great attention to detail, and his wealth of knowledge in homebrewing. Ted and I have exchanged some emails over time and most recently some brews. I was excited to read the reviews he gave my El Muerto and El Jefe recently, and look forward to his thoughts on the other four. While I don't have as wonderful of pictures as his wife took of my beers, I do have some reviews of the excellent homebrews he sent me.
While I've been excited about all of his beers for some time, I started with his Tripel. My favorite style of Belgian, I have been intimidated to brew this delicately balanced beer. After having Ted's I might have to pick his brain on some tips because this tripel was spot on.
Tripel: It pours a pale, straw yellow with a thin white head. Wonderful spicy, musty, fruity aromas...smells like a perfect tripel! The aromas are just the start, perfect carbonation and mouthfeel. It has a nice fizzy carbonation one would expect, and the creamy mouthfeel of the the style. Great array of sticky fruity flavors; peach, apricot, and citrus with some spicy notes in the finish. Also some nice dryness as well that Ted mentioned he was going for. This set the bar high for me as to what to expect of the rest of Ted's beers. This was a perfect example of a tripel.
Robust Porter: Porters, are another one of my favorite styles, especially this time of year. This beer was another excellent brew from Ted. This beer pours a jet black with a foamy off-white head. Right away, there's a great spicy, peppery hop aroma. In some ways the hop aroma reminds me of Old Rasputin by North Coast. The flavor is roasty and smokey with some nice chocolate and caramel notes. There's some hoppy-pepper presence with a bitter backbone. Perfect creamy mouthfeel with a nice chocolate, roasty finish. As I mentioned before, the aromas and hop profile remind me of Old Rasputin and in some ways the beer reminds me of a thinner version. Very solid, another outstanding beer from Ted.
Belgian Blue: The most intriguing beer out of the box, this beer is a Belgian brewed with 8lbs of blueberries. Being a guy who likes to experiment with fruit and Belgian yeasts, this was right up my alley. At 11%, I knew this would be a sipper and a very interesting beer. I was surprised by the pour, usually I make Belgian beers with fruit that are lighter in color and this beer pours a dark brown with some purple hues and a thin white head. Interesting aromas, very wine like with blueberry, grape, and plum aromas. Starts of with some fruity grape and blueberry flavors, as well as some subtle spiciness. Nice mouthfeel and carbonation, the beer is smooth and easy to drink. There is some nice musty/yeastiness in the finish, as well as another large amount of blueberry. Another extremely well crafted, nicely balanced ale from Ted. Interesting take on a Belgian as it feels almost wine-like with nicely balanced flavors and fruity aromas.

I look forward to remaining three brews, a Nut Brown Ale, an Old Ale and an IPA. More to come.
Salud!
Bearded Brewer

Ps: Despite Obama's convincing win, and the news that Pennsylvania went "blue" last night, the collaborative brew will still go on. Provided that Dave recovers, and hasn't had a sudden shift in ideology in the new "era of hope," I fully expect the Bi-Partisian Porter to be brewed as scheduled.:)