Lakewood Saint Dymphna Review

Name: Lakewood Saint Dymphna
Style: Tripel
ABV: 8.6%
IBUs: 34

Continuing on with my second Texas Craft Beer package, I have yet another offering from Lakewood Brewing in the form of their Saint Dymphna, which is a Tripel-style ale that is part of Lakewood's Legendary Series. Doing my usual research, I found out the Dymphna is the patron saint of those with mental illness as she cared for them and supposedly cured them of their ailments when she was alive.

I'm guessing the reason this beer is named after her is because she fled her home country of Ireland to escape her father's prosecution and ended up living in the city of Geel, Belgium until her father tracked her down and murdered her. Makes for an interesting backstory, don't you think?

Appearance - Hazy dark golden color with a mild amount of visible carbonation. The head is white & on the filmier side and the lacing is abundant and quite sticky.

Aroma - Right away I'm getting some pungent banana notes and strong Belgian yeastiness. I'm also getting some pale malts, a bit of bubblegum sweetness and even some candied caramel maltiness.

Taste - Strong Belgian yeasts and cloves up front, followed by some banana, bubblegum and toffee notes. The back end of the flavor is mainly toffee and caramel sweetness with a light hint of floral hoppiness; The latter two of which make up the aftertaste.

It's been awhile since I've had a great Tripel and this hits the spot! I know the availability of this beer is probably limited to Texas only but those who are able to try this out should definitely do so if it so happens to be available in your area.

Lakewood Saint Dymphna - 9/10

Lakewood Mole Temptress Review

Name: Lakewood Mole Temptress
Style: Imperial Stout
ABV: 9.1%
IBUs: 56

A couple months ago, I reviewed a bunch of Texas craft beer that I got in a beer mail. Well, guess what? My connection in Dallas has come through again with some even more craft beer, making this the first time I've done a beer trade with the same person twice. Plus there's a couple beers here that I'm really looking forward to reviewing but we'll get to that later.

The first beer I'm going to review is Lakewood Brewing's Mole Temptress. Some of my regular readers may recall my review of their Temptress Milk Stout I did back in May earlier this year. This is essentially the same beer but made with vanilla, cinnamon, chocolate and 4 types of peppers (ancho, chipotle, pasilla and guajillo.) Plus the bottle itself kind of reminds me of the Lips of Faith design that I see from New Belgium.

Appearance - Pitch black with a very thin brown colored head with a most flimsy retention. There's a mild amount of visible carbonation here and the lacing is non-existent here. There is a couple of specs floating around in here and I was able to find out it's leftovers from the peppers used in the brewing process

Aroma - Chocolate malts, lactose and cinnamon notes start things off with a hint of spiciness. These are followed by a bit of roastiness and a slight hint of ancho chilies. As it warms up, everything becomes more vibrant and the smell reminds me mildly of a chocolate cake.

Taste - Moderate lactose notes, ancho chiles, and strong chocolate malts start things off. Right after that is some fairly strong cinnamon characteristics which show up seemingly out of nowhere in the middle and lingers through to the back, which has some mild heat, roasted barley and some bitter hoppiness.

Between this and the original, they both taste amazing....but I think I like this one just a little more. It's wonderfully layered and it goes out of it's way to show off the diverse array of flavors it has to offer. In fact I'd even go as far to say that this is one of the best Imperial Stouts I've had in recent memory! I should throw out too that due to the heat you encounter, this beer is definitely more of a sipper but with all the flavors going on here, you'll get no complaints from me. If you're looking for a complex tasting beer, this is it right here!

Lakewood Mole Temptress - 10/10

Lakewood Till & Toil Review

Name: Lakewood Till & Toil 
Style: Saison
ABV: 7.1%
IBUs: 21

Now for my final beer from Lakewood Brewing! For this beer, I've got Till & Toil Saison, which is one of their Spring seasonal offerings. It's also worth noting that this beer uses both Citra & Mosaic hops. Unless my memory is fuzzy, I don't recall ever having a Saison before that used Mosaic hops, though I've been running into this hop type a lot as of late

Appearance - Hazy golden straw color with a light amount of visible carbonation. Head is quite fluffy upon pouring but settles to mostly a finger width.

