Beer of the Week

The beer: Honey Orange Tripel

The brewery: New Belgium Brewing Company, Fort Collins, Colorado

Description (from the website): "This tripel is crafted with the very best ingredients. We source wild honey from the African Bronze Honey Company, a member of the Fair Trade Federation and a certified B-Corp. Old Town Spice Shop—a local Fort Collins favorite—also helps us grind fresh Seville orange peels the day before we brew. The result of this collaboration? A citrusy sweet Belgian-style beer that never fails to delight."

Would I buy it again? I love doppelbocks, but I don't think any beer masters the art of high ABV and sheer drinkability quite like a tripel. And this is no exception. At 10%, it's twice as potent as your standard beer, but it's incredibly pleasant to drink. It's got a nice honey flavor mixed with a bit of citrus, which hides the alcohol very well. This isn't the first one of these I've had, so the answer is yes, I would buy it again.

Beer of the Week

The beer: Voodoo Ranger Atomic Pumpkin

Brewed by: New Belgium Brewing Company, Fort Collins, Colorado

Description (from the website): "At 6.4% ABV, Atomic Pumpkin Ale is perfectly positioned to capture the fall beer drinker who wants more than just an ordinary Pumpkin or Oktoberfest beer."

Would I buy it again?: This is what I get for not reading the label carefully. I saw Atomic Pumpkin, and I thought it would be a beer with a whole lot of pumpkin flavor. What I received was a spicy beer, and that's just not what I want. Spicy and beer do not go together in my opinion. Now, it's not that spicy, but that just makes it worse. They went to all the trouble and didn't even go that far. So what we have here is a pumpkin beer that doesn't taste like pumpkin and is spicy but not really. I would absolutely not buy this again.