Aroma - Belgian yeasts, mild citrus fruitiness, orange peel, cloves and some pale malts and toffee. The Mosaic hops are there, but not too loud and clear. That isn't too surprising given the IBUs.

Taste - Belgian yeasts and moderate citrus hoppiness (mosaic is loud and clear here), followed by toffee, pale malts and some bitter hoppiness. Aftertaste is a mix of citrus sweetness and very light bitter hops.

You know, as good as this beer is, I think that if there was a great emphasis on the hop profile, it would be perfect. With that said, I'm not going to be too picky because while the hops are not the centerpiece of the overall flavor, it is still a fantastic beer and every other element of the flavor is done wonderfully.

Lakewood Till & Toil - 9/10

Lakewood The Temptress Review

Name: Lakewood The Temptress
Style: Imperial Stout
ABV: 9.1%
IBUs: 56

The next beer I have from Lakewood Brewing is The Temptress, described on the label as an Imperial Milk Stout and touted by the brewery as "seducation in a glass." It's also the second Imperial Milk Stout I've reviewed recently, a trend which I hope to continue to see in the near future. It also goes out of its way to point out it's brewed with Lactose and Vanilla, so I'm quite eager to have this

Appearance - An opaque pitch black color with a little carbonation along the sides of the glass. The head takes on a medium khaki-color and the lacing is sticky and abundant.

Aroma - Rich Lactose & vanilla notes upfront , mixed in with some robust chocolate malts, oak, and some toffee sweetness. Also encompassing the flavor is a light hint of roastiness.

Taste - It doesn't deviate too much from the nose; You've got the rich lactose and vanilla notes on the front of the palate, followed by chocolate malts, oakiness, toffee notes and of course that mild roastiness. The big difference here is that there is some moderate floral hoppiness that lingers throughout the latter half of the flavor.

So far every beer I've had in the beer mail from Texas I've gotten has been a delight to try out, and this beer carries on that trend quite well. Plus how awesome is it that this beer, an Imperial Milk Stout of all things, is a year-round offering. You can bet that if I lived in Texas, I would be buying this on a very regular basis.

Lakewood The Temptress - 9.5/10

Lakewood Hop Trapp Review

Name: Lakewood Hop Trapp 
Style: Belgian IPA
ABV: 6.4%
IBUs: 55

Continuing on with my package of Texas craft beers, I'm moving along to a couple of beers from Lakewood Brewing, based out of Garland, TX. My first beer which I'll be having from them is Hop Trapp, which is their Belgian IPA.

When I was conducting the beer trade, I wasn't too specific about what I wanted as I usually like to be surprised, but I did request that at least a couple of the beers be Belgian-style with no regards to whether it be an IPA or Saison. Plus I have always wanted to try real craft beer from a state that is best known for Shiner. It's also been a few months since I've had a Belgian IPA so I'm very eager to try this out.

Appearance - Very dark & cloudy orange color with a small amount of visible carbonation. The head takes on a thin khaki-colored appearance and there is tons of lacing to back this up

Aroma - Rich citrus hops and coriander notes upfront, with a healthy amount of Belgian Yeasts & cloves and a solid caramel malt backbone to help round things out.

Taste - It doesn't deviate too much from the nose. You've still got the citra hop and coriander on the front of the palate, but there is also an addition of grapefruit notes as well. This is followed by some Belgian yeasts, cloves and caramelized malts. As for the aftertaste, it's more grapefruit bitterness and caramel malts.

I have to say, I'm quite pleased with this. It's nicely balanced and yet is very vibrant in both the nose and the flavor palate. So far, I'm liking what I see from Lakewood Brewing and I'm very eager to see what the other beers taste like!

Lakewood Hop Trapp 9/10